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TheJessicat - Extractions of a Disoriented Mind
  • Entertainment
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    • Local Artists
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    • Nightlife/Parties
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    • My Cookbook
    • Others/Fusion
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  • Beauty
    • Hair
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My Chinese New Year 2014 [Part One] : Family, Food & Festivity!

February 18, 2014 by thejessicat

 

Hiya dear readers!

I know Chinese New Year isn’t exactly over yet because there are 15 days of it in total (much like the Twelve Days of Christmas!) but hey, it’s already the 11th Day of CNY so I might as well get started on this post.

You know how I am when I procrastinate LOL.

Also, you are now reading this post on the 16th February even though I began writing it on the 10th. So obviously, Chinese New Year is now over as we speak hence deeming the paragraph above irrelevant. See what I told you about procrastinating? Bleh.

So let’s get on with today’s post before I digress, shall we?

 

 

I took a day off from work, so Chinese New Year 2014 began with me jet-setting back home to Penang on the morning of CNY eve.

The 45 minute flight was tiresome. Can’t someone invent a teleporter already? 45 minutes always leave me hanging – too short a time to sleep, too long a time to do anything else when you’re not allowed to use the phone onboard.

Read, you say? I don’t like the edges of my book getting all ratty and folded up whenever I take it travelling. Ugh!

 

My CNY-themed nails I did the night before I departed KL. Cool

With prosperity and auspiciousness in the air, you can’t go wrong with red and gold for Chinese New Year!

 

 High in the sky at 9am.

Couldn’t get any sleep so I was snapping away on my camera instead.

 

Arrived home and I was initially thinking of heading out to spend some time with my friends back home since I wouldn’t be able to spend much time in Penang this CNY but somehow, my forty winks ended up in a long, deep sleep for four whole hours.

Drats. Doubt it!

 

 But when I woke up to this, I cheered up instantly. Laughing Pretty sure you would too.

This was how my family reunion dinner looked like – steamboat!

 

 Mom, Dad and I enjoying our steamboat dinner at the comfort of

our own home – all lit up flamboyantly with CNY decor no less!

That’s us playing with firecrackers and sparklers too.

 

 

Chinese New Year 2014 – Day One (大年初一) I Surrender!

 

Woke up bright and early to loud CNY music resonating in my room all the way from the living room downstairs!

Daddy has a knack for blasting loud music during any festive season. Dolled up and made my way down to join the rest.

 

 Day One selfies!

 

Went into the living room to find mom and dad dressed similarly in traditional Chinese wear too.

Speaking of coincidence! This year is the first year I’ve actually donned a traditional outfit for Chinese New Year. Usually, I’d just throw on a red top or a red dress. So to see my parents dressed likewise was really a pleasant surprise! Cool

 

Daddy-O and I.

Mummykins and I.

 Definitely a member of the family too, after 12 years with us. Kakak and I!

Took another selfie with the red-hot ladies of the house.

 

Daddy then called us all over for angbao time. Wink

So as tradition goes, we are to greet each other and give a spiel of wishes and blessings unto the other. I’m bad at this, so I usually just go Gong Xi Fa Chai and some of the other sayings (which are so cool it rhymes!) that granny used to teach me.

 

Angbao moments. There’s one for everyone!

 

Time for family portraits!

I didn’t want to bombard this page with the innumerable family portraits we took, so here’s my favorite one.

 

 Love it so much I’m even considering developing this and putting it up in a frame!

 

 Not-so-formal family portrait – SELFIE STYLE!

 

Before the sun set, we made our way onto the North-South Highway for a road trip down south to spend the rest of our CNY Day One with my extended family. It was lucky that we were driving against the ridiculous traffic of the festive season! Surprised

It was an insane gridlock on the highway north-bound. We could see it from our side of the road. Phew!

 

 Setting up the dinner table.

 

 Firing up the grill for our barbeque!

 Uncle Mike was the mastermind behind the whole barbeque party and with his minions in the kitchen, we were fed with a scrumptious home-made feast straight from the grill!

 

Food placements on the table with red wine for everyone!

 No, this doesn’t include Penny our Silky Terrier in the background.

  A shot of some of the other food we made

Giant salad bowl, some kind of pork (I didn’t eat a single one), flower crabs,

Thai noodles, rice and sausages wrapped with bacon with potato wedges.

