Hearts and polka dots

HELLO LONG TIME NO BLOG! Four months! Four. Freaking. Months! Since the last post. What is wrong with you Ee Von??!

Well, first of all there was work. And... 

and...

... and that is all wtf.

Today just felt like a good day to blog for no reason. Dunno what exactly to blog about so just gonna put up some recent pictures taken that's found in my phone.

For Wk's birthday we went to Pacific House in South Yarra. We've been there once and had their mud crab and it was amazing so we went back again to have it. The waiter recommended us the snow crab which was in season and priced slightly cheaper than mud crab. I haven't tried it before so we decided to go with snow crab.

Basically the difference between mud crab and snow crab is, one lives in the mud and the other lives in snow. WTF.

I swear that's what Wk told me when I asked him -.-

So after trying both, personally I still prefer the taste of mud crab as I find that the flesh has a sweeter taste and is less 'stringy', if you know what I mean. Snow crab's flesh is very stringy, tasted clean and fresh. I somehow find more satisfaction eating mud crab than snow crab. Nevertheless I highly recommend both types of crab - they are both good  to try out if you haven't had many crabs before. I've eaten a good amount of crabs in Malaysia and seriously, nothing compares. I mean there are good crabs in Malaysia but after having crabs here in Melbourne, nothing as of yet tops it.

So anyway, the crab is priced by weight of course, it was around $ 40ish per pound. I can't remember how much we ate but it was definitely 1 whole crab, and the waiter picked the smallest one because there was only 2 of us eating. We requested to have it cooked with some noodles. We were given a few choices of sauces but I can't remember what they were. We went with XO sauce which wasn't great to be honest. It was quite diluted and thickened with lots of corn flour solution. The crabs were good regardless. As you can see, the crab was HUMONGOUS. It took us 1.5 hours savoring the entire thing, CLEAN. This is probably our first time making sure we scrape and dig out every millimeter of meat from that crab because it's so expensive lol.

Sorry for the sudden change of topic haha.

Was cleaning out my dressing table the other day. I realize I have waaaaaay too many makeup to use. This amount is probably enough to last me my entire life no joke. Like come on, who really needs more than 1 foundation, 10 eye shadows, 3 blushes and a million lipsticks. I actually stopped buying makeup for a while now, maybe a piece or two occasionally but mainly things I've used up and need refill. There are many items I don't use but I feel terrible to throw them out. Maybe I should do like a blogsale.

And I have waaaay to many brushes to be cleaned oh gosh. Hate cleaning brushes. I wish there were disposable brushes or something with a use by date like contact lens. After a week or month, throw it out and open a new one.

On Sunday I visited the dentist and had 2 of my lower wisdom teeth extracted. What you see above was my 'last meal'.

We were at Hardware Societe, a crazy popular breakfast/brunch place in the CBD. They open at 8.30 AM. At 9.00 AM, there was already a line. Seriously people, GO BACK TO BED! Lol.

I had the breakfast special which was the fried brioche with poached rhubarb, spiced praline and citrus mascarpone. I call this the Aussie French Toast. Hardware's fried brioche is da bomb seriously. That piece of brioche was as thick as a Harry Potter book. I couldn't finish it. It was really yummy nonetheless. Wk had something which didn't look very interesting or pretty so I didn't take a picture lol.

Since it was a surgical procedure, I got a week's off work to recover. What do I do?

I paint my nails that's what I did.

I don't usually give a shit about nails. If my nails are painted, it only mean one thing. I was bored. Now that's only plain polish. If my nails have nail art, it means I was REALLY bored.

I have to say having a week off is awesome but sometimes it does get boring.

I looked at the plain beige and it screamed "DRESS US UP!" as though it needed more done. Having absolutely no clue of what to do I started dotting them with dark blue. And regretted =.= I'd rather it plain than the awkward spots. So I left my left hand bare.

