Happy New Year 2011!!

Can't believe 2010 is coming to an end and 2011 is just 1 day away! There's always good and bad when you know a new year is approaching. One is YAY! I can get Ang Paos ( Chinese New Year Red Packets ) and see my family. Secondly, is oh no.. 1 year older and I still have so many countries that I want to go to!!

Looking through my blog and thought, my year 2010 was actually not bad at all! Other than being broke but hey! I gain quite a lot of experience!

Here is my 20 awesome things that happen to me in 2010.

1. I've been to Taiwan with my sister for meditation/holiday with a group of nice people. It was quite an interesting experience for me. I've learned a lot in this trip and love living in Taiwan. People there are nice and friendly, clean and beautiful. Thanks to my bro and sis's friend Theresa, I managed to tried Ping Lang and so many things to see/eat, dine in the toilet restaurant and Celebrated 2010 and see the Taiwan 101 building with Fireworks right in front of me!

2. Visited Hong Kong and Macau with Joe thanks to Alan and Cecile's hospitality. Joe and I were like their babies, bringing us around Hong Kong without any worries. Alan bring us to eat Kobe Beef and Cecile bring us to the best shops in HK, that's were I got my Burberry Shoes in a cheaper price(it's original ok)!! Thanks to Alan's family, we stayed in their house the whole time in Hong Kong. To me, this is the best part, because I get to experience the real life in Hong Kong. Thank you so much!

3. Been to the best restaurant in Perth - Restaurant Amuse, on my birthday. Awesome experience. Those food that Troy produced is way too creative!

4. I found myself that I got a sexy Miss DJ was stalking me. I don't mind that at all!!! XD
Meet some new lovely friends from my blog! Thanks for supporting me!!! Really appreciate it!

5. Experienced the scariest storm - Hail. Too bad I didn't get to see the icey stones!!! In a way, it's lucky too.. or else.. my car will end up like a golf ball with lots of holes. 0_0

6. Thanks to Frances, I got a chance to play with the SLR to take photos. I've always a fan of taking photos, but never have the guts to invest on a SLR camera. After using Frances' SLR, I had quite a few photo shoots for my friend's baby! For Rach's son and Elisha's Mia & Abbey!
Guess what, after a few months of thinking and planning, I finally got myself one!!!

7. Went for the HBF Charity 4.5km Run!

8. Ate insects that was given by my cousin Eileen. Not that bad actually. :P

9. Created Masterchef videos while my friends and I were in Margaret River holiday trip. We were insane, I know.

10. Been to my favourite festival of all - Mundaring Truffle Festival and met POH!!!

11. Got myself a proper Domain name for my blog! YAY!!!

12. Had an awesome trip with my 4 lovely besties in Malacca !!! I miss you guys lots!!!

13. Join Nuffnang get paid to advertise some of the advertisements!

14. Enrolled into photography courses to learn the basics of photography. Although I wish to learn more, but I can't afford it! But I have definitely gain quite a bit of knowledge from the courses!

15. Created some Christmas cards to sell for Charity! I am really happy that I did this. Donated $420 to the Cancer Council. *Pat pat myself on my head*... Good Girl!

16. Printed my first ever Mantou Comic book! Thanks to Nuffnang and Blurb!

17. Been to my first ever Halloween party!!! It was an awesome experience!

18. Became an assistant for my friend for a wedding shoot. Great feeling!

19. Grab a phone number on the notice board and met Momo.

20. I roast a 4.2kg Turkey on Christmas Eve! It's unbelievable!!!


These are the 20 things that happened to me in 2010. Couldn't believe how time flies!!!
Seriously, I can't wait for 2011. I know it's going an awesomer year for me!
You know what's even better? To let me win the 31 million lotto tonight!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA



Happy 2011 people!!!! No matter where you are, at home or at parties, I wish you have a wonderful wonderful and lucky year ahead!!! XD

Dinner @ Monte Fiore, Mount Lawley

Felt it was a long time since I last blog about food reviews! I've been blog lagged in this Christmas period and went really really lazy! Probably I was too busy with my 1 week holiday~ hahahaha eating eating eating and occasionally window shopping :P
Okay I lied. I bought a mini camera awesome bag. Happy? :P



Two nights ago, Joe and I went for a long walk along Beaufort Street to look for a restaurant to dine in. Because it's a super long holiday for Christmas and New Year, a lot of restaurants won't be open til January. Most of the restaurants was fully booked. But lucky for us, we found an Italian restaurant called Monte Fiore that still have 3-4 more table available.