 

 Snapped from my seat.

 Group photo of all of us! Family + long-time family friends. Smile

We had a wonderful time! Long conversations, so much fun and catching up.

 

 When darkness descended, we started to play with paper lanterns, also known as Kuomintang to the Chinese folk.

 I wrote my well-wishes on it before I lit it up and set it to fly to above and beyond.

 

 Prepare for take-off!

 Firing the blazing ember!

 

 Looks like we’re ready.

 One for the road!

 Up, up and awaaayy!!

We watched it with glee as it drifted slowly away from our line of vision before fading into the darkness.

 

And that was pretty much how CNY Day One was like for me. Moving on… Ha Ha

 

Chinese New Year 2014 – Day Two (大年初二)

 

I woke up pretty late due to the late night before. But not too late to doll up for our family luncheon at Casuarina Hotel in Meru. Wanna take a look at what they have to offer? Read on. Cool

Today,  I wore something oriental again. It was the traditional Chinese Cheongsam!

 

 Selfies!

Proper full-length outfit of the day shot!

 

 Group selfie! The boys at the back were still busy with the food LOL

 Part of the Yee Sang dish on the buffet spread

 

 Wit the chef at the carving station.

 

Take a look at the well-plated and colourful spread of roast beef, chicken and lamb!

Only downside though, most of the cuts were cold as the roast station didn’t

come with the spotlight heat lamp.

 

 At the cold cut table. There was quite a number of food on the hot food area and it was very widely spread apart so I didn’t bother taking a photo (this isn’t one of my food review ads anyway)

 

 Chinese New Year cookies and cake were part of the selection too.

 

Sweet treats like pies, cakes, tarts and ice-cream were abundant.

 

 Fancy a healthier alternative? Here, have some fruits for dessert instead. Laughing

 

We thought the buffet spread was decently palatable and it was satisfying lunch buffet. Could do with lots of room for improvement but seeing as it is a hotel newly constructed in the area, it was a fairly good attempt! Embarassed

Check out some family photos we snapped after lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

When we were just about done, I began exploring all around the hotel and its vicinity. Ha Ha

Found a pretty place full of Chinese New Year decor for more photo ops! 

 

 Test shot.  Okay, I’m loving this podium area already!

 

Was busy taking selfies when Uncle Mike appeared like a wild fox out of the blue

and stuffed this Mandarin Orange into my mouth. Hey, can’t you see I’m busy? 😛 😛

 

Got mom to take a couple of shots for me while waiting for the whole motley crew to arrive.

How pretty is the decor, right?

 

Spent every day of my childhood years with these two women in my life.

Mommy & kakak.

 

 Flanked by my homeboys, couzzies Shaun & Meng!

 

Shaun had a random idea to flex our biceps for the camera LOL.

We’ve got the powaaaahh! Say what?

 

CNY 2014 family photo! It’s a shame daddy didn’t join us for the dinner though;

it would be complete otherwise!

 

My beloved Popoh and I. Or MeeMaw. Or Gran. Or Gramma. Or Granny.

Or however you wanna call it.

 She’s the only grandparent I have left now so I’m holding on to her real tight! Laughing

 

Every Chinese New Year, we celebrate her birthday.

I can’t recall a single CNY not celebrating Popoh’s birthday!

 

The rest of Chinese New Year Day Two was just spent lounging around at home, gambling with relatives and catching up. All I did at night was read a few magazines and curled up to watch The Big Bang Theory.

Okay, time for the next day! Big Smile

 

Chinese New Year 2014 – Day Three(大年初三)

 

 Selfies in the car!

Wearing another oriental top – this time in lime green with motifs of Chinese flowers.

 

I don’t exactly like the presence of children in general but I think I’m beginning to get the hang of it.

Meet my 9 year old cousin.

 

It was Yee Sang day for us today! LOUUUUU AHHHHH!

*insert Chinese quotes/wishes that rhyme here*

I should really memorize it and recite it with pride next year. It’ll be fun Ahh!

 

We headed out to the mall for some shopping and coffee. Coincidentally, there was a stage performance going on.

