All About Tiger

Just like the horoscope, Chinese has their zodiac represented by twelve animals. Each Chinese lunar year is represented by an animal from the zodiac on a rotation basis. Year 2010 lunar new year is the year of the tiger which happens to be my Chinese zodiac (because I was born in the year of the tiger two cycles ago).

The tiger year is extra special in my family because my father is born in the year of the tiger and my father's father (my grandpa) is also born under this animal zodiac. Since my year only come once every twelve years, I decided to compile everything tiger-related.

Just to share some fun facts/myth with you. The tiger is a wild and fierce animal by nature. They hunt and kill weaker animals for dinner. Therefore, Chinese parents will try to avoid having babies in the year of the tiger for fear that the child will be fierce and brutal like the tiger. Besides that, couples will also avoid getting hitched during the year of the tiger.

Chinese new year greeting cards



Soft toys (one for myBecky and one for myself)



Mask distributed by a random clown at the mall


Lovely paper-cutting


Edible decoration on cakes



Print on my aunt's t-shirt


Red packets






Happy Tiger Year !!

Home-Made Cookies

I am suppose to post an entry on Chinese New Year cookies much sooner (I initially wanted to post it before new year eve), but as usual I procrastinate. Not true! I had been pretty, I mean super busy with work. As soon as I have some non-work related time, I will be helping mum with the new lunar year preparation. Hence the delay in that entry. Enough of excuses, lets get to the very graphic post.

Almond cookies




Corn flakes cookies



Chocolate chips cookies



Cashew nut cookies



Kuih bangkit (typical traditional cookie)



The end result


Perfect gift for relative and friends

A Matter Of Choice

Last week had been a horrible and really stressful week for me. I was assigned (forced actually) to complete a case which previously took twenty days in ten days time. Half of the budgeted time and mind you, it's not an easy case. The company is a multi-national company and it deals with the USA. I work till 9pm every night and I have got to take home the rest to do till 2am. To further rub salt into the wound, I have not got my bonus!

It makes me start thinking is this really what I want to do for the rest of my life? A nine till five job in an industry that I am not very interested in, meeting serious and boring people everyday. The plus side of a nine till five job is you give people an impression that you are professional and your work place is air-conditioned and it's suppose to be a low work-hazard job.

Recently, an aunt of mine from USA (literally she doesn't have any blood ties with my family but she is my aunt. Complicated! Got to ask my grandmother how the family tree works.) visited Penang. She is a very independent mother of three.

She has three odd jobs and enjoy every single one of them. She does not earn a lot nor lead an extravagant lifestyle. But she is able to travel around the world for two months and she doesn't have to pay for accommodation. Her odd jobs and her personality made her many friends from around the world. She has many tales to tell from her journeys around the world. She is happy with her current financial position and lifestyle.

This makes me ponder.

Is life all about securing a job with stable income, getting paid regularly, buying house and cars, getting married, multiplying the human race and paying off loan?

Or is it about understanding what this world is all about? To see for yourself the colourful cultures and lifestyles of people from all walks of life.

I might not be rich but I am happy.

My January

The first month of year 2010 is coming to an end, how time flies. I had been really tied up with work that I am on the verge of quitting. Nice colleagues and a nice boss is the only thing that keeps me hesitating to drop the resignation letter. It's Friday, TGIF! Lets not talk about work, lets check out what I did in the past one month.

My family discovered a sea-view dim sum restaurant. My dad being a dim sum lover decided to check out the place.
Dim sum corner by day, seafood restaurant by night.
Ala olden Shanghai balcony.
First round of order...
Round two. All dim sum are made from chicken which is a novelty because usually dim sum are made from pork.

The colour theme of the restaurant is black and white :



During the month of January, I ordered 30 chicken pies in total on two separate occasions. The pies are home-made, very tasty and reasonably priced. I had to place the order two weeks before getting to savour them.


Have you seen this before?

It is vermicelli noodles in red paste soup. It is a 'Foo Chow' clan delicacy. Many dare not try it because of its red-based soup. I personally find it tasty depsite the shocking colour.

Cup cakes as souveniers from my friend's wedding. She is married to a guy from Kuala Lumpur through her parents arrangement. She hardly knew the guy and had only met him thrice but she has got to spend the rest of her life with him. I admire her courage and her trust in her parents decision.

As i have mentioned earlier, I am really stress out from work and I was really glad to receive this gift. Chocolates never fail to cheer people up.


Besides work, my weekends are pretty occupied with cookies baking in preparation for the chinese lunar new year.



Do expect an entry on my cookies baking in about a fortnight time. Till then, here is Mich signing off.

Re-newing New Year Resolutions.

It's already year 2010. How time flies, it just seems like yesterday we were all excited and some afraid of the millennium 2000 and today, a decade has past since then.

(Distraction! An insect just flew past me and I am very scared of insects so I killed it. Looking at its black dead body on the floor, I feel pretty guilty now. It does me no harm...yet...but what if it suddenly stings me or my dog or anyone else?)

Year 2010 is suppose to be my year because it's my Chinese zodiac year, the year of the tiger and also because my birthday is on October 10, so this year my birthday will be on 10-10-10. Yay!

Anyway, when we ring out the old year and ring in the new, it's time for people to make new year resolutions. For me, I am re-newing my resolutions brought forward from last year. I wonder do people really keep their resolutions because I certainly failed to do so.

Lets make a list of my resolutions for year 2010, be it carried forward or newly made :

1. Eat healthily, exercise more ~ last year, I simply said lose weight but I think the ideal way to staying slim is to eat right and sweat more.

2. Gain more knowledge ~ last year, I resolute to get a degree and learn a foreign language. This time around, I won't limit myself to a certain field or language. Bring it on, be it learning how to slaughter a chicken or how to survive in a jungle.

3. Stay positive and motivated at all time ~ I fare quite well in keeping this resolution and will continue making it my resolution for years to come.

4. Travel to at least one country besides Singapore and Thailand ~ am making it my goal to visit Hong Kong before my birthday.

5. To do good and be good ~ to not let work/career be a priority in my life. Human beings and my surrounding are much more important than those documents piling up on my table. To sincerely help people in need or simply lend a listening ear.

6. Prove that people do keep their resolutions ~ will not force myself but will discipline myself and make it a habit to walk my talk.

A random snapshot of dad's bonsai.