What's life?
A Chinese New Year weekend turned retrospective as he contemplated on the meaning of life, inspired by the significant events leading to the brand new year.
Life is...bittersweet
The weekend took off with a brunch at Marmalade. They ordered all their favourites like the infamous carrot cake and homemade teas while he tested the Spaghetti With Smoked Salmon. The dishes were good, as usual. Everything went so well...until the staff came by with a lovely "no photography of the food allowed" greeting. So, as much as he'd love to visualise his joy, especially of that new found dish, he was left utterly disappointed. Anyway, the spaghetti was fantastic! The salmon was cooked just pinkishly right while the warm cream cheese sauce was rich and ever flavourful with each bite. Sad, isn't it?
Acceptance is about letting go.
Life is...full of surprises
Who would have thought a lion dance was going to start moments after the bittersweet brunch. Not just any lion dance, but a performance by the world-renowned, made-in-Malaysia Kun Seng Keng troupe. The crowd was left spellbound. Here are some highlights.
Of agility, coordination, grandeur and speed.
Almost a love story.
A change of scene.
The funky and harmless Qilin (Chinese Unicorn) took centrestage.
Whose your daddy now? Say my name! Say my name!
Surprises, take it with open arms (and enjoy it, truly).
Life is...pursuing completeness
What is completeness? A reunion dinner of friends and family, filled with love and of course, good food. The venue was his staple Taman Batu Restaurant. The turnout, 24 pax. The food; abundant, delicious and warm. Here are some interesting dishes that completed the night.
The no-frills, flavoursome, colourful Yu Sang.
The crispy-skinned Suckling Pig.
The textural and aromatic Fish Meat Filled Chicken Skin. 
The rich and prosperous Braised Pig Trotter.
The sweet/savoury, crispy Deep-Fried Prawns With Salted Egg.
Completeness never felt so full.
Life is...hopeful
Like the break of dawn. Like that beautiful Sunday morning. Hoping the first meal of the day would be the best. Hoping the revisit to Marco Polo would be worthwhile. Hoping the rest could wake up in time. Here are some of the hope-turned-delicious dim sums.
Not a dim sum, but the freshest, most refined and most flavourful Yu Sang he had this year.
The beautiful blend of textures and tastes in the Fried Radish Carrot Cake.
The tender bites of the simple Fish Paste.
The ubiquitous yet wonderfully flavoured Char Siu Bao.
The soft and warm Glutinous Rice With Chicken
When there's a purpose, there's hope.
That was the last Chinese New Year weekend for the year.
But seemed like a lesson of a lifetime.
Life is certainly...a weekend extravaganza.
Of wonderful colours and flavours.
If you want it to be...
Still in time to wish you a wonderful Chap Goh Meh.
Hope you had a fruitful new year celebration this year.
30 comments:
A great lion dance performance collection. Nice traditional food captures! I haven't tried them for a very long time now.
Alexander
Alex's World! - http://www.kakinan.com/alex
for someone living in singapore, you sure have a heck a lot of eating out in KL!!!
hello, saw ur link rom another blogger. u gt nice pics !
the yusheng looks yummy! :)
life is an eating alive ! ...adventure...
or not depends on you , maybe her too ...but it changes before you can ever say I've done it
as long as theres still tomorrow
jackson: yupe, good food throughout the whole weekend! ya, i should have added "life is beautiful" to my post...hehe
alexander: Thanks for the compliment! Hope you had a great time at Manchester's CNY parade! Was there a lion dance?
fatboybakes: sure do, sure do. i'm back quite often and food is always on the agenda. the question is, when are we gonna go makan ar? haha!
Jaime-La-Nourriture: hey, thanks for stopping by. Thought you were french, at first...hehe..had any good yu sheng in singapore this year?
dj travel & tours: life is a food adventure, isn't it? the best part being the endless treasures that await you! ahh, hungry now...
do u stare in singapore b4 coming back up to kl?? thats a good way of just clearing ur archives of fotos..ain it?
like watching the lion dance performances :) it's kinda difficult to get to watch a Qilin performance nowadays...
with so much great food.. of course Life is Beautiful!! :) haha
Life is beautiful if we know how to go through hard time and happy moments...
hahaha. i like the way u tell your story : )
joe: huh? oh, yeah, in a way lar...hehe.. well, not so much of clearing stock but to have specific themes for the posts lor.
christine: yeah, i also have not seen a qilin in a very long time. life is beautiful with good food, isnt it? hehe...
mylittlecottage: definitely! well, happy or sad, we will still have to face life. so, might as well embrace it, right? :) thanks for stopping by too!
ladyironchef: thanks for the compliment. it can get a little self-indulging sometimes...hehe...glad u liked it!
Love your spirit and your view of Life. Most surely, whatever Life throws at us, we should embrace it and capture all that is good with it.
I think I'm gonna call you Nic the Poet from now on. :D
(A bit random today, but tak cukup tidur malam tadi. Apologies. More coherent comments later, aight?)
Whose your daddy now? Say my name! Say my name!
...hahahahaaaaa now I know you are into that type... ;p~
Happy Chap Goh Meh to you too~
Been having the busiest 2-3 weeks ever in 2008, i think there will be more to come in preparation for my FYP.
Wish me all the best~
It's kinda hard to catch Qilin's performance nowadays. Strange, they didn't stop me from taking pictures in Marmalade though...
