Wonderful year end dinner

As usual the girls and I did our annual dinner do to wrap up the year and revisited our 2008 resolutions.

We had our dinner last nite, at Elcerdo - the place famous for its signature porky delights.

Presenting to you...

Mon and Carmen

Cindy and Mon

Moi and Cindy

The place was packed with patrons. And obviously service was s.l.o.w.

So we brought forward the gift exchange while waiting for our food to be served.

Our gift to baby Caden - this cute lil hand knitted elephant in santa suit.

Midway thru the exchange, we were interrupted when this yummilicious soup was served. We didn't mind at all.

Jamón Serrano from Spain

Imported high quality Spanish cured & air dried ham served on rock melon and salad with balsamico dressing.

The gift exchange continues...


We started by opening Carmen's gifts.

Mon received this Angry Lil Girls calendar, scented panty (decorative item - not the type to be worn :p), scented sachet pillow, etc.

Cindy received a Simplicity calendar, scented panty (decorative item - not the type to be worn :p), scented sachet pillow, etc.

I have a cupcake jewellery case in my right hand, and a scented panty in the other.
Besides these 2 cutesy items, I also received a Kiehl's Lip Balm (with SPF 15), a scented lavender sachet (with "Old friends are the best friends" on the pillow), and a super girly pink stationery box.

Look at the cute lil paperbag - it's a kitten wearing a tiara. When Men gave me my gifts she said, "For you Princess".

Oh,how appropriate! :)

I quote Men, "Ven, I bought this lip balm for you cos it's tinted. That way, you can still look good even when you're out on the beach". That's so thoughtful :)

Guess what? Everything in the bag is Pink!

From Mon...

Men received a pink robe. Looks damn comfy!

Cindy received a spa kit to pamper herself. Timely gift for the new tai tai.

Pardon the retarded facial expression.
Contrary to my expression, I really love this M & S limited edition slip + short set.

And...it's also PInk!!

From Cindy...

Foot balm and butterfly soap from L'OCCITANE




Something from the White tea range for Mon

L'OCCITANE's Rose hydrating mist.

Gee, it's also Pink in colour!

OMG!! I just realised that there's a similar theme to the pressies i received this year. They are all PINK!

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My gifts for the gals...

I gave them each a sexy g-string/lingerie from La Senza plus other personalised accessories.

Sorry as I'm not allowed to show details of the g-strings. In fact, I wasn't even allowed to post this pix. *sorry girls*

Gave Mon this torquoise beaded 3 tier necklace, Carmen a H & M necklace, and Cindy a diamante brooch.

Our next dish arrived soon after we've done our pressie exchange.

Crispy skin pork belly on lentil-vegetable with Chorizo sausage flavoured with fresh thyme.

Super porkilicious!

Oven roasted Iberico spare ribs served on pineapple salsa

COCHINILLO AL ESTILO SEGOVIANO

Roasted suckling pig

Cindy and Mon performing the pig cutting ceremony.

Here, you can make a wish.They were given the option of "Money" or "Relationship".

Tough one, eh?

One chose "Money" while the other chose "Relationship"

Chop chop chop!

Yups, it is that CRISPY that you can cut it with a plate.

Sealing the deal by throwing the plate into the bucket to break it.

In Spain, it's a tradition that breaking plates will bring good luck. You make a wish and then break the plate. And whatever you wished for will come true.

The chef/owner of Elcerdo, Werner with Men. Werner is such an entertaining person.

He asked, "Are you married? Or ..Are you happy?"

I guess I am very happy :p

Cheers to a wonderful 2008!

May 2009 brings forth a jubilee of opportunities!

I absolutely love love love this dessert.

It's Werner's special.

Fresh strawberry in mango sauce with chocolate mousse and wild raspberry sherbet. On top of that, tea leaves have been added to give it a refreshing twist.

After such a fattening porki-fying dinner, we adjourned to Werner's (opposite) for drinks.

