Feast for Two

Despite feeling under the weather, Anderson just could not resist our lunch plans which we had planned a week ago. We had finally found a Saturday when the both of us were free to do stuff together - a rarity considering our busy schedules and how Saturdays are usually Youth Fellowship designated days.

So with our food voucher in hand, we made our way to Shang Palace for our wedding treat courtesy of Jo's office. Good thing we decided against inviting more people to join us (which, was our initial plan as we were clueless as to the price range and had thought that the amount we were presented was rather generous) as we ended up topping up the bill even with just the two of us eating!

Whilst we weren't able to physically share the food with you, we've decided to share our yummy Chinese set lunch through some pictures -

Clockwise from top left: Roasted duck, assorted dim sum, scallops with vege, tau foo fa, Yong Chow fried rice and sharksfin soup

House Fix

We haven't even had our 'official' house warming yet and already our house is showing signs of compromise - suppose that's what you've got to be prepared for when you take over a house that's been around for close to 30 years. If not for our attention to detail one weekend while we were doing our weekly house cleaning, we probably would not have realised that there was water seeping into the walls, causing it to become all puffy and wrinkly.

We later found out that this was due to a faulty float in our water tank and a burst pipe. Thankfully it was nothing too major and that we had detected the problem early enough. Still, damage has been done and it looks like we've got some repainting ahead of us in the coming months ...

Your Say

An idea just brewed in our heads: Wouldn't it be nice if we were to list all the blogs that featured our wedding with the hopes of later compiling these entries into a scrapbook? Help us spread the word around on project 'Your Say' and drop us a line if you know of anyone who'd like to contribute or if you yourself would like your posting to be included.

Here's some we know of:

• Chew Phye Beng
• Chuah Pei Jet
• Rachel Ho
• Sarah Lee
• Sara Loo
• Gabriel & Wen Sze Tay
• Hannah T

Home Invasion

What an eventful day yesterday was. While we were both away at our church youth's boys' and girls' outing, never would we have expected a visitor to drop by unannounced. It wasn't until later in the afternoon when Anderson got a small scare when he discovered a 'guest' in the toilet at the same time as he was!

Mind you, this wasn't just any guest, but a furry little friend who unfortunately decided to end his life in our water bucket! And since this is not something that you see every day, we've decided to share this with you so that you don't think we're making up stories ;)

Moving on to something a little less gross ...

Jo also had her fair share of surprises when she stumbled upon a mango which had fallen off the neighbour's tree into our garden. The timing couldn't have been better as it was only a few days ago that she had suggested for Anderson to go pluck some from the branches that were overhanging into our compound.

So in the dark of the night, she went to fetch the mango and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was still intact. What a disappointment it was though when upon closer inspection, she found that a colony of snails had actually gotten to the fruit first - so much for wanting to taste it herself!

Meant to Be

Moving up the ladder is a good thing, but moving up too quickly? It's hard to believe that not even a year has passed and Jo has already made progress to the next rung. Maybe it's a ploy to keep her from hopping on to the resignation boat, or perhaps it really is due to her God-given gifts and talents.

Whatever the reason, the announcement came quite unexpectedly but was a breath of fresh air considering how hectic it has been the past couple of weeks. Only that same morning did she faciliate a high-strung interview with a rather edgy client who wanted to have their piece of cake and eat it at the same time.

Still in the process of absorbing the news and allowing it to sink it, she attributes this blessing to the One whose hand has been upon her every step at this consultancy since Day 1 and even the days leading up to her getting hired. In all that has transpired, she is convinced that she is meant to be where she is for a purpose that is being unveiled to her with each passing day.

Checking In at 6 Months

Yes, it's been awhile now since we last posted any updates and we've got no one but ourselves to blame for the inactivity at our blog as a result. Such are the schedules of two very busy people who are occupied with a constant string of things to do that they just can't seem to find the time to write!

It amazes us that we've been married for half a year now (wow!) and that life has finally caught up with us. We're both doing well, save for the never ending tasks that need to be done both at work and on the home front ;) Getting into a routine gives things a little more structure for sure, but that also means that we've got to move things around when unplanned activities come up every once in awhile.

Much to Jo's delight, Anderson has finally conceded to cleaning the house once every week as he recently discovered that it was no fun looking for things under a 2-week old layer of accumulated dust and grime. Plus, our brand new vacuum cleaner was close to half full when we emptied it of its contents. (Mind you, it was completely empty before we had a go at getting the house back into a presentable state!)

Cooking every alternate day is a feasible plan, as long as both parties are around to savour each other's delectable home-cooked food. More importantly, it is crucial that water supply is not disrupted as this can be a major inconvenience when everything has been already planned and prepared for.

