Ai Chun

One of Ai Chun's assignment this coming week was to write an article about the status of Hokkien dialect in Penang. Guess who she picked to interview her piece on?? Moi!! Don't know if I was much help... but hey, I got to meet up (and took some pictures) with some really interesting people at the Star :P

Lok Lok Feast

'Lok Lok' or translate that directly into English, Dip-Dip... it's a meal on a stick/skewer. Think of fondue... only instead of cheese or chocolate, its hot boiling broth where you can DIP your food on a stick to cook it, and later eat it accompanied with a variety of dipping sauces. The food are usually seafood related items such as fishballs, cuttlefish, squid, prawns, etc. Each stick of food are color coded to indicate the different pricing of the item on a stick. This is one of my favorite specialty food from home where I can 'play' with my food! :P

Superman Returns

Ai Chun has the day off... a great apportunity for us to catch a matinee show. Superman Returns premiered today, one whole day before the US. I won't spoil the movie by devulging too much... but this is what I have to say.

Two extremely HOT guys and by far - my favorite Lois Lane ever... and most importantly, the scene where Superman had his costume off... be still my heart!!! Boy was he ripped!!! Ai Chun and I left the cinema salivating over Brandon Routh (Superman) and James Marsden (Cyclops)... and yes, Kate Bosworth is the prettiest looking Lois Lane... very much less annoying compared to the original Lois Lane - Margot Kidder. Overall, I think that Brandon Routh did a great job as Superman and he even looks similar to our original superhero-actor, the late Christopher Reeve.

Dinner with Hun Guan & Fanny

Hun Guan and Fanny took me out for dinner...

Great company, food, and a fine bottle of Shiraz makes a wonderful dinner party. Thanks for dinner you two!! Next round's on me!

Happy Birthday Ayu!!

Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday dear Ayu,
Happy Birthday to you!!

Wishing you all the best things life has to offer,
health, happiness and a long lifetime of rich adventure!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Lotsa love,

Sher & Pete

Dinner outings...

Ai Chun brought me out for dinner on Monday night, it was a yummy affair next to me getting all the 411 on what's been happening with her and friends. It was a treat to be in Chun's company since this big sis of mine really knows how to make me laugh with all her stories and encounters. Anyways, sad case me left the camera behind at home.

One of the things I planned to do was a food-photo-journal to document all the yummy local dishes I have the chance to feast upon. Since I missed it with the dinner outing with Ai Chun, I will begin with the dinner outing tonight with Chee Eng. He brought me to a place right called Hammer Bay located right in front of the beach by the Gold Coast Condos and the soon to be opened Queen's Bay mall. We had grilled sting-ray and squid accompanied with Fried Maggie mee and Kampung style fried rice. See for yourself...

jOy, JoY, jOY!!

Okay... too much free time sitting at home... and I am so hooked on the Joy song by Yuki. I am trying to get her dance steps down... am I that deprieved from the Hip-Hop classes at BAC?? I am therefore making the current song to this blog - Joy...

everybody joy, jOy, JoY!!

"tashika na kimi ni aitai hyakunen saki mo soba ni itai
donna ni hanarebanare demo futari wo tsunagu jumon wa J.O.Y"

Happy Birthday Claire!

Birthday wishes to Clarissa...

Happy Birthday dearest Claire...
Wishing you many happy returns of the day.
Miss you lots and we can't wait to see you in August!
Lotsa love,
X0X0X
Sher & Pete

Joy by Yuki

I caught Yuki performing at a Japanese music award show and later her videoclip.. am now, I'm hooked on it. The choreography is cute as well... check it out!!
* don't forget to turn off the main music on the blog before watching Yuki!

RABB Dinner

Tonight, the Cheah family as well as the Tan families (my uncles, aunts and kids) were at the Resident Association of Bayan Baru's (RABB) 30th Anniversary Dinner. Dad received an award for being one of the past presidents of the association. I met up with a lot of the other "Uncles" he used to work with, kept in touch with and many of them still neighbors in our township of Bayan Baru. Hurrah for Dad on receiving his award!!

Dad receiving his award from the Chief Minister of Penang,

The Honourable Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon.

Dad with the former Chief Minister of Penang, Dr. Lim Chong Eu and the present Chief Minister, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon

* * * * * * * * * *

Here I am with my cousins, Rochelle and Rexon Tan, and my Uncle Kuang at the dinner.

Gimme a N.I.C.K.Y.

A dear old friend who stopped by to see me... NICKY!! Dearie Nicky paid a visit to Sher... he was able to clear his very busy schedule to make room for me! His favorite person in the world... :P There I go... getting more airheaded than I needed to be!! We were trying to count the years of how long we have known each other... it has been more than a decade now. Through crazy times and fun times... we have remained best of friends. In a nutshell, here's to Nicky... Sher's oldest, best friend in the world!!

p.s: Nicky's camera shy.. gotta warm him up to Sher's picture taking craze!!

Keith's short trip to the island...

I met Keith back in my high school days when I participated in the Star BRATs program. Yes, I was a BRAT - Bright Roving Annoying Teen(s); a junior journalism program with a national syndicated newspaper in Malaysia. The workshop was held in Langkawi and us BRATs had a heck of a time just being kids!!

Back to Keith, well... he happened to be in Penang (work purpose) for a fews days which coincided with my arrival home in Penang and we managed to meet up for a very short duration before he had to drive back to KL. Since I was still trying to get reaquainted with driving on the left side of the road, mom and dad were my sole means of transportation. We brought Keith for a nice Sister's Char Koay Teow breakfast and headed to Him Heang for Tau Sar Pneah.

