Brunch at Loy's

Super Delicious.....

The Buffet Spread... just dig in!!

Best Carrot Cake, EVER!! Special Order accepted!

Our gracious hostess

Food glorious food....... a meal of home cooked "lontong" dishes by our gracious hostess goes a long way... what with good company and fun!!After eating ... its tall tale time!!

2 simple riddles:
Aunt Lucy has a big one
Aunt Molly has two small ones
A man has none and
A lady has it in front

Ramasamy has a long one
The wife will use the husband's one
The priest will not use his one
and your brother has one

GGC - Happy Times

Hahahahahaha!! This is the best stress reliever!

Just give us a table and some chairs in a comfortable environment..... and you will see happy and laughing faces like this.................Golden Girls having another eat out and chit-chatting session.......

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

Are you familiar with this term "Familiarity breeds contempt". Actually the more I think about it the more I agree with it. Indeed when people gets too familiar with each other, we see a lot of the less desirable.

For example, my friend was telling me that she knows a couple who live with each other for seven years and finally decided to marry but the marriage lasted only 6 months. Why? I am sure its not the mere marriage certificate that changes the situation; it must be the human factor that has changed! Someone certainly let down their guard with the stability of marriage.....

We are definitely more polite with mere strangers we meet than we are with our friends, worst still our spouses, children, siblings or family members we lived with. With people close to us, we tend to forget to say "please", "thank you" or a simple "may I". Why? Simply that familiarity breeds contempt......

Maybe we should start looking at the way we treat our friends and love ones and put some effort into how we relate with each other ... you may just make the world a better place for some....

Do you see the rain? Or maybe not.
Maybe it is such a familiar sight that we have taken it for granted!!

Stop once in a while to smell the flowers, appreciate mother earth.
Do not allow contempt to get you, nature is always there to awe you!!

"Death"

Death ~~ what is it to you?

Most people fear death and do not even want to talk about it or simply avoid the subject in totality.

Have you ever ponder what death is all about?

I like what I read, this definition about death in Tony Parsons' book "One for my baby"; the words of Canon Henry Scott Holland.....

He said....

"Death is nothing at all. I have slipped away into the next room. I am I and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still."

"Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone, wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me."

"Let my name be ever the household word it always was. Let it be spoken without effect, without the ghost of a shadow on it. Life means all that it ever means. It is the same as it ever was - there is absolutely unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident! Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner. All is well."For me, Holland's words are well said, simply makes "death" ~ the much feared word sounds so manageable, so easy to comprehend, something everyone needs to come to term with....... one fine day. The eventuality is definite ~~ we do not know when and how.

So, lets live our life like there is no tomorrow ....... taking each lovely day, one day at a time ...... always be thankful for yet another day to live.....

Let's live!!!

Nineteen Forty Nine

ninETEEn FOrTyninE

My favourite restaurant in Beijing city............
the food is good, with lots of choices and the food presentation second to none,
environment is superb and truly unique in its own style!Jimmie, the cricket taking a break and some sun tanning outside;
otherwise he will be entertaining the diners in the fine dining restaurant.
Jimmie sings non-stop until someone comes near, he can somehow
sense the presence of human.... all will suddenly be quiet.
The Noodle Bar.... where you are served the best ramen
with a choice of pork ribs or beef condimentsDisplay of attractive, love-to-own and expensive art sculptures for sales around the premises

Dine & Wine

After 2 and a half years, finally the mystery woman was introduced to "Charlie"s angels.......:} in a restaurant called 1949 that serves Beijing Duck.... crispy, roasted, crunchy duck skin... yum yum....

The Chef carving the perfectly roasted duck.....

Duck skin served on white duck plate

condiments to go with the duck skin.... oh that little duck is not for eating, its a chopsticks stand

Diane and Marcella

Vina and Diane
(all natural shots.... no posing allowed)

This is the best and the fun part. The duck sauce requires some dressing. First you spoon the mustard and ginger paste on to the sauce in circular motion. Then you swirl your sauce plate in circular movement until a beautiful pattern comes on......you might not do very well on the 1st time.... just like me

Then you spoon the crispy fried shallots in the middle!

See what I meant? This one was done by the expert! Vina......

Oh, I forgot to take pictures of the best part of the meal, the desserts; they were so delicious that we can't wait to take picture before we dig in.....sweet rice balls with different flavour of ice cream inside and the best mini egg tarts I ever tasted... the tarts even have frosted decoration on it and its piping hot.....

Finally, while we dine and wine, we were being entertained by Jimmy, the cricket. He sang all the way through our meals until when we asked and the waitress brought him in his cage to introduce him, then he stopped singing (shy, we think)......special!!!

Beijing Skyline

Pictures taken on a clear sunny day .... the sun is setting over the Beijing skyline. The odd looking structure is the CCTV building just completed about a year ago?...

The CCTV Tower

The building is not on fire; though one beside the CCTV tower (the one on the right) was burnt down recently due to some fire crackers; the building was a brand new hotel supposed to open the day after the fire..... it is now a big eyesore!

The burnt building .... brownish in colour

These 2 pictures taken on a clear morning....