Home cooking on the last day of 2011

Amazing! I made my first hong kong style clay pot rice tonight! I think it tastes good, but I should cut down the cooking time next round to make it perfect.

Kailan got a secret admirer...

He is called Bagel who is a 6-year old Boston terrier. Vanessa has been showing Kailan pictures to Bagel all the time, so he decided to make a move.

Right before the new year, Bagel sent Kailan two new vests and a dog collar from the famous cool brand, American apparel. A love note was included in the bag.

I am so happy that Kailan is in love now...but she does not really enjoy wearing clothes. She believes this is a punishment for her. Let's see by when she takes it off.

Christmas gathering with BFF

I have hosted an apple pie making gathering for Ton Ton and a dog meeting with Ho Wai this afternoon. The apple pie baking was an easy job for us, and the pies turned out great and tasty. It's so yummy when it just came out from oven!!
Ton Ton and JI also had some fun with Kailan before Ho Wai's arrival.... But after that, Kailan felt so jealous about the baby's arrival. Luckily, Ho Wai did not cry because of unfriendly Kailan.

Due to my place's limited capacity, the dinner took place at Donna's place in the end. Happy birthday to Ball Ball and Ton Ton!

交換聖誕禮物

今年，我們決定交換禮物。
由於阿倫好忙，很少時間放假行街，而他放假的時候，我就要他留在家收新傢俱，真係時間啱啱好。
當時間所剩無幾的一刻，我問他：我今年的聖誕禮物係唔係凍過水?
他回答：對！我可能要在華潤超級市場(我家樓下的超市)買給你了！
Meiling: (笑....)不要緊！你用1000元買哂熱浪薯片，我都好開心。

阿倫是一個患有"保守秘密困難症"的人，他一買了禮物就要送給我。儘管當天是12月22日，距離聖誕還有幾天，加上我還未有禮物跟他交換，他都堅持送禮。即使他問了100次，我拒絕了102次，他還是送了。

我收到了一箱薯片，原來感覺超正，畢竟薯片是我的最愛！
最開心的是裡面還有一個銀包。我由於出差的關係，我對銀包都有一些要求，他買對了。雖然我一直都少用紅色，但它就好像愈來愈順眼！

好了，是我陳美玲出手的時候。12月23日公司放半天，剛好我可以利用2小時去找一些特別的禮物，然後與他會合。

其實我一直想去kapok看看有沒有男裝的accessories買給他，點知什麼也沒有看中。於是走進了一家古董家具店，應該說是很漂亮的雜貨店。我看見了古董錶！是它了！

1970年代的卡通錶真的很啱阿倫，而且價格是我付擔得起，加上錶面上有電單車圖案，我馬上就付款了。

把手錶送上阿倫，他馬上問我買了多少錢。然後，我才知道自己是個大豬標。從自己覺得買了超抵的東西，一小時後知道自己成為了水魚，這個落差實在太大了。

不發一言的阿倫是很可怕的。他馬上問怎樣去這家店。我心想，死硬了，他要找人晦氣嗎?
我當時都很亂，還是少說話好。

到達案發現場。他說：留在車上等我。
不出5分鐘，他回來了。

我問：你是否退了錢?
他答：我去買了另一隻，咁就是一對了！你做了豬標，我宜家陪你一齊做。這些古董錶其實不值錢，現在買了一對成為一系列，這樣才比較化算。

今次，真的是有史以來最感動的一次。禮物不緊要，三年後就會忘記這是何時送出的禮物。但我覺得後面的故事才最重要，現在我們的故事又多了一個單元。

我經常說他不懂浪漫來激佢，今次真是你win哂!

Merry Christmas!

Classic clip from Mr Bean

Dec 20 - Angry Bird Cake Making

Frankly speaking, I did not know what cake we are making before the class. It's because this class was booked by Cici at Groupon. Ah Lun and I did not bother to know more details in advance.

