Farewell Jo

Jo and her hubby, Stephen will be leaving Msia pretty soon.

We're all truly happy for them, especially for Jo cos she'll be a student again! That sounds really wonderful to those of us who are still working.

Guys, we're so gonna miss having you around.

We had a farewell gathering at Kai's new place yesterday.

As usual, a gathering isn't complete without FOOD. We brought lotsa food for our lil potluck party!

Clockwise L-R: Sim's tapau-ed fried chicken, Sarah's chicken curry with chapati, char siew (bbq pork), Kai's mum-in-law's mee siam, Kai's tapau-ed roast duck, my DIY somtam, stir fried vege, fried chee cheong fun.

Sim, Kai, Stephen, Jo, Rah.

After lunch, we proceeded to dessert even though we were stuffed. Usual story la.. :P

Kai pampered us with an Oreo ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. As if that wasn't enough, Jo and Stephen brought ice creams as well, so we had that too later!

Sim added to our ever sinfully decadent diet by offering these cute cheese tarts. Gosh..

Kai offered us Japanese kohii (coffee) and ocha (green tea) to wash our palates. :P

The gals had fun viewing the accessories that i brought. Sim was the biggest buyer that day! Thanks gals!

Every girl's dream!!!

Kai has a HUGE walk-in wardrobe. This is so damn cool. I so need one to store all my clothes, my shoes, my bags, my accessories, my shoess...ahhh..my shoess...

We were all inspired to touch up/redecorate our homes/get a walk-in wardrobe after seeing Kai's new place. Kai, i so love your wardrobe la woman. =)

~*~*~*My first Somtam*~*~*~

I googled this somtam recipe from the internet and i kinda modified it a bit. It's pretty good and easy to make.

Som Tam: Thai papaya salad

Ingredients:

2 cups shredded fresh green papaya.
3 medium tomatoes (I used cherry tomatoes instead)
A handful of roasted peanuts
2 tablespoons of dried shrimp (pan fried without oil)
2-3 bird's eye chillies (optional)
3-4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons palm sugar (or sugar)
2 tablespoons lime juice

Methods:

1. For the fresh green papaya - rinse of the white milky layer, pat dry, then shred the whole papaya.
2. Sprinkle a lil salt onto the shredded papaya, rinse off and drain.
3. Keep 2 cups of shredded papaya out, and store the rest sealed in a container for later use.
4. Slice the tomatoes thinly.
5. In a clay mortar and pestle, coursely pound the fresh chillies (whole) and garlic.
6. Add sliced tomatoes and pound lightly (do not over-crush).
7. Add dried shrimp, fish sauce, palm sugar and lime juice. Add these items spoon-by-spoon, and taste as you go.
8. If you want to add peanuts, add now and pound lightly.
9. Add shredded papaya and pound together until well mixed.
10. Viola!