Some random shots...

Some random shots around the bustling streets around Times Square and theatre district. It is so full of life, noise and buzz (and tourists).


We caught Chicago which was awesome, it was beyond words. We decided to buy the tickets straight from the theatre instead of TKTS booth (the line was at least a solid 3 hours in the blistering cold), we Q for 1 hour before the theatre's box-office open, our orchestra tickets only cost us $31.50 for each person. Duper worthwhile!

A trip to NYC would be incomplete without a visit to the famous Magnolia Bakery! What's more we are staying in Greenwich Village in which the first Magnolia Bakery started its operation. But it is also the only 1 out of the 3 stores which has a half-hour line. I am a tad disappointed by the cupcakes but the banana pudding is to die-for! Kenny loved their cherries jamboree which is not-too-sweet, yummy. Just don't step out without trying their banana pudding!

Makan spree in NYC

These are some of the eating places which we visited and really enjoyed both the food and service.
SuraNYC
105 East 9th street N.Y., NY 10003(between 3rd and 4th ave)

A Michellin Guide Recommended HK style noodle restaurant in Manhattan
New York Noodle Town
28 BoweryNew York, NY 10002

Wooo, I love roasted duck! It is so hard to find duck on the menu over here.

Happy Ox Yr!

Haha just being silly, we decided to make the effort to wear red for the reunion dinner!

The "yee sang" set which Kong brought back from Singapore had really made our CNY, we bought tuna and lobster to go with it, so yummy! Compliments to sous chef Tan who shredded the raddish and carrot with love and care.

What is CNY without the shouting and groaning over money? *grinz* Check out the pot of USD while playing in-between, no you are not looking at the winner, I think the Khoo family had contributed quite abit to the pool.

Happy Ox Yr to all, we wish all good health and all good things!

From Sunshine Florida to Freezing NYC

Technically we flew into Newburgh and drove to Kingston because we planned on going skiiiiii-ing. Lousy me, fell sick like the moment we stepped out in the cold, maybe the temperature difference had got to me. Darn, my nose was so painful, I cant breathe hah so there goes the roll-around-the-snow plan.

The good thing that came out of it is SHOPPING!! We went to the Woodbury Outlet Mall which is huge, we spent 8 hours there and we didnt even go into every shop. There was a line outside every other shop but Coach's line has to beat everyone's elses. ~woohoo~ I love THAT outlet mall, got to be the best one I had been to!

Sweet Home Farm

A 30 mins drive from our house brings us to Sweet Home Farm, a family-run dairy which sell fresh cheese at a very affordable price. They do not use herbicides, pesticides or growth hormones on the farm. Look out for the road-signs or you will easily miss the small hut under the big tree.
Sweet Home Farm
27107 Schoen Road , Elberta, AL 36530
(251) 986-5663
On-farm sales only. Hours 10 am - 5 pm Friday and Saturday

We bought quite a variety of cheeses, not knowing what to do with them after we are sick of eating the cheese with crackers. I tried making my 1st lasagna, I didnt follow any particular recipe, just threw canned tomato sauce on top of the no-boil lasagna noodles, followed by sausages, cheese and more sauce.

Pineapple tarts for CNY

I still remember Kenny had to depart for USA on the first day of CNY last year, what luck!
Oh well, this year we are in US and we don't need to give ang bao (yeah!). Kenny knows my all-time fave CNY goodie is PINEAPPLE TARTS! Actually I think most of my friends also know that, especially the MTM gals, the rate I gobbled up pineapple tarts (and mooncakes) never fail to amaze them.

So this entry is dedicated to Kenny's first pineapple tarts' experience.
The pineapples are expensive, USD 2.50 for 1 medium size pineapple. Maybe I should had bought canned ones. The juice was so sweet and delicious, hand squeezed! This picture was taken when he first started, still smiley and energetic.

The dried pulp we got from 2 pineapples, time to start cooking. He cooked it on low heat for around 1-1.5 hrs, we were playing mahjong while he was cooking so we did not track the time.