It was the Chinese New Year acrobatics troupe from China! Check them out. Their skills are pretty badass. Click the image to watch the short videoclip.

 

Watching the #Chinese #acrobatics troupe perform. OMG their balance, stability and flexibility are top notch!! #CNY

 

 

Wow so proud of our local #Chinese #acrobatics troupe! Why didn’t my parents send me to such classes when I was a nimble kid? So epic; I’m so impressed. I wanna do that too!!

 

When all was over and done with, I decided to adjourn back to KL on Monday.

Didn’t want to waste the extra leave I initially applied for as I may have plans to jet-set somewhere far away this year. Wink 

Nothing concrete yet; just sketchy plans for a one-week vacay.

Maybe I should throw a dart on the world map and see where it lands hehe.

 

Goodbye shot. At the Ipoh Railway Station! 

 

My Chinese New Year 2014’s accessories are sponsored by Swarovski and The Wild Things.

Will be blogging about their amazing Pandora-inspired charm bracelet soon!

In the meantime, check them out and pick your favorites. Cool

 

That marks an end to my Chinese New Year this year.

Actually no it doesn’t. Since there’s 15 days in total after all, I spent the rest of my CNY celebrating it with good friends and colleagues back in KL.

But since this post is relatively long enough and my mug of coffee is already empty, I should leave Part Two for another day. Laughing

  

 Oh here’s a snap of some of my bounty.

No I don’t have any of it left as I used it all to settle all my bills.

I am debt-free now! LaughingLaughing

 

I shall end my Chinese New Year 2014 blog post with a picture of my favorite ang pow.

It may not be the biggest, but it is hands-down, the best angpow I’ve received this year.

 

 

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Flashback: Celebrating Chinese New Year 2013. Hiss hiss. My zodiac year of the snake!

July 11, 2013 by thejessicat
 

 

Today's post is all about the celebration, the culture and the family amidst the Chinese New Year festivity.

Uh-huh. Though I'm fully aware that we've already come to the middle of the year, I'm adamant on posting this despite being half a year late!

 

Because it's MY YEAR. wink

 

Ever since the inception of this blog, it has since became imperative for me to write something about Chinese New Year (CNY), every year without fail. Ergo, I can't and won't let this year go by without a word – especially since it's my own zodiac year!

This is also especially for some of my family members and close family friends who have been waiting for this post and non-local readers who wanted to see how I celebrated my CNY. Sorry I'm late! crying

So bear with me while I (try) to VERY briefly write and characterize my CNY 2013 as succinctly as I can.

 

Mandarin Oranges. 

 

Angpows.

 

Chinese New Year cookies – pity they only come once a year, right? frown

 

MORE CHINESE NEW YEAR SNACKS.

 

GONG XI FA CHAI! First day of Chinese New Year.

 

The Lion Dance troupe performing in the middle of the night just outside my house.

 

The Lion Dance troupe up close

 

Standing by the CNY decorations at the foyer of my home.

 

Ladies helping out and making preparations for our family steamboat dinner!

(while daddy does the prayer stuff and takes a nap LOL)

 

Steamboat dinner with my immediate family.

 

 

The smallest of what a family can comprise is what we have always been. Granted, we are a close-knit one!

Shall we cue the happy family pictures already? heart

 

Mom, dad and I makes the family I'm speaking of heart

 

Hugs galore!

 

The man of the house, Mr. Daddy and his bitches girls.

 

After our family steamboat dinner, we had relatives come over.

 

I went visiting my buddies next day!

 

With Mr. BFF Vincent!

 

Annual CNY gathering with the buddies

 

Boo!

 

Cue the Jagerbombs and CNY gambling!

 

 

After the alcohol kicked in LOL

 

Random selfie while I took a break from gambling with the boys.

 

Mom and I grabbing a quick breakfast the next day

 

Brought out babyChivas

 

Jumped into the car.

 

Roadtrip time! Guess where we are going?

 

Two hours down south, we arrived Ipoh. Look who greeted us happily! wink

 

My dearest popoh giving me my angpows!

Why does she look more excited than I am?

 

Lion Dance troupe invasion!!!

 

Our (very brown) lunch.

Trust me, it tasted ten times better than it looks! cheeky

 

A compulsory photo with the God of Prosperity plushie 

and a bowl of ancient money from China.