And then I was watching a nail tutorial on Youtube and this girl used scotch tape as a stencil to create heart shapes on her nails. I thought that was kinda cute so I tried it. Then for some reason I thought the heart looked a little awkward... like all of a sudden there's a dark blue heart. It felt like I need to use the same blue on another nail so the heart won't stick out like a sore thumb... on my thumb wtf.

And I decided more dots! I very much prefer these smaller dots than the big ones, look more delicate and cute IMO.

Last but not least, I want to say this ice cream is not good lol.

Personally, I don't think salted caramel and chocolate is a good combination because both have very distinctive flavour and putting them together will only envelope each other's awesomeness and not bring them out. The ice cream and salted caramel swirls were good on their own but together, mehh. So for salted caramel fans out there, don't bother. It's so expensive too, btw.

Priorities

This morning I got a call from an unknown number. After answering, I found out it was a man who has sent me an email days ago inquiring about violin lessons. I knew it was very irresponsible of me to not reply him through email. And now he's calling me, anyone can tell how serious he was about the lessons he was asking for his son. I apologized and said no.

And now I feel this weird, indescribable sadness in me.

6 months ago, I would have said yes to ANY inquiry in a heartbeat. I was so desperate for a job, and to be able to teach the violin would be a plus. Music has been a huge part of me before doing beauty and I've always hoped to keep it that way, and someday still do things related to music. 

Today, I realize I can't hold on to all these things anymore. I only have one heart, there's only that many things I can be passionate and focused about. If I were to do them all, I'd be half-assed in any of them which isn't something good. 

It didn't take me long to say no to that inquiry, but it cuts me deep inside knowing I'm pushing music away. But if I were to try and do it all, I'll be nowhere in the future. That being said, music will still be a part of me that I'm proud of. For now, I need to concentrate on what I have in hand. There's no use living life in the past when we are all in the present. 

I'm happy to teach, but if I'm unable to commit myself 100% and risk ruining the learning progress of a child, I'd rather say no in the first place. I'm sure he will find a better teacher who can give him so much more than I can.

It's amazing and scary at the same time the change one can go through in such a short amount of time. 2 years ago, I was a hopeful music teacher hoping to be able to live in Melbourne with my other half and teach music. Today, I'm doing anything BUT music.

Oh well, what's life if it's not constantly evolving?

Oh hai

Hi everyone! Has anyone missed me? *crows cawing*

I'm getting more and more terrible at this :( Even my period comes more regularly than me blogging wtf.

Nothing much really. Mainly work, bit of shopping, cooking and Candy Crushing (lots of it). Can't believe how quickly time flies. I just had my work review a week ago, marking the 6th month into my first official job in Australia. Which reminded me how I still haven't mentioned anything about it here in the blog. Next post!

About some time ago I went to Salon Melbourne, which is a Hair and Beauty Industry Expo held annually. I remember going there for the first time last year as a beauty student. I couldn't afford anything substantial at that time but this year I went in with a target in mind and a well-prepared wallet 8) 

 

So I got a complete waxing kit (pots, waxes, lotions, strips, applicators) simply because I've always wanted to start doing waxing services at home. Unfortunately at this time I can't as my spare room has been rented out so for now the best I can do is use it on myself. 

Honestly if you ask me 2 years ago whether I would get waxing services I'd tell you "Hell no, lao niang don't need it ok!". I'm not bragging here but apart from my armpits (can shave), eyebrows (can tweeze) and misai (can tweeze too but super painful knn), I really have no lawn anywhere else that needs mowing. I thank my mom's good genes for this. Even my brother has no hair on his legs, which I think to men isn't something to be proud of hahah.

When I went to beauty school it was the very first time I've ever gotten a waxing service, and of course performing the service. Apart from being the one doing the waxing you'll have to be used as a model for other students to practice. I'll go "Pffft I'd love to help but I've got nothing for you to wax" especially when I've just gotten my underarm, eyebrows or upper lips waxed.

Anyway, after trying out waxing, I've decided it's really a lot better than shaving. The only reason I haven't done it is I can't be bothered to visit a salon regularly to get it done. Shaving is just so much easier. Now that I have it at home and I know how it's done, it's a different story. 