Managed to grab a table right at the corner and had a full view of the restaurant. I hate sitting in the middle of the restaurant. Don't ask me why.



Joe tried the Italian Cola - San Benedetto. It's pretty cool. I had a sip, to me it taste like the chinese sour plum soak in cola. haha.



For my dinner that night, I had the Moroccan Lamb Salad.
Tender strips of lamb fillet in chefs secret marinade, char grilled, served with crispy mixed greens, roast capsicum & cashew nuts dressed with minted yoghurt.



I like my salad! The lamb was marinated and cooked nicely and tender. It's a great light dish! I can have this everyday!


Joe had the Chilli Mussels
Farm fresh mussels steamed in white wine, garlic & fresh herbs. Finished with Napolitana sauce & a hint of chilli.



I've tried a couple of the Chilli Mussels too. Taste gorgeous. I love the thick tomato-ey sauce!
It would be better if the sauce is spicy though and probably serve with 2 slices of Garlic bread. hehehehe..

Overall, Monte Fiore is a nice casual restaurant to go to, service was friendly and the food that we had that night was quite nice. Maybe the only thing was we waited quite a bit for our food to come.

Boxing Day House Party

Boxing Day House Party is a tradition for Joe's family. Joe's family will cooked a lot of food and invite friends to come to the party. This year, Joe was the chef for the party. He prepares the food, make sure everything is sorted and plans everything.

and me? The party helper :P
Did some cleaning, chopping and beautifying the house!



I beautify Franky's nails too with COLOURS! I think he loves it. hehehee



Joe prepared 7 dishes, Alan 2 dishes, I made 1 and Frances made a huge Christmas ham for the party. We got Tomyam huge fish, Beef Kailan, steamed tofu, Devils Curry, Beef Stew, Roast Pork-Joe's style, Pork ribs, Steamed King prawns, Kung po chicken, Chicken Wings, Cold Sliced Beef with jelly fish and ham.



I think we got about 19 people came to the Christmas party and everybody loves the food!
Our whole day of preparing didn't go to waste haha!



After our dinner and rest, we had our secret santa session!
Everbody got their presents and tear the wrapping paper apart! I love that feeling hahahaah



Then after that I gave the girls my tiny gifts for them. Which I got it from the Think Geek website. That is one cool website where I got these Pacman Candy set from!



Isn't it cute?

I have to admit it was a hell to clean up everything after the party but I enjoyed it a lot. I sees lots of laughters, I see lots of presents, food and of course.. I get to use my new lens in the party! I think everybody is kinda used to my snappin behaviour. They don't hide from me anymore hahaahah... instead, they posed! I love it!



Thank you for all the lovely gifts! I love them!!

Christmas Day Celebration at Home

I had a wonderful and warmth Christmas on the Christmas Day. With Frances yummy food, jokes from all of them and the most important thing.. Gift opening!
It was quite a hot day since Christmas Eve. I was like Karzan lazying around and enjoying the air cond breeze.



Frances cooked us Pasta for lunch! It was light and quite filling!



I cleaned up the house and prettify the lollies bowl :P



This is our dining area set up with bons bons, candle light and some Oriental Lilies.



Frances and Stephen were busy preparing us some delicious dinner.



She cooked us Lobster and Baked Oysters for Entree.



and Pork Loin and some Turffle Oil Salad as main.
Pork loin was absolutely delicious and the best thing ever - crackles!



We were all so full after the meal, we couldn't have and of the Premium Christmas Pudding that Frances bought. We have to have it another day when we can really enjoy it.



After dinner playing with the cute bons bons, guess what's next?? Pressies time! We sat around the Christmas Tree open the pressies!



Even Karzan got a new toy on the Christmas Day~ He is loving it! You can see he dumps his old red ball aside and plays with the new tennis ball with rope.



I got the most luxurious gift ever from Frances. A Dior mini bag and the cute Dior Earrings!!! OMG! It's so cute and beautiful, I think its a waste to put it on my ears!!! 0_0"
I'm gonna treat it like baby! Felt like a millionaire suddenly ahahah



Got my All round Tamron Lens from Joe too! It's really convenient for me as I take a lot of photos from near to far, wide to telephoto! Love it!