 

Hello smiley

 

Three generations: Popoh, mom and I.

The fourth one will have to wait, okay? Uh-huh. No pressure alright. *rolls eyes*

 

En route to the big reunion dinner with the extended family!

 

Headed to one of our favorite Chinese restaurants in town, Restoran Kok Thai!

 

All decorated for a night of family Chinese banquet dinners!

 

Camlovin' with Uncle Mikey.

 

With the (fairy) godmother and popoh

 

This one is a prized photo with the cousin, as it is one of the

rare photos we snap together whilst not drunk/in a club/at a party/at a rave.

 

Mommy dearest and Uncle Mikey

 

I think I must've spread the love for camwhoring to her. Whoooops! 

 

With Auntie Karen and Uncle Philip

 

With the two sisters – granny and grand aunt.

I think this should be a foresight of how I would look 50 years later?

 

And it begins! The Chinese tradition of to lou our yee-sang.

(For my non-Chinese readers, it means to toss this dish about haphazardly as a symbol of prosperity)

I know right, us Chinese are all about being prosperous LOL

 

Just some traditional Chinese dishes in our 8-course dinner:

Braised cerbal chicken with mushrooms

 

Steamed brocolli, scallops and mushrooms

 

Mom, couzie Shaun and I helping ourselves to the dish

 

Pork Trotters with dumplings

 

GIGANTIC steamed prawns!

 

Cue the red wine.

 

Kochabi – a traditional local Chinese dessert (a very frozen ice-cream texture)

which means 'the taste of old times' in literal translation.

 

We entertained ourselves to fireworks and firecrackers at night

 

I had my fair share of fun too!

 

Mom and I flanking kakak heart

 

Cue more alcohol. Yummy.

 

Thanks Uncle Mike, for this lovely photo!

I wish I didn't look so drunk though. indecision

 

Traditional Chinese mah-jong with the family

 

Third day of Chinese New Year. We went avisiting more friends and family!

 

More yee-sang and more homecooked meals. All thanks to granny and kakak, the masterchefs!

 

Time to toss it like a savage and ravage it like the last yee-sang on the phase of earth!

 

Hi again. Off to another reunion dinner

 

Came home bursting at my sides to this handsome furkid of mine on the bed

 

Couldn't help it. You'd be tempted to camwhore with this fluffy ball of love too.

 

After all the festivities with the family and friends back home is all over, it was time to head back to the city. 

Despite having15 days of Chinese New Year, work beckons! I returned to the office on the 5th day of CNY.

 

The lion dance troup invading our office!

 

With the colleagues 

 

At night, we headed off for our company's Chinese New Year dinner!

 

Baked cereal prawns

 

Steamed grouper fish

 

Baked chili crabs!

 

'nuff said.

 

And yes, you guessed it. Yee-sang again.

 

A quick shot before making a giant mess of the yee-sang!

I think I'm pretty good at this already LOL.

 

With my pretty girls, Carmen and Sheena.

 

I think that wraps up my Chinese New Year 2013. cool

Was that brief enough? Hahaha. Better a simple post than completely forgetting to have this up.

 

So what do you really like about CNY?

Just like every year, Chinese New Year consists of five most important F WORDs for me.surprise

Don't jump to conclusions just yet. Why F WORDs, you ask? They are:

 

FAMILY.

 

FRIENDS.

 

FOOD.

 

FLAMING FORMULAS.

 

FORTUNE. 

 

There you have it. You can stop bugging me for Chinese New Year photos now hahaha.

Sorry for the tardiness, though! frown

 

But this FORTUNE a.k.a angbao only applies if you are still single. YIPPEE! laugh

The married ones ain't gettin' nothing! 

 

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A month after Chinese New Year.. better late than never – GONG XI FA CAI!

February 24, 2012 by thejessicat

 

 

So after exactly a month, I've finally got round to finishing the batch editing of all the photos from my 2012 Chinese New Year!

Don't know why I didn't exactly take as much "proper photos" this CNY – all of the photos you are about to see today are all shot with sub-par phone/tablet camera quality. 

 

If I could sum up Chinese New Year for me every year (in no particular order), it  would be :

 

1. Family

2. Food

3. Hometown

4. Angpows! $$$

5. Red

 

So here's what I was up to this Chinese New Year – in photos!