I tried doing it myself the other day and omggg, I think if I have spent more time on it I could have gone cross-eyed. It's not painful mind you, when done right the pain is actually very tolerable. It's because I only have one hand to manage things, plus I have to look at my reflection in the mirror which made it so difficult. At the end of it I was telling myself "Nah, I'm sticking to shaving." Then I saw the results... waxing is still better. Usually by half/one day after shaving, I can already see stubble. And oh gosh the itch, fucking hate the itch in the pits especially when you're out in the public. With waxing, there's no stubble AT ALL even after 5 days. The hair grows at a much slower rate, and finer too. Best of all, no itch. 

So guess I'll be sticking to waxing then until I can be bothered to go for IPL.  

Do you know what's better than having a day off work? Having another day off the next day. And what's better? Having your shopping parcel delivered to you while you're still in your PJs. And what's even better? Everything fitting perfectly. 

Parcels always make a girl happy :)

It's been getting colder lately and what better way to warm up than to have a warm dessert? :)

Made chocolate fondant, which is also known as chocolate lava cake, or chocolate pudding. I don't know who the hell invented this and couldn't decide on the name, it's so annoying. So anyway basically it's a rich chocolate cake with a molten/half-cooked center so when your spoon cuts through it, the liquid center should ooze out of the cake like a lava flowing out of a volcano. 

I recently saw a picture Maggie posted on Instagram of her chocolate fondant and I decided to try it too. Instead of only chocolate cake batter, I added some peanut butter in the center of the cake.

IT IS ZOMFG DELICIOUS DOT COM OK. Served with ice cream, the combination of rich chocolate cake, molten peanut butter and cold ice cream was just mind blowing. And I've always had trouble trying to get the center to still be runny, they always turn out a little cooked so they never ooze out. With the peanut butter there, no problemo. Perfectly lava-like. Used this recipe, but used this method to incorporate the peanut butter.

On Saturday I was called in for a late start at work so we decided to quickly grab brunch before starting. Decided to try out this place in North Melbourne called Fandango. 

My cappuccino was a little different from the usual ones I always have at breakfast/brunch places. Instead of one with latte art and dusted with cocoa, this has no art but a sprinkle of what looked like chunky cocoa. The cocoa was sweetened, so it was quite nice having a sip of the froth with the sweet cocoa, before hitting the espresso.  

I had the Pesto Scrambled Egg. It was delicious, I think. Haha I was in such a rush because the food took quite a while, I was paranoid that I'll be late for the tram so I ate in a hurry.

Wk had the scrambled eggs on sourdough toast, with mushrooms. The scrambled eggs looked so perfectly silky and cloud-like. Tasted great too. 

This morning I was supposed to be at work for training but it got canceled so had the whole day off work woohoo! Decided to bake Japanese Cheesecake again. This is probably my 8th (or more) time making this. Still not happy with how the cake would crack at the top a little but everything else, I am supper happy with. 

Look at how beautifully it stands up :)

After it cooled down the top deflated a little so the cracks weren't obvious anymore. But I still would prefer it to have no cracks in the first place #anal

The other day I suddenly had a craving for lamb shanks, which is weird because I'm usually not a fan of it. I'm guessing it's the cold weather that made me want a warm, hearty plate of it with lots of flavourful gravy on top of mashed potatoes. He made it couple of days ago but it wasn't what I was expecting. He decided to try out another recipe in hopes of surprising me with something different to what he usually makes but poor, poor boy, I wasn't impressed hahaha. There wasn't gravy in it which was what I was looking forward to the most.

So yesterday I decided to make it myself, this time sticking with the recipe we always use. Lots of gravyyyy!

It's so easy to make. Just brown off some seasoned lamb shanks. Stir fry some aromatic veggies, then throw the rest of the ingredients (herbs, tomato base, stock) in and let it slow cook for 1.5 hours or until meat is very tender and detaching from its bone. Easy peasy. Recipe here.