Happy Belated Chap Goh Mei to you!
Yeah, Marmalade actually don't allow customers to take photos of their food. But the last time when we went, we managed to take photos after talking to the manager. Anyway, happy chap goh mei. A lot of great food that you had!
Hi Nic, it was my pleasure to have met you. Still can't get over the messenge on your t-shirt.
Such a lifely lion dance, so friendly and so welcuming!
My life is
bitter when i'm depressed;
sweet when i'm having ice-cream;
full of unexpected unpleasant surprises;
still incomplete & am tired in pursuing it;
about creating purposes and hopes so as to keep myself alive.
Crap...i think i 'zao for yap moh' as well.
Hahaha...Pakcik Nic! You're one heck of a Pakcik ;o) LOL at Teckiee's comment! Who's your daddy??? ROFL....Ahem...Ok, back to normal programming now.
Kenny: No prob, dude…come on, your comments are always coherent lah! I agree with you. Choose life! And Nic the Poet? You are being too kind…never knew self-indulging acts can garner one such honourable moniker. :)
Teckiee: hehe…that was a funny scene cos the qilin was being poked by the acrobat. Then, the qilin got angry and went on top of him. Hence, my misunderstood phrase…u believe, right? Hehehe…
Jojo: Happy Belated Chap Goh Meh to you too..hehehe…yeah, I understand…the cny, the traveling, the fyp…you wished you had 72 hours a day, right? Haha! Of course, all the best to ya!
Jason: yeah, I had no problems too for the past 3 times. Perhaps they just implemented this new rule. Or perhaps I got a “yong sui” (face bad) look lar..haha! Happy Belated Chap Goh Mei to you too!
Wenching & esiong: Wow, really? I didn’t know they had such rule. I mean, what harm can the photographs do, right? Sigh…but I still like the food there…hehe…Happy belated chap goh mei to y’all!
Ling: Hi! Thanks for stopping by my blog! It was nice meeting you…too bad we didn’t have much time to chat the other day…well, there’ll always be another event, right? Even my friends are talking about the shirt! Haha!
Big Boys Oven: Yeah, definitely one of the best lion dances I’ve seen…a branded one leh! Hehe…You didn’t invite some lions to your house? Hmm..perhaps you should try making a cake with lions! Interesting….
Xiu Long Bao:
Your life is
Matcha Ice Cream
Matcha Ice Cream
And more Matcha Ice Cream
Think of you new life as Hokkaido Ice Cream and you’ll feel good! Confirm punya!
“Zao for yap moh” dun say infected by me ar…hahaha!
Wmw: Hehe..i was misunderstood all the way lar…Pakcik sudah tua lar, where got such vivid thoughts one…those wild days of being Eddy are gone…cant even take on the tiramisu well…sigh…hehehe…
i love this post! maybe it's the uncanny way of presenting life on a platter, or perhaps it's my obsessive thoughts abt life these days, but certainly, it was beautifully written :) thx for the condolences. i'll be back in spore in may/june. hope to meet u then!
I wouldn't say your acts are self-indulgent when it brings so much cheer and fun for others, floggers and otherwise. Hehe.
O you haven't seen exactly how incoherent I can be, sans alcohol some more, so I don't even have that excuse! :P
the lion dance !!!
they are simply the best.... ^_^
So in d end got say his name or not?
I didn't catch any lion dance this year. *sniff*
wow! so many wonderful dishes! If I was there, I would be leaving 10kg heavier!
By golly, you could write a motivational book!
I'm serious, y'know.
jun: thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it..perhaps it’s our unfortunate losses that made this post more meaningful. Sure, sure! We’ve not had our wagyu beef burger yet!
kenny: wah, thanks for the compliment, dude. Really flattered. Well, my incoherency definitely comes from alcohol. Just a beer will do the trick…haha!
ling239: yeah, this troupe is really good! World number one for a few times already! Did you manage to catch some this year?
tummythoz: no leh, din say his name cos somehow, the acrobat managed to overturn the qilin. Very complex positions, if you ask me…haha!
hazza: Oh, yes. The dishes were definitely good. Well, I think I’ve put on at least 2 kgs since the week before cny. The cookies and lap Cheong were the killers! Haha!
lyrical lemongrass: wah, that’s very motivational (for me)! I guess some Rabindranath Tagore and Deepak Chopra have done me good…hehe…
this year the one that came to our office is kinda normal...
but two years ago we invited the same one u posted and they did the walking-on-steel-wire stunt which was really cool ~ ^_^
Rabindranath Tagore and Deepak Chopra? Whatever happened to Haruki Murakami? I see you're making leaps and bounds over continents, much like your storytelling.
Hmmm. Did I just give you a compliment?
ling239: wah, your company must be very rich to be able to invite kun seng keng. they are so famous, they even have a website now! haha!
lyrical lemongrass: Murakami-san will always remain as my passport to my freedom of imagination. Mr. Tagore on the other hand, makes me appreciate the wonders of life. such vividness beneath the black and white setting! Mr. Chopra compiled a book about Mr. Tagore. Hence the "acquaintance".
oh, hear me names-dropping. i really dont read much one lar. but i do enjoy the time spent. i'm gonna skip all the mushy parts and just sincerely thank you for the compliment. :)
Post a Comment