Love their song selection and cosy ambience.

Cheemuis 4eva!

For 2009, we've decided to skip the resolutions bit.

Instead, we'd rather agree on a dare and dare each other to do something we've never done before.

Cheers to a fantastic 2009!

p/s: I went to watch MAMMA MIA! The Smash Hit Musical over the weekend! It was fantastic. Go watch it if you haven't. :)

A teeny bit of news

In case you're wondering why I've been MIA for the longest time. I now think it's time to let you in on a lil secret.

Besides adjusting to the long hours at the new workplace, I've also been adjusting to my new routine...which includes dating.

As to who I am dating at the moment, well..let's just refer to him as 'The Chef', shall we?

I don't wanna say much till we're officially an item. At the moment, we're only dating. So really, I am not keeping anything from you :p

What I've discovered so far..

The pros of dating a chef..

As you well know, I love to eat :)

And these are the stuff he's baked/made for me

Choc mousse cake with choc macaroons and strawberries.

(Sorry about the lousy picture, I was using a phone camera at the time)

Green tea cake

(i initially thought those white stuff were desiccated coconut. Those were actually finely shaved white chocs :p)

A mini tiramisu topped with toffee caramel + nuts pieces (my request la).

My apologies as I smudged the topped while transporting the cake home.

This green tea cake was a given to me as part of a surprise on Christmas morning (among other things :P)

The Christmas dinner The Chef prepared for me

Salad

Petuna Salmon, Grapes (skins peeled), cherry tomatoes, romaine and butterhead lettuce.

He made his special salad dressing of orange balsamic vinegar + olive oil + honey + etc.

Pan seared foie gras with crushed black pepper and fleur de sel (flower salt). Mmmmm...

Our dinner

Kobe beef, foie gras, and greens

He discovered how to make my fave passionfruit beer.

He added Monin (syrup) into beer and voila! We now can have home made passionfruit beer. :)

Next, we'll try other flavours such as lychee, orange, blood orange, sangria, etc.

And the cons of dating one...

It can be pretty daunting putting on weight. :(

I'd better start going to the gym soon!


Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Wonderful New Year Ahead! May the presence of the Lord be with you always! Stay blessed!

love,
Carrie

Busy bee

Just a short post to let you know that i won't be around for a couple of days.

Am heading down south to JB for our roadshow tomorrow. After that, we shall proceed to Muar, followed by Malacca.

Will head back on Wednesday right after we've packed up everything. The event ends at 6pm, am looking at leaving Malacca around 9pm after packing and a quick dinner.

Looks like the only night i'm able to do my xmas shopping is this coming fri night.

I have a whole day management meeting on Saturday, followed by company Xmas dinner.

Talk about a busy week.

xx
Carrie

t.i.r.e.d but t.h.a.n.k.f.u.l

Many thanks to those of you who offered me your kind words during the recent trying time.

Most of you would have known by now that my daddy has been discharged from the hospital.

Thank God that he's recovering very well. :)

We're now in the midst of filing for an appeal case for our insurance claim. Yeah, it's pretty complicated and I do not wanna dwell into too much here. Tired, simply tired.

But all is well ya, so no worries, k?

However, i'll really appreciate if you could kindly include our request to pray for favour from the doctor to write a good recommendation letter that will positively influence our insurance claim. And that we'll be able to claim 100% of the medical bill back. Amen!

Thank you in advance dearie!

***********

On another note, i dunno why but i feel totally exhausted.

Christmas is around the corner but i can't feel the festive mood at all. I haven't the time to go shopping for pressies yet. Time to start soon :P

Been very very busy, so much so that i have missed out on quite a lot of stuff.

I, am however, looking forward to this short break this coming mon (ph). Am going for a short road trip to malacca on Sun.

Yups, the idea was thrown to me cos i've been pretty couped up lately.

"Time to de-stress," i was told.

Will catch up soon.

love xx