Mmm so satisfying. The meat was just starting to fall off the bone. 

Ok done with this post. Till the next one. Ciao.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

A couple of days ago I was on my way to work in the train, a stranger approached me and said hello. He was a young white guy, wearing shirt and slacks with a tie. He introduced himself, but I forgot his name. He said he's a volunteer for a church. Usually if someone like him approach me while I'm walking on the streets, I'd dodge it by saying I'm rushing to somewhere and I haven't got the time (it's usually the truth, but sometimes I do lie). Today I was standing in the train, there wasn't really anywhere I could go to, obviously I couldn't say I was rushing to anywhere.

He tried to create small conversations, asking me where I'm from yadda yadda. To be polite, I responded and I kept the conversation going until he got his motive across. It's nothing really, he only wanted to get people to join the church he volunteers for. He wasn't pushy, all he did was ask me if I'd be interested to drop by the church one day. I said "No" as politely as I could, because that's a fact and I don't think it's necessary to beat around the bush and tell lies. 

And then the train reached a station and people walked pass in between us trying to get down to the station and this man in his 40s in office attire, walked pass us and told him "She's not interested" and gave the young man the 'quit-it' face.

Really? Did he really have to do that? 

Why are people so rejective so quickly these days? It's true, I wasn't interested, but I don't think telling that in the young guy's face is necessary. He's only trying his best to accomplish what he had to, and he's there to do what he believed was good. He wasn't trying to get me to buy something, he wasn't even trying to get me to fork out a cent. He was only trying to interest me into visiting the church, and most importantly he was being really polite in doing so.

The point of this post is, give others the opportunity to be heard, and no need to be rude if you're not interested. I'm sure at one point of your life you wanted to be heard too. Job interviews, sales, friends, family. I'm sure you're not a listener your entire life. As long as the person is not bothering, annoying or irritating you, as long as you have the time, why not give him a chance? I feel sorry for him because I know exactly how it feels to want to be heard, and be shut off like that.

There are ways to reject an offer and I believe in the phrase "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". It's a biblical statement and I am 100% not religious at all but I truly agree with it. If you wouldn't want to be rudely rejected, don't do that to others. Treat people the way you want to be treated, simple as that. 

Seat-Warmer

Just a tiny ranting post about watching movies in the cinema.

Have you ever went to watch a movie in a cinema with numbered seating, looked for your seats in the dark, only to find that someone else is comfortably sitting there? So you'll have to walk up to them and tell them they might have gotten the wrong seats, and when you get to sit down that seat is all warm and disgusting? I mean it's not like there's shit or piss there but the fact that someone's body heat was transferred into the seats through their ass, and you are going to put your ass there and feel that heat is... just... no. 

I've encountered this situation several times and honestly, it is getting really annoying. I would also say that it's only in Melbourne that I've had situations like this more often than in Malaysia. I don't know why, maybe  some Melbourne people are partially blind. Blind to cinema seats. Or they just enjoy being shooed off when the person who's actually PAID for the seats come telling them about it? Or maybe they're actually part time Seat-Warmer, they enjoy warming up other people's seats wtf.

The thing is whenever we can, we try to get middle seats in the cinema for obvious reasons. I can totally understand it if someone decided to move from their original, not so good seats to a better seat (eg. middle) as long as it is for 100% sure that the seat isn't occupied at all, and I mean like there's no one sitting there right from the beginning and it's already halfway (or at least, a quarter way) through the movie. Makes sense? 

What I don't understand is, right at the beginning of the show when the movie hasn't even started yet and it's only ads playing, these jokers are already seated in the middle  seats or wherever even though it's not theirs. And it's not as though they are senior citizens or disabled people who have trouble looking for seats ok. The "oh I couldn't find my seat" is just plain steaming pile of bullshit. What are you? 5? It's an alphabet and a number, all you need is a pair of eyes to look for them and your ass to sit in it. 