Accomplishing three short trips in six months is a feat for two individuals on an average income. But with rising fuel prices and surcharges, this throws a spanner into our mission of world conquest even with Air Asia and MAS trying to outdo each other.

Reading the Bible and praying together sounds easier than it really is. Lots of determination, deliberate action and discipline is required to actually get this off the ground and keep it going. Even more so when this involves two people with very different time keeping and sleeping habits. We do ask that you will pray for us to manage our time better!

And finally, six months is too short a time for learning to accept and adjust to each other's habits and idiosyncracies. In fact, it probably can't be done even in six or sixty years as it will take an entire lifetime of discovery! :p

Christmas in June

Today, we carted home a trolley-full of electrical items and became the proud owners of a new microwave, vacuum cleaner, slow cooker and hand mixer, thanks to an earlier scouting trip and generosity of Jo's colleagues :) And it felt good to be like a little child eagerly opening presents on Christmas morning ... such is the simple pleasures of life!

Eat-Poh

Our baby made its maiden long distance trip over the weekend. Under the pretext of attending a fellow church member's wedding in Ipoh, we decided to take a road trip seeing that it has been awhile since our last one together. Must say that we're quite pleased with baby's performance.

For one, fuel consumption was pretty good. We made it there and back on less than a full tank of petrol (of course, this was before the recent price hike!) and even had enough to spare for getting around town and taking Jo to work and back the next day. Handling is also quite decent. Yes, the car feels safe at high speeds and no, we didn't feel as if we were about to be blown off the highway when a bigger vehicle passed us ;)

Okay, enough said about our transport!

Our other mission in Ipoh was to of course sample the local fare and what better way to do so than at a wedding where hawker food was served! Even the bride and groom got their strategy right. Highlighting food as the main attraction of their wedding was more than enough to entice us KL folks to take a trip up North :)

With more than enough to go around, we were treated to chicken rice with beansprouts, chee cheong fun, yong tau foo, chicken feet kerabu, mutton curry, tau foo fa, cendol, tau cheong sui and the much talked about Ipoh white coffee. Even the door gifts were unique to the locality - heong peng and individually wrapped pomelo segments!

Of course, there was always room for supper later that night and together with the Focus duo, we made our way to some road side stalls for sar hor fun, sotong kangkung and some interesting deserts and beverages. The next day, we tucked in some brunch at Woolee's and had just about enough room for a bowl of Bidor duck noodles and yam ball before heading for home. Such bliss!

Some pictures to prove that we DID go for the wedding:

Left: The groom eagerly awaiting the arrival of his bride; Right: The bride in more comfortable footwear post-wedding ;)

Cupcake Fettish

Ever since Chinese New Year, Jo had always wanted to check out the new cupcakery at The Curve after she chanced upon the stall at the concourse area. But it wasn't until a good four months later that she actually got the chance to take a bite of the forbidden cake that looked so tempting.

Maybe it was a good thing that we did not discover the place earlier as we would have probably gone broke being the cupcake crazy people that we are! There's no turning back now that we've tasted and seen what we've been missing all this while :)

Yummylicious cupcakes that are full of bite and generous icing have made us devoted fans, so much so that we even got others hooked on the fad! Stop drooling and drop by Cupcake Chic for its sweet treats whenever you're around the area ;)

The cupcakes were way too tempting that we only remembered to take a picture after we had downed the 24 Karat!

Off to Hanoi

Don't know the language,

Don't know the culture,

Don't know the national landmarks,

Don't even know which city is their capital city!

All we know is from the propaganda we watch on TV -

1. Robin Williams is a disc jockey there.

2. Most of them are called Charlie.

3. If you see any imprisoned GIs, call Rambo.

Gone Walking

Barely a month old, we discovered that one of our car's hard caps had decided to take a walk on its own :( Our two theories to explain the disappearance - gigantic portholes on PJ roads or another Persona owner with a missing hard cap. Don't suppose we'll ever know for sure, will we?

The Bride Arrives

This is probably not the best angle, but you'll at least get a feel of Jo's grand entrance complete with all the pomp and circumstance!

Hidden Treasure

Imagine our surprise when we discovered a stack of wedding cards which we didn't realize was in the huge envelope containing our empty ang pau packets when Jo finally decided to go through its contents. It was all the more touching when among those cards, came well wishes from dear friends from overseas who could not make it for our wedding - *sob*

Just goes to show how much we're being thought of and that you can never judge a package by its cover. Who knows what treasures are held within its humble appearance?

Shoes to the Rescue!

Our second wedding as Mr and Mrs was an eventful one as Jo's shoes almost saved the day for a particular bridesmaid in distress when her shoes broke moments before she was supposed to lead the processional. It was quite hilarious really, but imagine the stress the bridesmaid must have gone through at that moment!