Both Keith and I are planning on meeting up again in KL soon as he is heading to Perth to finish up his degree. We last met like eons ago, therefore, since I happen to be in the same time zone as he is in right now, we might as well make the most out of time and geographic location to see each other before we head off our own ways.

It was great seeing you again Keith!!

Driving with Chong Joon...

Chong Joon came by to see me at home yesterday... even though he got a bit lost on the way to my house.. he still came with a bright smile on his face and an interesting story of how when I instructed him to make a right.. it meant making a left turn to him !! :P

Thanks to Chong Joon, I made my first attempt of driving in Penang.. it may have been a short drive home but it sure was encouraging to get behind in the wheel going through the motorcycle filled streets of my beloved island city. Thanks for having the confidence in me driving Joon *muaks...

p.s: Another camera shy one here! Leave it to Sher... ;P

H.K.I.A.

Spending some 7 hours in the Hong Kong International Airport as one is awaiting the next flight home does indeed make one restless... in order to make time fly a bit faster... I wandered all about in HKIA observing the lovely architectural designs with stops for refreshments... sushi, noodles and downing a glass of wine or was it two?!? :P

Congrats to Yan & Brian

I got an email from Yan who is currently in China with Brian. Their Chinese wedding ceremony was held last week, so they are just spending some vacation time together in Yan's hometown before Brian leaves back to Detroit and Yan begins collecting data for her dissertation research. Busy schedule for the newlyweds...

Wednesday, June 14th, 2006 - China

Congratulations to Yan & Brian!!

lotsa love,

Sherene & Peter

Home at last...

I made it HOME!!! Hurrah for Sherene!! Dinner, unpacked, new room (mom and dad have been busy rearranging things around the house!) and now going through my emails and of course, I can't help but to insert a few lines on a blog posting.

The flight from NYC to Vancouver went well, I got all three seats to myself, so I got to sprawl out and some deserving snoozing session. Vancouver to HK was a over 12 hours long, but it went smoothly, no babies crying or loud snorers around.

I was in the Hong Kong International Airport for like a 7 hours layover which I spent walking to every corner of the airport terminals, finished reading one of my novels, had a ramen noodle breakfast, sushi for lunch and washed that down with a full class of Chardonay, chatted with a really nice Aussie who happened to be in a much longer transit time in HKIA rather than myself. Overall, it was a rather relaxing journey back home :D

Flying in style...

Hello everyone... it is 9.38 p.m. EST and I have FINALLY made it to JFK airport. My Jetblue flight which was scheduled to leave Buffalo at 5:00 p.m. did not take off till like 7:00p.m. Reasons: Aircraft coming into Buffalo was delayed due to bad weather (bad weather throughout the northeastern seaboard stretching through to Florida), when it finally arrived in JFK we still had to stay on the aircraft waited till like almost 9:00 p.m. to finally deplane!! Got my luggages at baggage claim with one of them luggage-cart contraption and hauled my two very filled to the brim suitcases including one carry-on for about 500 feet to the next terminal. Lucky me it was only the next terminal over!!!

As I was checking in with Cathay Pacific for my long segment of the flight home, I encountered very friendly and nice British Airways/Cathay Pacific personnels. They hooked me up big time with getting me exit row seats and best of all, British Airways Terrace Lounge use!! This was good news after being in a very LONG flight for such a short trip to NYC from Buffalo plus the delay in my next flight from NYC to Hong Kong via Vancouver. So here I am, enjoying and making use of all the First Class facilities the lounge has to offer: free refreshments, snacks, (not so sure about alcoholic drinks, but I sure can use one before the flight!), internet pcs, big sofa sets, etc.

Heading to devour some munchies now... HUNGRY!!!

Homeward bound...

All packed... and heading to the airport in the next few minutes!!! Excited and tired but overall glad that all the packings done. The entire weekend was spent, shopping, watching the World Cup matches, more shopping, saw Nacho Libre and trying to fit everything into the luggage. Thank goodness for Pete for being able to take on all my other excess luggage!! Ciao for now... signing off from NY!!XoXoX Sher

Auntie Sher...

I called Okinawa to talk to Mindi this morning. I usually surprise her with calls every now and then to keep her posted on whats happening on my side and get updates from her side. Instead, I got a wonderful news. Mindi said that I am going to be an Auntie come February. Mindi's going to be a mommy!!

Congratulations to Andy & Mindi - future parents!!

On top of that, Mindi and Andy are leaving Okinawa and moving back to the States this July. Three more weeks and they are back here. They are getting stuff packed for the big move to Florida. No worries my dear, will be planning a trip to Florida to see you the moment you are settled into the new place.

Paper turned in!!

I got my qualifying exam paper done and handed in this afternoon.. which means I am free... for the time being that is!! Now, I can gain some sleep time back, shop, pack and tying all the loose ends of things before I leave Buffalo on Monday.

So much to do... and so little time left... but I am excited to be heading home. Been updating all my dear friends back home of my homecoming and setting up dates to meet up. So, you planning committees back home... get ready for the return of Sher!! :P

Jun visiting in June...

June was in Buffalo for a very short while.. it was work related but nonetheless, we got to meet up! June used to sit right behind me in high school and we were always up to something, both good and bad :P

Out to the wineries...

The crew met up with Paul, Ted, Eloise "Weez" and Te'o (Mr. Dog) and headed to the finger lakes wineries yesterday. We started from the top of Seneca Lake and cut across to Keuka Lake before heading back to Pete's house. It was a sunny Saturday, a perfect day to be just outside in between wine tasting sessions paired with delicious cheeses.