Rolling the pineapple balls

Ta daaaaa
fresh pineapple tarts... hopefully I can resist them till Ox year arrives.

Disney Adventure IV: MGM Studios

It is like walking into Hollywood, with Sunset Blvd and Hollywood Blvd featuring old cinemas decor and little gift-shops.
Top fave would be definitely the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, there are many details to this ride which made it a truly scary ride. You are brought to different levels of the hotel in the hotel "elevator" to meet the ghosts, to get into the horror story and lastly the 13-storey fall into the twilight zone. Awesome!

There are many good shows- I love the Beauty and the Beast musical, ado not miss the Muppet Vision-3D. The Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show is also another must-see, special designed stunt cars, motorcyles and jet skis and their industry secrets as to how stunts are performed etc.

The perfect way to end the adventure would be the Fantasmic, the daily evening nightshow which promise to capture your attention with its fountain, fireworks, laser lights and of course Mickey and his friends.

Lastly it is time to bid farewell to Mickey and friends on the Disney Magical Express, a complimentary airport shuttle for all Disney Resort guests. Arhhh a truly magical Disney adventure!

Disney adventure part III: Epcot

We stayed at the cheapest Disney Value Resort- Pop Century Resort, the room is clean and spacious, there is no complaint from us at all.

I had friends who asked me about the difference between staying in Disney Resorts and outside resorts which are relatively cheaper. The important difference is Disney Resort guests are able to enjoy "Magic Hours" at all Disney themeparks. Everyday there will be a specific park which either opens 1 hour earlier or closes 3 hours later than the official opening/closing hours. Only Disney Resort's guests who showed their room card will be admitted to the rides, but bear in mind there will be no fast pass available at the magic hours, you will still need to Q for 45 mins to 1 hour. And also all the parks are so big, we are exhausted by the official closing hours, the only themepark which we made use of the magic hours is EPCOT (Every Person Come Out Tired).

Epcot is made up of 2 world, the Future World and World Showcase. World Showcase feature a lagoon in the middle of pavilions which showcase different cultures of 11 countries. I like the different restaurant in each showcase, for exmple,in UK there is fish and chip, we ate at the Biergarten with its own micro-brewery in Germany. The most memorable attraction in Epcot is the IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, it feature fireworks, lasers and water fountain at the lagoon. Kenny's fave ride is the Test Track which model after a real car test drive through braking, climbing and tight turns.

I like Winnie the Pooh

And so the Disney adventure continues, its on to the Animal Kingdom.
My fave:
1) Festival of the Lion King- a lively and colourful musical
2) Finding Nemo is another must-catch musical
Both musicals need to Q up 1 hour in advance.
3) Expedition Everest- Legend of the Forbidden Mountain - a high speed roller coaster which pass through glaciers, waterfalls and even a dead end on the railtracks. The settings is spectcular, the ride itself is not super-thrilling.
4) Kilimanharo Safaris- best animal viewing ride
5) It's tough to be a bug! - Based on A Bug's Life, there are many special effects in the show bound to impress!

We ate at the Tusker house which features a South African theme buffet which we find pretty good and dinner was at Rainforest Cafe, the decor and atmosphere made a much deeper impression on us than the food for sure.

Happy Bertday to my darling hubby

My first solo attempt at making Suyin's famous carrot cuppies with cream cheese frosting, another recipe from my world greatest's recipe book. When making the cupcakes, I had the sudden urge to call Suyin (haha, sound like some desperate lover =p), I was like "guess what cake I decided to make?" And she got it right immediately! Woohoo~~ I am glad it turned out great haha the last time we made these was during W's wedding where we had to do 100 small cuppies but that was such a fun experience.


Check out his birthday presents
Tada! Beer, more beer...


To demostrate how small the kitchen is, TY had to create a make-shift stall to deep-fry the nuggets haha it was such a funny sight. Now he know how roadside hawkers sell their food. Many thanks to him who came to help me cut meat, squid, kimchi etc. We had our first kimchi steamboat, it was sooo good especially on a cold day.


Also Happy Birthday to Jo and Cecila, have a great one ladies!

