kiddy pics

the girls were at Winnie's place the other. Ethan and Jovien were spotted sitting together. the girls all thot that the two kids were very cute. But Ethan became very shy when asked to pose for photos. nothing that biscuits bribes could not solve!
more pics on my Flickr photostream.

durian fest

Thai Embassy organised a charity bazaar featuring Thai food, fruits and cultural performances over this weekend. Many of us (Singaporeans and colleagues) headed down since there were Thai food and the promise of durians, mangoes and mangosteens!
I made a beeline to the two stalls selling durians to check out the merchandise. quickly bought a batch to share with friends already there.
Joyce tucking in with gusto. We quickly polished off what we bought. Before leaving, I bought another batch to enjoy at home. The durians tasted much better than the limp versions we find in supermarkets here!
Many Thai restaurants in Beijing had set up stalls at the bazaar.
some of the performers still in costume, grabbing a bite. This stall selling delicious Som Tam (Papaya salad) and Khanom Jin (spicy noodles) just like what you find on the streets of Bangkok!

Sherry's birthday

the girls celebrated Sherry's b'day last week. more pics in my Flickr photostream.
Everyone was rounded up for lunch.
Since Sherry did not like b'day cakes, the girls substituted KFC for the traditional cake.
Winnie got Sherry a set of angel wings to try on for size!
the night before they went for a night-out of pubbing
Sherry and Robina

vineyard visit

On a day trip organised by our apartment, we visited the vineyard owned by Dragon Seal(a Chinese red wine brand) in Hualai County. Apart from wine grapes for their production, they also planted table grapes for tourists like us! each of us had a "free ration" of 3kg each. But being slack as usual, we cut only 7 kg amongst the 4 of us adults.
the wine grapes like this Chardonnay were in a tight compact bunch. must be selected for this feature for ease of processing. We tried the final product later at the wine tasting session. It was quite nice, Robina liked the smooth and plesant Osmanthus fragrance. We bought a bottle in the end!
fruit grapes like this local variety. the skin comes off quite easily when peeled. or you can pop the whole grape inside your mouth and spit out the skin and seeds.
Boon Peng and a sugar-loaded Jovien (clutching her grape-flavoured lollipop)
back in town, we visited their factory and cellar. Rows and rows of oak barrels. even the air in the cellar was permeated by an intoxicating aroma of the wine.
Red wine was apparently not a recent phenomenon in China. back in the sixties, state banquets were serving red wine (see the bottle on the right, it's not soya sauce). Premier Zhou Enlai hosting Ho Chi Min in the 1960s.

Yao Ming Sighting

spotted Yao Ming at Beijing Airport! the NBA player and arguably the most famous Chinese on earth, looked even taller in person than on TV.

Yao Ming was so tall than he had to lower his head and hunch over to pass thru the security gantry!
He was strolling thru the domestic VIP complex and all the service staff were whipping out their cameraphones. I also joined in.

makan gathering

Boon Peng and Joyce hosted a makan session at their place last evening. Robina and I went down earlier to help cook some dishes.
I did my favourite roast leg of lamb with herbs and fresh mint. It could have tasted better if the supermarket had a lamb leg the day before than I could marinated it overnight. but I could only pick up the lamb on the same day.
but it turned out OK. nicely roasted and a little pink inside. too bad there was no fresh rosemary which would have smell very nice.
I stir fried the beehoon since Joyce had never done it before. We only used one packet of beehoon and it was gone in 5mins later during the dinner. Robina was the chief taster when I did the cooking but she complained that she did not have a go at the beehoon. she only had 3 mouthfuls before she went inside to help remove the vegies from the oven.
Mrs Kiew brought a herbal chicken dish which smelt heavenly from the ginseng!
part of the spread! there was much more food like Sharon's curry chicken and Sherry contributed her signature char siew even tho she could not make it to the gathering last minute. plus there were shiok fruits like sweet grapes and peaches. as expected there were left-overs and Robina and I over-ate during the mopping up aftermath. Boon Peng had to offer some food to their building's security guards, otherwise they would have finish the food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Robina and I presiding over the char bee hoon.

Sally knackered

Sally was knocked out after her day at the riding school. The open spaces there meant that she could run around unleashed, play with other dogs and help herself to freshly deposited horse shit (which was basically grass salad fresh from the horse ass). A French lady and her kids (fellow customers at the riding school) were quite perturbed after Robina told them that Sally eats horse shite (ha ha!).
Sally chonked out at home after her tiring day. there is a dog farm behind the riding school and Robina will bring Sally for her weekly bath after Robina's riding session. she usually ends up even more tired after her bath. donno why?