I got a box of chocolates and a Guess purse from Joe's mom, a Kikki K's 2011 Calender with cute stickers!! I love Christmas! I love giving presents, I love wrapping presents and I love receiving presents!!! I love celebrations!!!



Happy CHRISTMAS!!! ^_^

My first Ever Roast Turkey

Happy Christmas Everyone!! How was your Christmas Eve? Had lots of food and spending quality time with family and friends maybe?

As for me, I had a wonderful time with my Dear Turkey.



"I will cook you tonight Turkey!"



" Woah! Where did you get that knife from??!"
"Turkey: I will KIIILLL you!"



"Do whatever you want, I'm gonna cook you tonight!"
"Turkey: Damn."

Yeap! It was my first time roasting a Turkey! If you know me well, I'm never an excellent cook. So, I was really nervous about cooking this bird. I spent 58 bucks for this bird, if I screw it up, that's it. No dinner.



I spent the whole day preparing it. Chopped up the ingredients, making the stuffing, and pray hard that this bird comes out tender and juicy.



I got the recipe from Jamie Oliver's site. The Christmas Roast Turkey Recipe. I can guarantee you, this recipe is awesome! My turkey really came out tender and juicy! Very tasty too! I was impressed! Gowd! I never thought that I can make such nice turkey and I made my own stuffing! Best stuffing ever! Do try it!



Everyone at home loves the bird. I was really happy! We finished the whole 4kg bird! Unbelievable. Well, Karzan munch some too. hehe

Other than then having the Turkey, I have made the Crunchy Cucumber salad with Grilled King Prawns for entree. A light starter.



and some Parmesan Bread Crumbs Long Beans for sides. I like this simple and beautiful looking beans. The recipe is from Coles Christmas Edition Magazine.



For dessert, I made Pineapple Tart Tartan drizzled with caramel sauce.
It was under my expectation because the pineapple didn't cooked well enough as I didn't used the fresh pineapple. But it tasted nice and sweet.



I'm really pleased with my cooking today! Of course Joe helped me a lot too! I don't think I can handle it all by myself! I would have running around and panic like a fool if I'm making everything alone. hahahaha.

So, what did you guys have on your Christmas Eve??

The Most Meaningful Gift I've Ever Given

Merry Christmas Everybody! It's Christmas eve today! What have you guys planned for today and the rest of the Christmas day? I'm sure everybody will have loads of love and rest!



Here in this post, I would like to thank everybody for your lovely support for buying the Mantou Christmas cards that I've designed and sell on my blog! I'm going to post this cheque to the Cancer Council of WA after Christmas :)
It's a great experience for me and I feel really happy and loved!

From designing it, rushing to look for papers and envelopes, printing it, cutting it and packaged it, I felt really fulfilled by doing it. (Thank god I didn't cut my fingers :P)

I have sold 42 packets of Mantou Christmas cards over the period of 2 months. I'm very happy with the result as my target was to sell 40-50 packets and I've reached the target.

But of course, I won't be able to reach it without your support.
Again, I would like to thank ...

Aunt Tina
Aunt Julie
Alice W
Alan’s Mom
Claire J
Christine K
Evan W
Elisha S
Edith
Franky K
Frances W
Gwen C
Jason H
Judy F
Jenny N
Jean L
Jaq Johnson
Justin W
Kristy T
Margaret Y
Melissa
Ming En
Pina
Prisillia K
Rach C
Steve T
Steph
Tony W
Tania B
Wei Ching
Yee Ling
& 2 from Perth Upmarket

Merry Christmas and have a wonderful day ahead!!! ^-^

Dinner @ Balmoral, Vic Park

This is the second time I've been to Balmoral pub in a year. The food there never disappoint me. The first time I've been there was for Christmas lunch. I've tried the turkey dish and it was so nice and tender. Totally loving it.



I went there few weeks ago on the monday night for dinner with Joe because we haven't tried the dinner menu before. Me, as usual had the Pork! and Joe had the Beef Burger.



Pork Belly.
Double roasted pork, dry rubbed with pepper berry, served with a scallop brochette on potato mash with blueberry and merlot reduction, topped with a light roquette, crispy proscuitto & red onion salad.

Pardon the messiness of this dish, because I requested to change the red onion salad to the normal rocket salad cuz I don't eat onion :P
I love this dish a lot. The pork was nicely charred and to go with the mash was perfect. The mash was a bit too salty, but I like it.