Surprisingly, the class was fun. Everyone made a 3D angry bird cake in two hours. The classroom was a bit crowded but it was fun to make the cake with families.

As the cake was made by so much cream, we dare not to eat. So we gave them away to mom in law's domestic helper, haha. Never mind, we just enjoy the process. :)

Sexy baker competition - Ah Lun vs Meiling

Cake demo by teacher! So pretty!

Meiling at work...please do not disturb

I think this is an art class; not a bakery class.

Ah Lun has made a not-angry bird. It's so hilarious!

Furniture shopping day

I had been thinking of buying some new furniture lately. Finally, we had a few hours to shop around in Shatin today.

When we first stepped into the mall, we found a really nice shoe cabinet made by good wood materials. As this is so classic, we decided to buy it though it's very expensive.

I am sure we will keep this cabinet for life.

Dec 17 - Winter solstice dinner // Chan's Family

We have decided to have hot pot dinner this winter solstice as per discussion from our last family gathering. Tse's family therefore became the host of this dinner.

Ah Lun had to work on that day, but he rushed back home for two hours around noon to help me with house cleaning and buying food for such a big group. Really appreciate his help!

Everything was set and then we found out the stove was not working when we were about to start!! Classic...

Kong and Kitty then helped to buy a new stove downstairs. Luckily, we still have hot pot dinner last night.

By the way, Kailan was so excited about the arrival of so many guests. She was so busy greeting and playing with them. She almost got heart attack!!

Dec 16- Christmas party with PolyU HTM classmates

Ah Yee offered to be the host of this Xmas party, so she had never stopped running around to serve us tonight.
I was so honored to get a bowl of hot noodles from her husband, though it came a bit late after Ah Yee made a few white lies.
My gift went to Elaine while I got a gift from Judy. We also had a fun magical session with Xena! She is really really lovely and cute.
I love the dinosaur hat at her place and we had a role play there. :)

Meiling and Xena are great entertainers!

Feeling a bit sad...

I just found out the Vietnamese restaurant in quarry bay has closed down. Ah Lun and I had spent so much of our time together at that restaurant when we were living in the neighborhood. Food is not really great, but it's sad to say good bye to our great memories there!!

Dec 12 - Sunset @ West Kowloon

My annual leave officially starts on 12 Dec. But the flu just wants to stick with me.

After seeing the doctor, we passed by West Kowloon to enjoy another sunset. The skies are so amazing this winter, and we never get disappointed the sunsets from all angles.

Dec 9 - Happy 4th Anniversary!

Cannot imagine that we have already married for 4 years...I feel so old now. :(

Ah Lun took me out for dinner tonight, but i was so sick these days, the choice of cuisine is so limited.

In the end, Cube sent us to a dinner place near the water next to Aberdeen, it's so dark there, i could not really locate myself.

not a high end restaurant, but food is yummy! 3.6 score in Open Rice. not bad.

thanks for hiding the beautiful flowers again.

but i normally do not go into the study room in the first place!!!

Dec 9 - Surprise birthday party for Carol!

OMG! December is such a busy month for me, because i have to organize so many parties.

Here comes Carol's birthday lunch on a Friday.

Carol has been a hard core fan of McDonald's. The Dubai team has been planning a McDonald's birthday party for this "young" lady. As the Quarry Bay branch does not accept official birthday party from Mon - Fri, we organized our own party in our own way.

I had kidnapped Carol and pushed her into a taxi on that day. I secretly asked the driver to make a few turns before stopping at McDonald's. Unfortunately, we got a very uncooperative taxi driver. He has been trying to play with us, and disclosed the destination before we unveiled it by ourselves. That's totally disgusting.

This hiccups did not defeat me. I have a few lies to get Carol's trust. The plan is still going on.

The taxi has finally stopped after 10 mins (in fact, it's a 4-min walk from office to that branch). We insisted not to take away Carol's eye shield. But...Carol loves McDonald's so much that she could smell Uncle MacDonald's once the doors open. hahahah!

