Mystical Eve 2012

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We are exactly half a month into the year of the water dragon! Many things are said to happen this year such as the World Ending!!! But that doesn't stop many people around the world- Malaysians included to usher in the new year by celebrating it right?

This year, I've decided to join the crowd and went to a huge celebration at the Red Carpet Avenue @ ENCORP STRAND Not sure what to expect as this is the first countdown party held there, this is how it went down in an stellar way of course!!

Parking was great if you went earlier to catch the performances..... that's a plus point for me...and you can hear and see the lights from the outside..

The side entrance as we walked in

 

 

Stage setup

Was hosted by my good friend, Julie and her co-host Megan

The night was set to entertained with a huge lined up of local artistes such as...hip hop doyenne Joe Flizzow; rock band, Pop Shuvit; indie-darling, Reza Salleh; Neo-Soul crooner, Najwa Mahiaddin; and two of my favourites....

International pop- princess - Mizz Nina!!!

Violin virtuoso, Dennis Lau and his compatriot, world-ranked beat boxer, Shawn Lee.

There were local dj's spinning that night too to put party-goers in the mood such as... Barsonic’s resident DJ, Davern Koh aka HypeEmBeats and Jee Hoe of DJ collective Melee Punks, unleashed their brand of indie-house electro beats.

And if you were wondering who I was partying with? It's none other than... my fellow gal pals from Malaysia's Hottest Bloggers

 

  Sarah who just came back after a gap 6 months in New Zealand and Nicole

 

Of course, with sweet Ben

 

Aric and sis

 

 Another MHB babe Brigette which I have not seen in months! Check out the background guys..cool right?

Not forgetting the part where the party got even better with the girls sipping on Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve!!  Check out their latest events on their facebook page HERE

 

 As per quoting a friend, "the Laser men part was unexpected but really good"! What's that you ask?

A duo whose ability to dance with green laser lights (in sync, mind you!) enthralled partygoers into a temporary stupor, leaving them totally gobsmacked!

 

Pop Shuvit entertained the crowd and got them all geared up for the 3D projection countdown which broadcasted images onto giant screens, highlighting their overall development and architectural mastery.

 

According to Mystical Eve Project Director, Jason Voon, “3D Projection Mapping is the latest interactive building art phenomenon that has taken the world by storm, and ENCORP is among the first bold adopters of this technology in Malaysia.”

A glimpse of the 3D projection screen

Weee~ The sky lit up with fireworks at the stroke of midnight!

Suffice to say, the night at the Red Carpet Avenue didn't let me down after staying cooped up at home even in Hawaii to countdown the past few years!! For those who have been asking, this was exactly what I did over my New Year's eve and I do hope that Encorp Strand has another one like that end of this year IF the world doesn't end!!*of course it won't*

xoxo

Meiz

To keep updated about what's happening at Red Carpet Avenue, simply like their page at www.facebook.com/encorpstrand

My New Boyfriend - Ivan

So can you guess who it is? My newest boyfriend who's really cute and is an extreme gentleman???? It's none other than....

 Ivan!!!! 

Nah...I am just too OLD for him... But as you all know, I have an affinity with children and he's a friend's child! This is not an aunty blog but I am going to detail an interesting talent show for children which I've recently attended.... 

By the way, they now have "modelling" classes for children where the kids are trained to catwalk as young as three to four years old. I was beyond shocked that some of this toddlers are prancing around in high heels(I myself can't even wear high heels properly)!! *gasps* 

Ivan with the other two boy models all ready and sweating to show their stuff

The "senior" and junior models getting ready

The first section started off with the kids introducing themselves!! eeeekkkk!!! Kawaii ne~

After that, it was SHOW TIME baby!!

Senior models doing their THING!

After the first round, they had a change of clothing for the second round of catwalk just like in a "real" fashion show

As the kids were the stars for the day, I had a jolly good time being the paparazzi for many of them...

The girl in the red dress will be Malaysia's potential Star! She won for the "senior" category with our resident model Adrian Loh in the middle

Look at the littlest girl crouching down..she was soooooo tiny!!!

The talents anxiously waiting for their names to be called  as the "winner"

Finale pic with the judges!!