 

So here we go… FAMILY!

Yup, that's my immediate family. Small, but complete nonetheless 😀

 

At 5'7", I believe I inherited my height from my dad.  Don't know if that's supposed to be a good thing, since I'm always b!tching about my height on Twitter. Heh. 

Anyway, roadtrip up North to Penang with my fellow Penangites! :D

 

Penang Bridge during sunset!

 

The moment I crossed the bridge, I felt a tinge of nostalgia sweeping up to me like a morning breeze.

Good ol' Penang; encompassing so much memories of growing up, life, love, friendships and more 

 

KOMTAR: Penang's tallest landmark heritage

 

Brought the boyfie home for CNY. 

Hahahaahah  what does High Expectations Asian Father have to say?

 

lololol just kidding! They got along pretty damn well 

 

Seafood dinner by the seaside with the parents & him for our early CNY reunion dinner. Being islanders, seafood is one of our staples amongst many others!

(Don't say rice. I will smack you) 

Look for cooking classes at www.OnlineCollegeClasses.org and you'll see that there is so much more to the cuisine than simply rice!

 

I daresay this was one of the best dinners I've ever had

 

We had so much delicious, freshly caught seafood on our table!

 

Teluk Kumbar Seafood is the name. 

And that's where you're gonna having your sunset seafood dinner when in Penang

 

Here are only 5 outta 8 dishes we ordered.

 

Where else did we go for our Chinese New Year reunion dinner?

 

To Kok Thai Chinese Restaurant for an 8-course Chinese Banquet dinner! 🙂

This photo doesn't do the food justice at all!

 

3 generations at a round table for dinner 

 

The boyfie stood out tonight; being the only white in an Asian restaurant on Chinese New Year

 

And that's not all..

 

In my family, food comes in abundance as the cooking never stops! 🙂

Delicous home-made reunion dinner meals & yee sang throughout the 1st week of Chinese New Year

 

Spent time with my maid who, if you didn't already know, 

was my nanny & helped to look after me when I was a 3 year old toddler – till now! 

 

Spent time with some friends over Barbeque Steamboat at

Town Steamboat along Macalister Road in the city

 

I was so full & didn't feel like talking. So I got bored. 

 

At Healy Mac's Irish Bar & Restaurant along Straits Quay!

Don't remember what I ordered, most likely along the lines of Kahlua, Baileys, 

Wild Turkey or some other form of coffe-cream liqueurs.

As always.

What's next?

 

It was Australia Day!

Fancy some shisha and a bit of Down Under spirit mate? 

 

Went to the famous Kek Lok Si Temple.

Translated from Penang Hokkien as 'Temple of Supreme Bliss'

 

Welcome to the largest Buddhist temple in South East Asia! 

 

Just for the record, I'm not Buddhist.

So… why exactly did we pay a visit to Kek Lok Si temple this Chinese New Year again?

 

To watch other people pray

 

For pretty lights!  

The elaborate decorations during the festive season were gorgeous!

 

To take photos with Buddha…

 

And take photos with a bigger Buddha…

 

and take photos with Buddha again…..

 

… not just ONE Buddha, but many many Buddhas all lined up in a row…

 

We also wanted to climb up and take photos with the massive Guan Yin (Goddess of Mercy) statue, but alas we were too late.

 

We had to go as soon as the gates began to shut.

Good lord, I felt as though I've just warped back from China for a second! :D

 

And last but not least….. gambling session with the buddies!

 

Listen up, lucky cat! Bring mommy some good luck aight? 😀 😀

 

Just so you know, he most certainly kicked some ass 🙂

Good job, son!  Black cats aren't harbingers of bad luck after all, in your case, BabyChivas!

 

We caused the banker to be bankrupt and yes, I won double the capital I put in!

 

 

Hope you had a smashing Chinese New Year celebration of the Black Water Dragon just like I did :D

A late post is better than none! There you go, my Chinese New Year this year!

 

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Hi! Welcome to TheJessicat.com - an urban lifestyle blog established since 2005, written from the perspective of a Malaysian blogger. Discover the latest and all that the city has to offer! Do bear with her occasional rants & musings though. Happy reading! ❤

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