We missed the McDonald's ladies who organizes the games for us. But we had our colleague Matthew to prepare some mass games. That's really fun! We were so noisy, and we laughed so loudly! Games include Mona Lisa, Pictionary, plus so many low B jokes.

The week was ended perfectly with a surprise party. I am glad that Carol was over joyed. Most importantly, i enjoyed this so much!

謝氏的道具重用再重用

入戲中

落車後都唔比人除眼罩, 比信心我地啦！

最後就好開心啦！Surprise!

Full team at McDonald's

Pictinary永遠使我興奮

哈利波特 ---- 我估左"蝦你個波"

Dec 3 - Celebrating Ah Lun's birthday!

Ah Lun has been telling me that he hates birthday celebration for many reasons.

But...I am trying to change his mind this year......

Meiling has been thinking, thinking and thinking to organize something nice for him. It's a hard job but i really enjoy the process of such surprise arrangement.

Dinner @ Main St. Deli

I am actually aware of the XXXL hamburger at Main St. Deli for a long while, but i still have not got a chance to order that hamburger for Ah Lun. Therefore, i have decided to take him there to taste the 32oz burger to celebrate his birthday.

As Ah Lun did not know that the burger is so big, he even considered to order pizza. After a secret discussion with the waiters, we have decided to lie to Ah Lun and skipped that pizza order.

When the birthday burger was served, he was totally shocked. hahaha! I was so contented with his terrified look!

The burger was divided into 8 pieces in the end, and he finally finished 3 pieces. He smiled with a satisfied look, that's heartening. :)

The candle looks so small in this XXXL burger!

meat pie is still very juicy! tasty!

mouth opened wide to welcome the burger

Ah Lun loves Banana and Toffee, so how can i not order a Banoffee Pie for him as a dessert?

Gift --- iPhone 4S

Before the dinner celebration, he has been asking me the same question every day - "What did you buy for me?" I guess he did not feel secure if he is not in charge of everything. It was really difficult to hide my plan away from him.

He guessed that i would buy him an iPhone. In fact, he made the right guess, but i kept telling him that he was wrong. After a few days, i tried to pretend that i could not hear his question, or change the subject or run away from him, haha!

Special thanks should also be given to his sister, because she had let me to buy her iPhone 4S she has recently ordered from apple shop.

Of course, Ah Lun likes the gift a lot because the camera's len in 4S version is so much better. How i present the gift was another surprise.

If i have time, i will try to make a video of my birthday card.

i really want to remember that i still have a young heart to make something nice for my husband at the age of 33.

MIB

2011.12.13. Men in Black...
Father dressed like daughter today. I love my cool family members.

Dec 2 - Bridal Shower for Donna & Birthday Celebration for Ah Yea

Donna is the chef in our group, the theme of bridal shower must be related to cooking!! Joyce Wong has arranged a macaroon making class for 9 of us at Flavors, and we had such a great time at the studio. The whole experience recalled our fond memories at cookery class in secondary school. Jokes keep flowing in and never stopped for a minute! Joyce Ip turned out to be the best student becoz she asked teacher to do all steps. ^^

Not sure if I had another chance of making macaroons, but it is a lovely experience.

Last but not least, we got a Donald Duck cake for Ah Yea at the shop. But she found this out by herself before the party starts. She is really 八卦！

Welcome Donna at the entrance!

When was our last cooking class at school?

Anton made us some nice deocr for the party! Well done!

We were so tired with all those floor sieving.

Nice packaging! There is a special box for bride-to-be Donna.

My sister and ah Lun both had a sweet tooth, and they loved my macaroons even though I think they are too sweet.

Look at our aprons! The green apron worn by Ah Yea was the needlework class homework 1x years ago. We cannot imagine she still keeps her apron, with her name stitched on the border.

Donald Duck Cake

Another awesome party in our memories.