Disney Adventure I: Magical Kingdom

We took so many pictures, it is hard for me to decide which ones to display hehe
There are photographers everywhere in all theme parks ready to take a picture for you, perfect for honeymoon couples if you ask me haha. Couples always face this issue when they travel but I guess after travelling alone for a few trips, I am contented to take pics with or without anyone inside the pic.
I do love taking picture with the characters, they will make kissing sounds inside their costumes when they hug you. For every character I took picture with, I asked Kenny the same old question " Do you think it is a guy or gal inside?"

There is no 1 favourite park for me, there is something in every park which capture the child inside me. I love love love the parades in Magic Kingdom! There is small performances through out the day, a characters march in the afternoon and do not miss the spectcular performance in the evening. With the castle all lit-up, together with the fireworks, it is a truly magical experience.

Another tip is please make your dining reservation well in advance! We got stuck with eating trashy pizza the whole day because there is no way you can get in any sit-down restaurant without prior reservation.

Inside the iconic Cinderella's castle is a restaurant " Cinderella's Royal Table", they served fixed lunches and dinners with special characters appearance from 60 USD per person, we were standing there pondering whether to spend so much money to eat with the fairy godmothers, finally we decided to, the lady said we had to make a reservation 4-6 months in advanced. Wow.
In fact for all resturants with characters appearance need a good 3 months reservation especially if you are going during peak season.

I think ours was super-peak season, the Q for rides is an average of 1 hour and it is so crowded everywhere. But we had fun =)

Jeff Dunham

Before we left of our roadtrip to NC, we managed to catch Jeff Dunham live in action and along with his puppets. Kenny love his acts and he is a really talented ventriquolist. Kenny's fave is Achmed, the dead terrorist, mine is Jose, the Jalapeno on a stick.

The stadium is packed, there are many more people who went to watch Jeff than Michael Buble for sure. In fact the crowded chanted along with Bubba J, the whole dialogue word for word. Check out some of his acts on Youtube.
"Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special"!
With Peanut and Jose

1st destination- North Carolina

By a stroke of luck, we have an extra 1 week of holidays wooohooooo we packed our bag and headed for North Carolina where some of our friends are based in for training.

En route we went to this little malaysian restaurant, authentic malaysian fare at a very affordable price, highly recommended for those residing in Atlanta.

Little Malaysia Restaurant

5150 Buford Hwy NE Ste A110Doraville,

GA 30340-1183Phone: (770) 458-1818

We did not see much of Goldsboro, NC actually it was purely a visiting-friends trip for me. I had so much fun! It felt really good to be catching up with friends, even if it is doing nothing, just yakking non-stop!

From top left, Lionel who is a blur blur darling, and the Quek family who had very kindly hosted us in their house with their daughter Ninghui who loves loves Elmo. She is especially delighted with the latest Elmo-Live who talks and sings haha such fun watching the kids trying to communicate with their toys. Last but not least, Ariel whom I first posted her pics when they visited in July. Time flies seeing how fast these little ones grow.

Most importantly to attend Princess Lizzie's one year old birthday party, the gorgeous girl of Alfie and Shewan and of course the niece of a dear friend ;)

Also, I want to wish Jo, who is departing to Oz tonight to pursue her dream, a safe flight and all the best for the exciting journey ahead! Haha I called her this morning the moment I woke up without realising it is 12 am in Singapore, oops, luckily she is still busy packing!

Although I talked to the girls online via MSN or Skype almost on a daily basis, it felt so much closer hearing their voices, make me realised I really do miss my gfs very much!!

Home from our long awaited "honeymoon"

North Carolina, Orlando and New York

So many pics to sort, so many stories to tell! Tune in for more, meanwhile I need to do laundry etc etc and my dearest hubby's birthday is fast approaching!

Meanwhile thanks to all who send their warmest wishes for Christmas and New Year. Here's wishing all a blessed and wonderful 2009 ahead!

Special congrats to the popping out of my baby nephew Cheng Yi, precious of ZZ and Kareen!