Wagyu beef burger
Wagyu burger served open on a toasted sundried tomato and onion toll topped with mixed leaves, grilled bacon, egg, cheese, redonion, sliced tomato, beetroot relish and aioli served with chips.

Joe said the burger was pretty good and extremely satisfying. Probably one of the better meals he had in a pub for a while.

If you get a chance, you should try it too! :D

Crazy Adventure

Nuffnang had a competition to win a Kodak Playsport! That is one awesome camera! Who wouldn't want it?!

To win, all I need to do is dream up a photo and write my own blog post of what crazy adventure I’d go on if I had a Kodak PlaySport – the catch is.. the photo must be taken at home.

Without wasting any time, I made Joe to go through the journey of winning this with me. We put on our thinking cap, thinking what crazy adventure we should go to since we have never done anything crazy before, and how to show our crazy adventure at home with crazy approach!

I thought of Light painting! By using a camera and a mini torch light.



Joe and I were figuring out how to make light painting associate with the adventure! We would love to go scuba diving together and take lots of photos and videos together under the sea! It will be awesome and beautiful!



It was our first time trying on light painting and we definitely loving it. We have tried on many different ways to show our adventure but it didn't turn out right in the beginning. For example, for the first few shots were the Sun, Sea, Sail and Big Palm Tree!!



It turns out quite nice but I wanna be in it too!
We have even tried drawing Stickman on surfing board!!



This one fail big time. Look like Jesus -_-"

Because I want to be in the photo with photo lighting, we have tried all kinds of ways to make it work. One of it is I was laying on the chair pretending to be surfing and thought of paint the surf board with light - epic fail.
I look like a flatten turtle at the end. -_-"



After a few experiment later, we have finally succeeded the light painting shoot that tells a story.
Which is this one below :)
We were both wearing the fake scuba diving gear! Our adventure!



These photos were taken at home in front of the folded ping pong table, shoot with long shutter speed and a mini torchlight.

Mark's Cocktail Birthday Celebration

This is the last Themed Birthday Party for the year 2010!
Cocktail Party! XD



Recently, our friend Mark has been a cocktail drinker and in love with it. So he requested to have a cocktail party for his birthday. and his birthday gift, is the Cocktail set + alcohol + alcohol and alcohol.



Joe has been busy organizing and getting all the stuff ready for the party because he knows all these alcohol better than I do! He had done all the readings and researching for the cocktails to make a Cocktails and shots menu by himself!



There's like 30+ cocktails and 20+ shots in the menu. Impressive! With pictures as well!



Salute to him because he flip through 2 super thick books just to pick out the drinks that we can make using the alcohol that we bought.



We got Mark the Basic Cocktail Equipment Set from the website call Barware. They got a wide range of stuff from reasonable price to really freaking expensive stuff! But it's cool to see what's in there, plus it's convenient for us to order it all in one go.
We got quite a few things from there, like the Cute Flamingo and tropical fruit straws, Bar tools,
Ice crushers and bar tray. It's great!



We made some cocktail food to go with the Cocktail themed party. Lucheon meat with pineapple and cucumber :P Actually I was suppose to be using the cocktail sausages to make this, unfortunately, sausages burst open and looked really horrible! So we decided to give the burst sausages to Karzan and replace it with Ma Ling Lucheon meat instead. Taste quite good ahahah!



We made some yummy cocktails yesterday! It tasted really nice! Joe even accidentally created a cocktail by himself too and I am in love with it! I wonder if I can have it again later on :P



This is Mocktail for the girls for can't take any alcohol.



I think Cocktail is the best drinking party ever if you got a good bartender (Joe)! Well, basically he will be the slave for making the drinks for us as long as he doesn't get drunk! Or else.. you will get something really really UNFORGETABLE. :P



I think those guys were having fun creating their own shots by pouring and mixing the strongest tasting alcohol into the shot when they are drunk. They even gave it a name! No, actually a few names! Starting with Black Angel (the scariest and worst tasting shot ever hahaha) then Squid Angel and all sorts weird names go on and on..! I was just there, looking at them pouring shits into the glass and laughing all the way... guys.. -_-" hahaha



Yesterday night was the night that I drank the most types of alcohol! I had at least 4 shots and 2 cocktails. I didn't have really strong drink though, but it definitely gave me a good deep sleep! :P
I had so much fun drinking and photographing the party! I love it!



Happy Birthday to you Mark! Hope you have a wonderful 27th the whole year round!