Facebook Requests

All of a sudden, I received numerous Facebook requests to be Friends over the last week. Most are names unfamiliar to me. Who are they?! As a habit, I am very careful who I confirm as friends as I don't want my Facebook to be filled with people I dont even know! To me, having a HUGE number of "Friends" on Facebook is not meaningful to me if I don't even know them. 
I finally found out that they are mostly relatives and family from both my paternal and maternal side of the family who have connected with my mother on Facebook. Oh gosh. What am I supposed to do? Confirm?

Happy Chinese New Year 2016: Day 2

On the second day of CNY, visitors usually come to our place for these two dishes which are available for the whole day from late morning to night - Taiwanese style Braised Pork Bun and Hockchew Red Wine Chicken Mee Sua! 
大年初二，客人特地上我家来吃这两道菜 - 台式割包（新加坡所谓的扣肉包）和福州红糟酒鸡肉面线！

Taiwanese style braised pork bun (台式割包)

Hockchew Red Wine Chicken Mee Sua (福州红糟酒鸡肉面线)

The second day of CNY at our place is open house. My mother loves having guests over. She loves cooking for and feeding family and friends, not just during CNY, all the time! Feel free to come! :) 
My mother loves having guests over, she loves cooking for and feeding family and friends, not just during CNY, all the time! Feel free to com

A Family Feast Once More

Now that my parents are back from England, we are having our family feast again!! :) My parents invited my cousins over for dinner. Finally, some GOOD FOOD after three months! :P 

Chawanmushi and Chicken Rice with mango

Home-made Roasted pork belly and Char Siew

Cuttlefish and Kang Kong Rojak and Fresh Pepper and Pear Salad

Family Gathering

My father and his cousin finally met again after having lost touch with one another for more than 10 years. :) They were the best of friends when they were kids in Malaysia. Both cousins have tried to contact each other but with the moving of homes, phone numbers and addresses inevitably got misplaced and lost.
When they finally made contact again, his cousin and wife and their grandson booked their flights and came to Singapore to meet up with my parents. My parents invited them over for a family dinner gathering together with my other Malaysian cousins who are now living in Singapore.

Black olive rice, braised duck, san bei squid, fried crispy long beans, braised pork with buns

An earlier visit on Wednesday 16 July when the uncle, aunt and their grandson arrived in Singapore

"Simple" Home-Style Family Dinner

My mother invited my paternal relatives over for dinner. As usual, she cooked up a feast. :)

Although some of the dishes looked simple, they were not simple/ easy to cook as in time was needed to get the flavours in, etc. Examples are the braised duck and bead curd, pickled cucumber salad, Japanese soft-boiled eggs, savory glutinous rice with pork and mushroom, lotus root soup, fried ikan bilis (anchovies) with peanuts. We all had our favourites. My daughters love the chicken curry, duck, soft-boiled eggs and glutinous rice. I love every dish that my mother cooked. My relatives too as all of them went back for seconds! :)

Day 3 in Taipei 2013

After a heavy breakfast, we set off to visit my mother's 2nd brother as it is his birthday today. We took the public transport - MRT and bus. We also visited my late grandmother's younger sister - my grandaunt and granduncle who stayed nearby my 2nd uncle. It was good catching up with family. :)

Breakfast with different dishes eveyday

The girls on board a Taipei bus

A usual choice of breakfast for Taiwanese

A typical traffic scene

Waiting for the bus

After visiting family, we took the public transport to the Zhongshan Metro Mall (I) (underground mall where the book stores are located) because Marieann wanted to look for Chinese comic book(s).

By the time we went for lunch, it was close to 2pm. We just went into one of those Japanese chain restaurants (self-service) for lunch. The food was quite delicious and value for money. Our set meals all came with the main dish, appetiser, kimchi, rice, chawamushi and free-flow of miso soup and ocha at a price of NT$180 each. :)

It was almost 4pm when we arrived back at our accommodation. We rested for close to 3 hours before Juliane and I ventured out to Ximending which is 5 minutes away. :) It was really crowded and we bought some souvenirs. As it happens, there is a craft market every weekend at the open space near The Red House. I was really happy to see a craft market. :) I would definitely bring Marieann back here tomorrow lol. :)

Drinks and cakes from local 7-11 store and bakery. I love juice milk, my childhood drink when I was in Taiwan during my younger days

Day 2 in Taipei 2013

I certainly have a sense of being at home in Taipei. A lot of familiar things bringing smiles to my face. :)
Breakfast at Taipei Hero House was really value for money. It is mainly Taiwanese style, Chinese dishes and with soya bean milk, buns (mantou) and porridge. We didn't eat too much because we would be getting a treat for lunch lol.

After breakfast, we browsed at the 7-11 store in the hotel. There are so many different variety of drinks and food as compared to Singapore's 7-11 stores. It is so much more interesting here. :)

After breakfast, my mother's youngest sister brought her second daughter over for a "hello" as she couldn;t make it for dinner last night. It is really nice of them to take the trouble to do that. :)

We slowly made our way to our lunch venue. My mother's friend treated us at Jen Dow Vegetarian Restaurant. It is buffet style and it is a very popular restaurant! I love the desserts lol. Although it was vegetarian food, we felt really satisfied and full. :)

After lunch at 2pm, we took the MRT to Tamshui Old Street. We met another old friend of my mother's and she accompanied us to the Tamshui Old Street. There are many exciting shops at the Tamshui Old Street as well as food vendors selling interesting food. Unfortunately we didn't try any food as we were still trying to digest our lunch!

Our favourite Owl store :)

A temple along Tamshui Old Street

At 6pm, we made our way to our dinner venue. My uncle was giving us a treat and it was a special occasion too as his three out of four children happened to be in Taipei currently. We were shocked to find out it was buffet again! Our poor stomachs! :P There is a good mix of Western and Asian dishes.

An enormous oyster! A table spoon is placed next to it for comparison. I didn't dare to dare it.

After dinner, we went to my uncle' place for a short while. I chatted with my cousins as I last saw them many years ago, ranging from 12 years to 21 years ago lol. Plenty of laughter. We, the cousins, took pictures with one another and our children also took a photo together lol. :)

By the time we reached our hotel, it was past 10pm. With so much food in our stomach, none of us could sleep lol. :P

Updated 12:38am, 8 June 2013
We experienced earthquake tremors. An earthquake happened in Hualien on a scale of 6.2. Juliane was fast asleep so she didn't feel it. Marieann was playing on the iPad and she didn't feel it. I didn't know what was going on except wondering to myself why are the "Make up the room" sign rattling against the door and the cloth hangers banging together in the closet. Thought for a moment I have a visitor from the other realm haha. :P Only my mother was alert. She was in bed and she at once said we are experiencing an earthquake! What an end to the day.