It seems an appreciation of family happens for some only in our late 30s.

I spent the entire day with two of my aunts and had a wonderful time.

It wasn't a chore and I wasn't constantly thinking of excuses to get away. In our youth, the thought of time spent as obligation just coloured any possibility that such outings could be anything but fun. The easiest thing to do to get out of this obligation quickly is to buy them dinner or a nice gift for not spending enough time with them but that would be the easy way out and disrespectful.

I heard my aunt might have broken her toe and was really just playing it safe by staying near the hotel this trip. Rushed to pick them up as I figured they'd have a better time in KL with me driving them around rather than stuck around the Royal Bintang.

We visited Thean Hou Temple, dipped our feet for fish to eat away our dead skin, had tea at Delicious in Bangsar, went shopping for essential oils, visited my cats, had steamboat dinner and shopped for groceries before I dropped them off at their hotel.




I came away from today with even more stories of my mischievous childhood and with a deeper relationship with two women who had cared for me as I was growing up.

Lesson of the day ... family is priceless.

so bryan decided to cook tonite and this is what he came up with

a bit more training and i don't have to stand by him and give instructions ... he'll be able to just see what's in the fridge and cook it into a meal!!!

yay!!!

so we've been on a break since CNY started and I go back to work tomorrow. this CNY break has been awful on my mid-section

was back in SG Monday to Wednesday with junhon. we ate a lot a lot visiting family and frens. robingoh and junhon visited and my 99 yr-old grandma gave them an ang-pao for good luck.

We went to PowerHouse and all I can say is that it was way too crowded. Everyone said get there late so we arrived at 1.30am hoping to avoid the crunch but the place was packed to the rafters. It was so packed that we decided to leave after one and a half hours and 2 drinks. I can't remember when I left a club way before closing time but all the guys pushing and shoving .. the funny layout that wasn't conducive to walking around ... the long queues at the bar and the ultra long wait to get one's change was just too much.

maybe I'm getting too old for clubbing .. or maybe its just coz I was tired from the drive back to SG and the visiting earlier in the day. shaoann thinks i shud come back on a regular weekend and give it another shot. speedo28 agrees so I'm thinking maybe I should extend my next visit (which is for SJI's class of 87's 20th year reunion) in late March and give PowerHouse another shot.

so back to KL on Wed and it was tennis thur, fri and sat. I'm now super dark and on the brink of being burnt.

today i stayed home and snacked and snacked and snacked. the bad thing about CNY is all the snacks that sit in front of the TV which beckon to you. and the food that sits in the fridge waiting to be cooked and eaten.

sigh .... i gotta go back to the gym to work off the flab around my stomach and get back to some semblance of fitness. motivation ... taipei .... or maybe songkran in Apr. 1 month to get in shape so i can take off my shirt among the lean toned gay circuit boys

Byran had wanted me to go out for dinner with him mom yesterday nite. I didn't want to rush with other families and deal with screaming kids at a restaurant or zhi-char / dai-chow place so I said I'd cook for us.

It only dawned on me that its CNY so dinner should be something special other than my hastily thrown together western meals or psuedo-chinese cooking.

stress .... looked up recipes online as well as spoke to my mom about how to choose prawns and managed to turned out a 6 course meal.

Menuu
- chicken + abalone herbal soup
- sweet & sour pork
- pacific clams with 2 types of vegetables & 3 types of mushrooms
- Fu Young Egg (longbeans + lap cheong)
- Longevity Noodles with prawn & cashew nuts
- Aloe Jelly + Peaches + Pineapple + Ice Cream

started the preparation and cooking at 4 and finished it by about 7pm.

Its really true ... when u've spent a couple of hours cooking ... you really don't have much an appetite and u get really tired after dinner.

Anyway ... it all turned out well and I've added 4 dishes to my list of stuff i know how to cook.

Gong Hei Fatt Choy everyone.

Have a good CNY break with lots and lots of good food ... and for those who're still lucky enough to get ang paos .... hope u get lots and lots this year

its decided ... Bryan ( junhon ) and me are driving back on 19 Feb to vist Singapore during CNY

plan so far is ... hopefully we get to party on 19 Feb (first time hitting the clubs in SG after a damn long time) and then its an open house at a sista's place on 20 Feb .... then its back to KL on 21 Feb afternoon

Only other intended plan in-between is to visit Sentosa coz Bryan loves sun-tanning on the beach.

actually looking forward to spending a few days in SG and catching up with frens and seeing the usual faces and new ones out at St James Powerhouse

:-)