Jo had her shoes politely taken from her and she was actually left barefooted for a good few minutes as guests patiently waited for the bride to arrive. Several moments later though, her shoes made their return as they were a tad bit too small for the bridesmaid who was to wear it.

Good thing for the bridesmaid, she somehow managed to hunt down a pair of shoes that fit to carry her safely down the aisle and protect her feet as she dutifuly carried out her responsibilities for the day :)

Cooking with the Selvasegarams

Lareina claims that she will follow suit if we manage to consistently cook 2-3 meals a week. Well, this posting is for her :)

In the past few weeks, we managed to cook the following meals without giving each other stomach problems the next morning. And you'll be suprised to learn that 75% of the cooking was undertaken by the more unlikely cook! Anyway, here goes:

1. Stir fried egg noodles with 'Yong Tau Foo' ingredients. Simple stuff. Good to start small before we venture to making our own Peking duck.

2. Toasted ham and cheese sandwich with mushroom soup. Not easy bringing ourselves to prepare something to eat especially when it's a 'fix-up house afternoon'. Nevertheless, rather than settling for a bun or two, we made a bus load full of toasted bread and mushroom soup.

3. Fried rice served with broccolli and Chinese mushrooms. Sounds simple, but made difficult because we were too idealistic to use ready-packed mix veg. Manually cutting beans and peeling carrots was therefore required.

4. Sliced beef stewed with carrots, onions and an overdose assortment of Chinese mushrooms, straw mushrooms and oyster mushrooms. The stew was served over egg noodles. Tasted good, but we'll be staying away from mushroom for a good number of weeks.

5. Pan fried lamb shoulder served with mashed potatoes drowned in 1-month old mushroom soup (see item 2) and salad. Note: Six large chunks of RM11.99 Aussie lamb from Giant may be a bargain, but make sure you have loads of time to diligently remove all the fatty bits.

6. Angel hair seafood pasta ala carbonara served with bitter-sweet salad - tasted good! But it would have been better if we were not so stingy and bought a bottle of olive oil to toss the pasta.

7. Stir fried egg with crabstick and onions served with leftovers from items 3 and 4. Doesn't sound too great but the hungry Ethiopians would be proud of us.

8. Pork knuckle remains from Bavarian Bierhaus boiled together with old cucumber and red dates accompanied by herb-marinated minced pork poured over pan fried tofu. Sharing a pork knuckle at the restaurant will set you back by about RM50. Using the bone to cook two meals brings the cost down to RM16.67.

Yes, yes, eight cooking attempts in three months is not a lot to shout about. But hey, we only got our stove just before Chinese New Year la!

Snapshots with Bruce Springsteen

Woo hoo ... we FINALLY managed to convert our wedding slideshow by our professional photographers using a combination of freeware and smart thinking for the benefit of those who were unable to join us. Here's a glimpse of the bridal makeup session and wedding ceremony for your viewing pleasure:

WRA 482

We brought home our new baby today and Jo was one very excited person :) After waiting for slightly over a month, we were finally going to meet the latest addition to our family.

Sorry to disappoint all you speculators, but there's absolutely no scandal brewing here. Thanks to Jo's generous payout which came early this year, we managed to purchase a brand new 1.6 automatic transmission Persona.

Talk of getting a new car had always been a hot topic of conversation but we decided to wait until after the wedding as we already had so many expenses to settle then. Even so, we were wondering where the extra cash would come from for us to at least pay for the car's down payment.

Well, we didn't have to wonder long as He once again provided in His good and perfect time, just as He had for all our wedding needs and will continue to provide for the rest of our lives.

Wedding Photos

Two months on, our wedding photos are finally up on Jo's facebook account for your viewing pleasure :) For the 'smarter' ones who value their time and chose not to dabble with facebook, you can view them by clicking on the links below:

Wedding Morning 1
Shots of the bride getting ready

Wedding Morning 2
Shots of the groom getting ready

Wedding Ceremony 1
Part 1 of our church ceremony

Wedding Ceremony 2
Part 2 of our church ceremony

Wedding Deco & Everything Pretty
Shots of the details that make a difference

Our Big Day
Shots of the wedding morning and ceremony captured by friends and family

Hotel Shots
Random shots taken around the hotel grounds

Tea Ceremony
Shots of the in-law introductions

Wedding Dinner
Shots of the night time festivities

p.s. Drop us a note if you would like a copy of the photos. Enjoy!

V Day

'So what are your plans tonight?'

'Nothing planned. Going home after work, watch Amazing Race Asia and mebbe do some housework.'

'Huh? Why la?'

