Another Chinese New Year has come and gone :) and this was the first time I have spent it away from family :P. Definitely much quieter and lack of atomosphere to what I am use to (the visiting of relatives, eating all the bak kua, sweets, collecting ang pows, bai nan, general socialising ;) and yeah well nothing beats the feeling of celebrating CNY at home with your family...this is Sydney after all and its just a normal Saturday and Sunday to the Aussies :P. Despite my reminescing, I am not complaining, I am so happy and thankful that I have got good friends (and even nicer...their families) who have invited me to their houses for CNY dinners. Whilst there may be a lack of CNY goodies, its more the atmosphere and being surrounded by friends and 'families', and home cooked (delicious) foods (that my friends and their mums have slaved hours for in the kitchen preparing) that makes it all the more memorable :)
As mentioned previously, my weekend started off on Fri night when it was Leo's last day at work at Westpac. After drinks at Settlement, the gang (meaning the volleyball gang) headed off to this 'hole-in-the-wall' (reallly...it was down some alley along George St) Korean BBQ place :P. Apologies to my foodie readers out there...I have forgotten the name of this place (or even how to get there :P)
The food was a little like Soul Garden (but much nicer)...I am not usually a fan of Korean food but the it was quite decent (BBQ meat..so cannot go wrong) and the Raspberry Wine was quite unique and crisp. It was quite a big turnout :). 
After the big meal, we headed off to Karaoke! Karina and myself went and got a bottle of Vodka (which always helps the mood during karaoke ;) haha...I myself didn't think we could finish it..but we did ;)..see I am already red (Mr Chan also gets as red as me when he drinks haha).
Now unfortunately there were plenty of photos taken (but not with my camera) so will just have to post them up in a later post once I get them :P Trust me...from what I can remember there were some pretty good posing photos (everyone thinks..especially me..they can sing once they have had a few drinks in them :P) haha..so much fun!
How long this this go on for? an amazing 4 odd hours! from like 11pm-3am...its amazing, everyone was really into it and was sporty about it...plus the songs were all the favourite English ones (there was also a sprinkling of mandarin and canto songs too for those who knew how to sing them)...there were plenty of laughs, hugs and 'togetherness' haha...not to mention embarrassing photos that will hopefully stay hidden (unless I post them on my blog ;). Overall a good night...cannot wait to see the rest of the karaoke photos :)
Saturday (CNY eve)
Was invited to Chewy's (Nick) place for dinner with his family. Both H, Leo and Alicia also came :). There was sooo much food. Mrs Chew had really slaved during the entire day to cook up a very scrumptous feast. The picture on the left shows her cutting up the home-made peking duck! Yes this is the first time I have ever had home-made peking duck and really it was delicious and one of the best onese I have ever had! Ok now this is not normally a food blog (btw check out my friend's resturant reviews in the 'Yum!' see links on right). But for this post I will make it as such...
The spread...
Home-made sharks fin soup...could have drank litres of it!
Fish, Prawns, Nonya mince-meat rolls (the way my grandmother use to make them), Black sauce meat and intestines...
The Nonya rolls again with the Hainanese chicken...exactly like S'pore style (complimented by home-made chicken rice too)
Oysters
The Peking duck ;)
The mango pudding I made (with Lish's mum's guidance and supervision...yeah! I can now make mango pudding!)
A beautiful lemon
meringe tart which Leo brought...very nice and tasty..if I wasn't so full when it came to deserts, would have finished it off :P
The girls finally arrived (from Gold Coast) see how much extra food there is there for them to finish (notice that there is also another duck ready...had trouble just finishing 1 duck :P). So full!
THANK YOU THE CHEWS!!! especially Nicky for inviting us to come and share in the occassion
K also brought her Wii and the remainder of the night was spent drinking wine, eating fruit, mango pudding :p and playing 4 player bowling on the Wii...don't know why but it seems like the girls seem to do better at this computer bowling against the guys..hmmm..:P
THANK YOU THE KOH'S FOR THE WONDERFUL HOSPITALITY DURING THIS TIME!
the girls and Leo
the guys and Leo
Us with our memories of Leo :)
As mentioned previously, this was Leo's last night in Sydney...its always hard when a good friend moves away but at least he will be doing something he will enjoy and be with his family :) and other Melbournite friends so I am happy for him :) Looking forward to visiting him in Melbourne soon! where we shall watch a WC Eagles victory and party hard through the night amongst the various Melbourne bars and pubs (with his friends ;) haha..
