It slipped my mind of another significant celebration because of the recent wedding. As of yesterday, my blog reached its tenth anniversary! Gosh, where did the time go?
It never crossed my mind that when I started this a decade ago, I would go on for so long. It seems that there is so much to write and share. Ten years is a long time. Honestly, it was simply to write and keep memoirs of significant moments in my life covering my travels, hobbies, and adventures. Who would have thought this prevailed all these years and still going strong?
Well, happy anniversary to my blog, and a big thank you to all my readers and supporters for keeping my blog going! A toast to many more years ahead.
Saturday was an eventful day for the family. The fun part was when the groom and his merry best men arrived and had to overcome the challenges prepared by the bridesmaids before being allowed entry. There was laughter aplenty, and the expressions were priceless.
The Chinese tea ceremony went well in the morning. Before we knew it, the whole affair was over, and soon, we had to get ready for dinner that evening. The Wedding Dinner was a cozy affair. My niece was gorgeous in her gown, and her new hubby was equally dashing. They make a perfect couple. My heart is bursting with love for them!
Seeing all the aunties, uncles, and cousins again was a boisterous affair. I discovered I had a niece (my cousin’s daughter) that I never knew existed! Oh, my goodness. She lived in Australia all these years and recently came back to visit. It’s nice to have family celebrations to discover the family tree has grown.
Like the previous wedding dinner (of my nephew), we dressed to look our best. I opted for a Cheong Sam this time instead of an evening dress. I don’t dress up often, so it’s nice to be able to do so once in a while. And it will be a while before we all gather again for another family celebration.
My heart is bursting with love and joy as there is another wedding in the family! This time, it is the elder twin of my only sibling. It is another auspicious celebration as we welcome another new member to the family after the recent addition of the younger twin’s better half in March.
Words can hardly describe the excitement as we prepare for tomorrow. The Chinese tea ceremony will take place in the morning, followed by the wedding dinner in the evening. I look forward to seeing and raising my glass to all the aunts, uncles, and cousins again, making merry, and sharing the family’s happiness on this momentous occasion.
A week ago, the latest pineapple was almost ready for harvesting. It needed a few more days to go, but hubby was worried that the garden squirrels would get to it. So he quickly harvested the fruit. However, we had to let it sit in the kitchen to fully ripen before eating it.
The trick to ensure the fruit ripens well is to hang it upside down and let gravity do the job to aid the process. So far, it is going very well. As each day passed, I could smell the fragrance of the pineapple whenever I walked past the cabinet where we hung the pineapple. Mmm, so wonderful!
See the string?
In a day or two, we should be able to savor the aromatic pineapple harvested from our garden. Lovely.
The days leading up to my birthday went by so fast! We had an early birthday dinner celebration last weekend with the girls. It was such a gastronomic indulgence.
A toast to a good year ahead!
Then hubby and I played a round of golf at Royal Perak Golf Club on Wednesday. I had the shot of the day on Hole 5, a Par 3, landing my ball a foot and a half away from the cup for a birdie. Perhaps my Hole-in-One shot is coming soon?
Prelude to my Hole-in-One soon?
But the actual day of my birthday, the day went by so slowly. We were back in Alor Star and it was like a furnace. I could feel my body fat melting away, which was good because I’d been feeling a bit chunky, eating so much leading up to my special day.
And then it rained, no, it poured and poured and poured! Mother Nature was relentless. The outside perimeter of the house was flooded. Oh no! It was sometime before the rain subsided, and we had to clean up the place. Not the ideal activity to do on one’s birthday but it had to be done.
I was sweaty, I was tired and hungry. Sigh. It could be worse because look at the bright side – I am healthier now after my recent hospitalization, and I feel the love of my family and friends for their good wishes on my special day. That’s all that matters. Happy birthday to me regardless of the circumstances!
Whenever we have a long weekend, I get disoriented with the days, losing track of what day it is because there’s no agenda to meet. We are not mindful of the time and enjoy the break.
Hari Raya was on Saturday, but we had an extra public holiday on Friday and a replacement holiday today. As a result, it is four days of holiday, and today, being a Monday does not feel like one.
Well, holidays are always appreciated, whether short or long stretches, for we kept busy with golf, food, and shopping! Yes, it’s a Monday today, but more like a Sunday, so enjoy the break while we can because tomorrow, reality kicks in, and it’s back to routine.
We found the perfect solution to protect our figs from being raided on the trees in the garden. Who would have known that used Starbucks brown bags work better than the much-touted netting bags and reflecting CDs?
After the last raid, we had to do something. I found some Starbucks takeaway bags tucked between the storage containers on the kitchen counter and decided to use them. I cut one bag into three pieces and wrapped the ripening fruits individually. And I added staples to secure the bag firmly on the plants.
This little extra effort has proven to be fruitful, literally. Yesterday afternoon, hubby harvested a large fig thus far compared to all previous harvests. Measuring four centimeters across, it was the sweetest and juiciest home-grown fig! Delicious.
Previous harvests were puny because hubby plucked them before the squirrels could eat them. And this prevented the fruits from growing to their maximum. So now we know that brown paper bags can protect and, at the same time, allow the fig to grow even more – we will have to get more paper bags.
Juiciest fig from the garden!
However, we are using a Lunar New Year red packet because we ran out of brown bags. Perhaps this can work too? As long as we cover the ripening figs in sight and smell, the garden squirrels have no chance to raid.
Fig Defenders are now one up against the Fig Raiders. Yay.
Whenever we traveled up North to hubby’s hometown, we would stop at the same place and eat the same thing in Ipoh. You could say we are creatures of habit.
On this trip, we decided to break from the usual. So we stopped at Big Tree Foot (Dai Shu Geok) in Pasir Pinji instead. The last time we ate here was before the pandemic broke, four years ago, if I recall.
At the stop, we decided to try new food choices, deviating from our usual and typical. Suddenly, we are so adventurous. Hahaha.
We had Ipoh Chee Cheong Fun, something we hardly eat. It was very smooth and bursting with flavors with all the different sauces on top.
The mouth watering choices of Chee Cheong Fun (top left), porridge (top right) and Popiah (bottom).
And we also had Popiah, which was just as good. Rounding up the spread was a Pork Porridge with Mixed Innards and Iced Black Coffee each. Yum, so good. How come we never considered these choices before?
Every morning, when I look out my kitchen window, I see the pineapple in the garden growing beautifully. It crosses my mind daily, will we get to savor the fruit this time? The garden squirrel got to the last ripened fruit before us, eating it until the core.
Well, horrors of all horrors, history has repeated itself! The heavy pineapple somehow fell to the ground despite being propped up with a stick. And the garden squirrel started on it as the wire mesh fell off, devouring about a third of the fruit before being discovered. Hrmph.
The mesh, the fruit and the fruitless plant
We have decided not to plant pineapples anymore after this latest mishap. They take too long even though we don’t have to care for the growth constantly. And when it comes time to harvest, the garden squirrels are a tad too fast for us. Sigh.
I was away earlier this week and hardly had time to pen my thoughts. And when I finally had a moment, I found myself driving back from hubby’s hometown; as such, being at the wheel, how to pen my thoughts?
I kept the iPad in the boot, and for five hours, I did not play any games. Hahaha. The drive back was tiring because there was heavy traffic at several stretches on the Plus highway. But the build-up was of no reason – no accident or even roadworks. Sheesh, slow down for nothing.
Although it was tedious, sipping my green tea and listening to my music helped to collect my thoughts for the next entry. You could call it a good me-time.
Angieneering 
Remarks