And my boyfriend placed 3rd for the juniors category!! Wootzzzz!! Congratulations Ivan!!! So proud of you:)

With his proud mummy!

And proud Ben who was so excited for him like his true uncle? or Brother?

You are probably wondering why I am blogging about a kid's talent show right?

I've decided to do so because 1. Ivan is good and cute kid, I like him alot! 2. It's just to remind many of you especially those who have lost track of life and what it feels like to be a kid that it was NOT always like that... When I was at the show, the kids were full of happiness, life, and didn't have a care in the world. All of them had no FEAR which plagues many of us as we grow older. These children tried out to compete thinking they would win it...how many of you actually stick to a job thinking you can't get another job? how many of you dare to take a risk for a business you have passion about? How many of you can stand up and fight for something when you have failed at it?

Those questions asked were suppose to jolt you *I Hope* because too many around me fall into the trap of FEAR, being scared to venture out, to try.........Sometimes...you have to ACT in spite of fear or you will never know..

That aside, I did hope that if people were to hold talent competitions especially for children in the future, please prepare consolation prizes for everyone. Create titles like "best dressed" and such because it's not nice to let some win and the rest lose because they will be so upset!! Just a thought because we saw so many children's face light up when they thought it's them that's being called and put down when there were no prizes left :(

xoxo

Meiz

The original recipe of Yee Sang from China

You know what this year is right on the Chinese Calendar?!?!

 

The auspicious dragon year

Given that Chinese New Year is coming round the corner, my father being the traditional China-man he is has urged me to write about a very fundamental food and an important part of chinese new year in malaysia!! It's none other than Yee Sang!!!!Love Love it!! Missed it sooo much when I was in Hawaii..

As my father is a second generation China-man, he believes that this isa must for all chinese people and foreigners alike to know the history of yee Sang. My late grandpa(Yeh-Yeh) was born in dongguan and adopted into jiangmen on the other side of the guangdong province:

Apparently, the seventh day of the chinese new year is known as Yan yatt or peoples birthday, that is the day when everybody is an equal and a meal is provided to be shared by both employers and employees. The main dish is yee sang and everybody stands up and toss it together for another good year of business and prosperity.

 

This practice was brought into malaysia by the cantonese and specifically into Ipoh and Kuala lumpur . Just FYI, did you know that Yee sang is only celebrated once a year on the seventh day and everybody looked forward to it unlike now where it is available one month before new year until one month after new year. Yeh yehs very good friend who once worked for tun hs lee as a cook gave the recipe to my father before he passed away. Tun hs lee was the first finance minister of malaysia who later started d and c bank and which is now known as RHB bank.

Now, if you plan to make it for CNY, here's THE ORIGINAL recipe from CHINA! 

1. Slice white lobak(radish) into toothpick size and put in water for a few hours, then put in cloth bag and squeeze the water out. Repeat with red carrot and yim sai but for yim sai just dry on a basket.

 

2. Next, the fish which is mostly grass carp to be dried under a fan, squeezed and sliced and put on mahjongg paper to dry and absorb the fat away. 
 

3.Put seaweed in water, slice hong keong, kew tou , sin keong and kwa yeng as condiments. 

4. Also put in pieces of pomelo, fried keropok,pork oil , peanut biscuit and sin mui cheong(sauce). Add peanut oil with garlic, sesame seed(cheemah) and lime tree leaves cut into slices.
 

5. Add lime that is six or seven pieces to be squeezed onto the mixture.

Voila!!! You are now ready to "loh sang" which means toss the Yee Sang in Chinese. 

My father says that you will be assured of a wonderful golden orangy tangy taste and flavour unlike what you eat at the restaurants where everything is purchased in bulk with the only flavour being the sin mui  or the "assam"sauce. What galls him is the kerapok which substantially makes up the dish nowadays and which the kids love and ME!!! Eeppsss!!!!

Try out the recipe guys and you will know the difference! Although there is more work, BUT it's so worth the time!!! Hopefully this recipe can be passed on to future generations and you cooks out there can share it with others!!

Gong Xi Fatt Cai
Meiz