Something to cherish on the last day of Year 2010!

Finally it's 31st December, the last day of the Year 2010...... in just two and a half short hours from now we will be ushering the new year 2011!!

As each moment, time, day, month and year pass by we tend to cherish many great moments of our lives.

Here's some photos which I've captured and to be recorded in my Blog to cherish those great moments on the last day of the Year 2010........

Take a stroll through Pullman Hotel & its shopping outlets after breakfast with my son Aaron

Have a fun-filled lunch with friends at a restaurant at Jln. Petanak
After lunch we proceed to the Hawker Centre at Song Kheng Hai

In the evening we have our family dinner at BDC







As this is my last blog article for the Year 2010, I would like to say warm adieu to everyone out there for this wonderful Year of The Tiger and wishing you all happiness, good cheer, peace & joy for the New Year 2011 - God Bless Us All!!

A 'once-a-year' vegetable.......

This root vegetable which have almost the same texture as potato and is only available at this season of the year (a month or two before the Chinese Lunar New Year) makes great vegetable dish, delicious CHIPS and also adorable decorative plants on table tops or anywhere inside the house.

Known as 'Ya-Gu' in Chinese, it comes from the family of 'Arrowroot'. Our family loves having this dish and whenever it's on sell either at market or supermarkets I never miss buying it! Here's to share from my home kitchen - (1) Stir-fry Ya-Gu (2) Ya-Gu Chips.......

How fast time flies......

The Year 2010 really seems to be flying through........ soon, in roughly about 2 days 3 hours and couple of minutes the 'Year of The Tiger' will be replaced with the 'Year of The Rabbit'.

Have we come up with new resolutions for the coming year?? Are they the same old lists or is there anything new???? Well..... there is still time for us to come up with our final list of resolutions for the new year, so let's give it a good thought!!

This end year, we are indeed blessed with a considerable good weather - not too much of rain but a combination of both rain and sun. As most household are now busy doing spring cleaning we all need enough sunlight to dry curtains, cushion covers, blankets, etc..... For those who are doing repainting sunlight is equally important.

Let us all treasure and make full use of whatever time that is left of the Year 2010 and usher the new year with full spirit of peace, love, happiness and joy!!

"May God Bless Us All!"

Family's Christmas Eve 2010!

Having no intention to do any home cooking this Christmas Eve, we have few plans in hand on what to have for Christmas Eve dinner, just a matter of final confirmation. Being a 'cooking off-day' for me and taking into account that it's Christmas Eve, we started off with family lunch at a popular chicken rice shop somewhere next to Hock Lee Centre.........

Ooooo what's up for Christmas Eve Dinner?????? Aaron made a last minute decision of going for Kenny Rogers, so we made our way to Spring, queuing through the car parking lots and finally made our way there, get our self a seat (which is nearly full-house) and started our orders........

We didn't wait long for the food to arrive, except the choco muffin, which was not given to us until after three reminders which we've almost finished our meal.

After our meal we take a stroll round the beautifully decorated Shopping Mall and captured some photos including one of Santa Claus distributing presents to children........

After a while we proceed back home to prepare for Church for the Christmas Midnight Mass. Something to share of St. Peter's Church's Christmas decorations.......

(Left) Crib outside the church (Right) Inside the Church

We reached home on the early morning of Christmas Day, roughly about 2 a.m. Today, being Christmas Day I would like to share the Lord's peace & joy with everyone and let us all celebrate the warmth of the season and here's wishing..........

"Happy Holiday!"

A season to be merry & joyous.......

As usual, I am always awaiting this last month of the year, which is December...... it's the season to be merry and joyous, a season of peace and love; the merry making and lots of fine dining to get us all through to the new year!

Just 2 days ago, the Chinese celebrated the Winter Solstice or Dong Zhi festival which is on 22 December. It is the tradition of every Chinese families to make and serve 'tangyuan' or commonly known as glutinous rice ball soup symbolising family unity and prosperity.

In the night, family members will gather for a simple family dinner. As there's only three of us at home this year, so I just prepare a very simple 3-dish meal..........

(Top left) Deep-fried boneless chicken tigh topped with chopped garlic
(Top right) Stir-fry asparagus with prawns
(Bottom) Fried Longevity Noodles

WoW!! today is Christmas Eve....... though we didn't put up our 5-feet tall Christmas Tree this year, but here's something to flush the memories of Christmas in our sweet home.......

Still thinking of where to go and what to have for our Christmas Eve Dinner tonight hmmmmm!

Recording my 500th Blog......

Thanks to my daughter Karen who help me get started this blog on 30th January 2008 (some nearly three years ago), gives me lots of encouragements, confidence, support and off course not forgetting her sarcastic words "your blog is dead mum!" when at times I go silent for quite a while. All these have given me strong determination to pursue even further and today I am proud to record my 500th Blog - I've made it!!!

To those who view and support my blog, be they friends or strangers alike, with great pleasure I would like to post a sincere note to say........

Hoping to get more future support from everyone out there to help me achieve my 600th blog which hopefully will be very soon....... thanks to all and have a great Christmas and New Year 2011.

Workaholic???

In this fast-paced world more and more people are addicted to work - it's either strive hard to go up the corporate ladder or just stay where you are!!!

Apart from striving hard to achieve great success for personal self, most employers are pushing their employees to the extreme for purpose of more profits for the company, especially when the economic situation is on the downturn.

Having such experience myself, I admit that I was once in that situation before - spending 8 hours in the office, being worn out after the end of each tiring day; an extra of two nights Union meetings after office hours, which sometimes will drag on till midnight; rushing ahead with housework after office hours and on weekends; and more catch-up to do both at home and in the office while being away on traveling. As much as I can recall, many a times coming home after meeting in the late nights, as most families are already sound in bed, while taking my shower and at the same time I am doing the washing and cleaning of our toilet and bathroom!

With all these hustle and bustle throughout my working life, I am indeed blessed for being able to strike a good balance between family and work! I should admit that at times I do get stress-up but getting some positive remedies does help me to de-stress and overcome the situation.

If you wanna find out whether you are a workaholic or not, here's a simple tip, something which I read from a magazine and finds it worth sharing........

Are you a Workaholic?

Work addiction can affect your health and relationships, so if these characteristics sound too familiar, it's time to introduce more balance in your life.

• Are you always in a hurry?
• Are you a control freak?
• Are you a perfectionist?
• Do you seldom delegate?
• Do you do too many things at once?

After knowing where we stand, I believe that it's time for us all to do some changes in our life in order to be healthy and happy!! God bless us all......

Article for sharing - PROMISE YOURSELF!

It's always blessed to get to read some wise words and phrases on a beautiful cool morning just to boost our self esteem and to be...... "a day older, a day WISER!"