'Coz everything's so over priced and over commercialised ... no need to waste money la.'

Secretly though, Jo was wishing for a surprise although she told her colleagues otherwise. And a surprise she did get when Anderson came home with a modest bouquet of roses and left them on the piano for her to discover :)

We dined at The Ship and settled for the set dinner which was an ok affair. Ok because the atmosphere was a little too army-style with the captain constantly giving orders to the waiters to bring out the next course. It felt a little hurried, a little rushed. Mind you, there was even a notice reminding diners of a 45 minute time limit to give room to other customers waiting in line!

But we had each other for company so that was enough to make up for it. Plus the food was enjoyable and we got to warm the chairs for over an hour.

Our main meal of steak and tiger prawns served with potato wedges and steamed vegetables and our creamy chocolate sponge cake dessert

We made it back on time for Amazing Race and eagerly waited to find out who the winner would be over wine and chips. (The Singaporean boys won by the way.) American Idol was on next so we spent the rest of our waking hours sprawled out on the couch in what would be our first Valentine's day as Mr and Mrs.

Gifts galore - teddy bear courtesy of The Ship and flowers courtesy of hubby!

The Proposal on Video

Those who missed this at our wedding dinner can now catch a glimpse of the seldom seen romantic side of Anderson!

2-Month Report

It has been almost two months and some have asked me how it has been (marriage wise I mean). Well, from the pointers below, you should have an idea of what has happened since we got married ...

1. What is clean to one may not be clean for the other.

2. Self made magic is tiring; one may say that there is a good feeling after putting in hard work, but certainly not when it means ironing your shirt early in the morning just before rushing off to work.

3. Different waking times gives you good alone time to wash up and meditate. Too big a gap makes you late for work ... everyday!

4. One tends to think more about their partner especially when you are busy doing house work while the other fella is either busy watching tv or fast asleep.

5. Pooling your money together, having a joint account is good. But it is only truly good when both parties stop subscribing to the policy of my money is mine but your money is ours.

6. Girls and shoes, bags, toiletries or clothes. You can fight their intense need to match every item they own with a specific shoe or bag. But unless you know how to stop the tide and calm the waves, I wouldn't really bother, just as long as you conveniently 'forget' to bring your wallet every time you enter a departmental store.

7. To your husband, buying him a car is all about how good the car drives and how good he looks in it. To your wife, buying her a car is linked to how much you truly love her. Consider that as well when you weigh the merits of a brand new car vs a 5k 10-year old Proton.

8. You can call to update every two hours, take safety precautions, arrange for company and so on for your wife who is left alone at home whenever you are overseas ... but feelings back home are never really too great especially when you are off to Singapore to watch The Cure or The Police in concert with the guys. If it has to be done, a pricey hand bag or two usually calms things down pretty well.

9. Be careful when choosing duties to do at home. Drilling holes, putting up the tv and shelves, fixing up the car and furniture, cutting grass and clearing the backyard are all one-off activities. It does not fall into the 'doing your share of the house work' category. Doing it with good music or your favourite tv programme turned on totally nullifies every good deed done.

10. Despite bleeding profusely from giving out ang paus, Chinese New Year is a time for family; honour that and you may have a prosperous year ahead.

More Blessed to Give

The year of the rat has arrived and we are not spared from the hustle and bustle of the festive season. Some things we learnt along the way:

1. Banks only carry a limited stock of crisp banknotes - especially the RM 5 and RM 10 denominations. Lesson: Draw up list of ang pau recipients early to get a good headstart over everyone else who are also vying for those currencies.

2. You've got to be really desperate or out of your mind to do your shopping last minute. Sure, things will be a lot cheaper one or two days before CNY but you'll have to brave the horrendous traffic, face the stress of looking for a parking lot, fighting for a shopping cart and joining the long queue at the checkout counters.

3. While ang pau giving can set you back by a few thousand ringgit, we shall not complain but be thankful that both our families are not strict subscribers to the double ang pau practice which is customary in the first year of marriage. And after all, it is by far more blessed to give than to receive! :)

In Sickness and In Health ...

The vows we made on our wedding day were put to the test when we were both taken ill by the flu bug; first with Jo fighting sore throat and cough, followed by Anderson coming down with fever and the whole works. We're both still not 100% well yet, but it has been an experience having to clean up after the other's mess whilst feeling under the weather yourself.

All the same, He has been gracious in having us deal with only what we can handle, and granting us the patience to bear with each other during this period. It's a long and winding road ahead, but we're glad that we're not travelling alone :)

One Month Old

We celebrate our 1-month anniversary today! And what better way to commemorate the celebration with Jo also receiving her bonus letter today :) Surely His goodness and mercy follows us all the days of our lives!