Happy Wesak

17 May 2011

It's Wesak again, the thrice sacred day for the Buddhists worldwide. The weather was beautifully sunny in the morning .

When the Anthem of Unity was played, the Buddhist Flag was flying high with the Jalur Gemilang .

Devotees pay respect to the sacred Bodhi tree .....

or lighting oil lamps to remind us the light of Wisdom that dispels darkness....

It was a beautiful Wesak.
Let us make aspiration on this auspicious day that the world is peaceful . May all beings be well and happy always.

May the sasana continues .......

and may we attain nibbana eventually.

What can little kids do at a baking school ?

We expect to see young adults baking delicious cakes, pastries, cookies at an institute of baking . What can you expect when a group of little kids aged 3 - 6 years old visit an institute of baking ?

When these kids arrived at the institute, they instantly made heads turned. Most students of the institute were surprised to see the little ones at the kitchen. They were charmed by the kids.

The kids were happily exploring the preparation of doughnuts & cookies .

kids being carried up to cut the doughnuts

this 3 year-old cutting doughnuts

beautiful doughnuts waiting to rise

preparing the shortbread, sprinkle water

spread with decorative sugar stars

carefully decorate the shortbreads

Listening to the briefing attentively 

Don't under estimate kids these days. These preschoolers are a good example .

Shogun revisited

February 7th, 2011  Monday

It was the 5th day of Chinese New Year , time to meet up with friends too. We met up with family friends and had lunch at Shogun Japanese Restaurant, Sunway Pyramid.

The offer was good that day with a wide spread of dishes. They even served the Chinese New Year specialty -  " yusang " , of course self service . so, we got a small helping .

Taking one piece of each variety from one corner , we got this plate full .

This is the variety of tempuras 

spicy seafood

The dessert offered on that day was beautiful too .

The mint ice cream was delicious

Japanese mochi

Surprisingly , mochi mooncakes were still here

Thirst-quenching ' ais kacang ' 

Fresh fruits, peas  & cakes

We had a good meal and enough time for catching up as the lunch buffet wasoffered from 12 noon to 3pm. Besides, senior citizens were given a 50%  discount off the normal price during that festive season !

A prosperous New Year we had , keeping in mind not to waste any food , taking only what we could consume . A happy meal .

Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year is approaching. The shopping malls are decorated RED to usher in the festive season as usual......the only change being the Lunar Zodiac . It is the Year of the Rabbit now .
Take a peep at a corner of the Mid Valley Mall in KL .

RED Lanterns hanging high 

RED ribbons with well wishes hanging in a tree

So, go away TIGER , let the bunnies come in .....

The Year of Rabbit will be here on the 3rd of February 2011 !
So, I dressed the Christmas 'tree'  RED !

And since that the kids are home, definitely need to stock up some festive goodies ........

Hmmmm......yumyum !

This year we have a wonderful collection of our own creativities . Hard work though .
GONG XI , GONGXI . Wishing everyone happy, healthy & peaceful always .

Goodbye 2010 , Hello 2011 !

0000 hours 31 Dec 2010 , I was outside the Sunway Pyramid , waiting to usher in the new year with the crowd gathered there . There was a firework show at the lagoon ,as the previous years . Everyone waited patiently for the moment to usher in the year 2011 .

Here's the firework show :

While the firework lights up a new beginning , here's my aspiration for the new year .
May I be well & happy always , may my loved ones be well, happy & peaceful always, May all beings be well & happy. May peace be here to stay.
Happy New Year to all .

Christmas 2010

When I was young, Christmas used to be fun with family party in my cousin's house. My cousin will prepare her best cream puffs, sambal prawn sandwiches & the hard nyonya jelly besides the fried beehoon. We will all gathered round to wait for Santa & his Carols to come . They normally arrived between 10pm to 11pm , singing and giving out sweets. After that we would have our own fun till midnight .

For many years, I have not had such Christmas after I left home . Work, marriage .....and Christmas family party had been history .

There was once many years later, when my kids were young , and we were back in hometown for Christmas. It was on a Christmas eve, we prepared presents & placed them under the pine tree in the garden. After dinner, we had an outdoor Christmas, busy opening presents. 

This year , stepmom's passing away made some changes to our first Christmas without her. A simple family gathering was held in my house . Partly it was because of the arrival of the first great grandson in the family .
So, we shared a wonderful Christmas dinner .

Family joy shared with our departed ones not forgotten too .

The Beijing shopping

We have more than once heard about how ' innovative ' are the Chinese in business. They can have melamine in milk powder , they can make fake eggs and sharksfin , they can make practically anything , from IT to food , and make them cheap . So, what are we going to shop in Beijing ?
When we were having breakfast , we were joking about drinking the milk or eating the eggs. Was it artificial milk or eggs ? The vegetables look good but what had been added to make it look fresh ?

When we went shopping , buying clothes , you will be cautious whether it would shrink later. If you were to buy shoes, you would be worrying that it opens its mouth like an alligator after one wash. However , the idea of shopping in China to get cheap bargains was still exciting !
Thus these were the things I bought in China :

CD's

books

chopsticks with surname emgraved

A Jimmy Choo handbag

A Prada handbag

A louis vuitton sweater

chrysemthemum & wolfbellies.

Two types of the local biscuits