It is so obvious that they know it's not their seats, but they didn't care, they sat anyway. And when confronted, they pretend and play innocent like "Oh we're at the wrong seat?" insincerely apologize (if they do) and then move to their seats, or probably other unoccupied seats which are  still not theirs.

WHY?? Why can't you stick to wherever you're supposed to sit??? Why do you want to molest my throne? My ass has the perfect ability to warm up my own seat I seriously don't need your help you know?

People, I'm begging you, please stop going around warming other people's seats in the cinema. Thank you very much.

Breaking the fasting

The weather has been driving me absolutely nuts lately. The entire February and beginning of March has been sunny and hot like a griddle ready to cook a piece of steak. There has been a day or two of cool-down but that's about it. A DAY OR TWO. WHY! It's like waving cotton candy at a little kid, enticing him, let him have one bite, and then throw the cotton candy away (and stamp on it to make the scene look more terrible). How can anyone tolerate such cruelty you tell me la.

Ok enough about weather ranting. 

I love breakfast. I can never skip it. Every morning I wake up, it's the thing I look forward to because I'm freaking starving. 8 hours of empty stomach, how to not stave? My standard, simplest form of breakfast would be peanut butter toast (no other spreads, PB is a must) or cereal with coffee. When I have more time, creative juice, ingredients and most importantly the will, these are examples of what I came up with.

Toast with banana scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and baby kale. Banana scrambled eggs is something I saw in a friend's Instagram and got really curious about. The combination of smoked salmon (salty) and banana gives a savoury sweet flavour, quite interesting.

Cereal bowl of blueberries, shredded coconut, flax meal, black chia seeds, honey, macadamia nuts, oat clusters, bran straws, puffed wheat, crunchy flakes and organic low fat milk. I've concluded that adding shredded coconut, blueberries and honey to any cereal will instantly make it extra tasty! I personally think this is a powerhouse of nutrients cos it's filled with superfoods such as blueberries, flax meal, chia seeds and coconut.

This took inspiration from a couple of healthy living/food aficionados I follow on Instagram. Cinnamon and banana oatmeal pancakes with a glorious amount of fruits (strawberries, banana and black grapes), drizzled with homemade chocolate sauce, topped with toasted almond and black chia seeds. I basically used up whatever fruits I had in the fridge. The sauce is cocoa powder mixed with a bit of hot water and sugar to sweeten. Nuts and seeds are for the extra nutrients and crunch. It tasted pretty good, could do with more chocolate sauce :D

This is pretty self explanatory? Toast with (horribly) scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, truss tomatoes and rockets. Those tomatoes are DA BOMB. Drizzled with olive oil, cook on low heat with the truss on until the skin starts to split. That's it! It's bigger than cherry, but smaller than regular tomatoes. The scrambled eggs was a shame... I still need to master the technique of making good scrambled eggs. Oh, was having this while watching an episode (which lead to another 3) of The Walking Dead. Damn show, so much of suspense.

Wk however, makes the perfect scrambled eggs! Surprise, surprise. Its creamy and fluffy, exactly how scrambled eggs taste like. Here are toast served 2 ways, first with scrambled eggs, another with peanut butter and apricot jam, both equally a favourite. If we had smoked salmon and some chives, this plate would be absolutely perfect.

Ok need to end this and take a cold shower. This freaking heat is stimulating my sweat glands too much its disgusting.

Chinese New Year 2013

The things I miss the most about Chinese New year is definitely the overplayed CNY music in the radio and shopping malls, CNY decorations everywhere, cookies and CNY treats (kuih kapit, beehive biscuit, pineapple tarts, mandarin oranges, nian gao, bahkua, Anglia shandy drink omg I can go on and on with this...), family gatherings and dinners, rounds and rounds of tossing Yee Sang, last but not least the Ang Pows. 

Oh well, at least I'm not celebrating it all alone. That, I'm grateful for. Hopefully next year I'll be enjoying it back at home :)

Cookies wise, no problemo. If you don't know I bake, you must be new here.

The first batch of pineapple tarts. It was good, but I wasn't quite satisfied. It had that melt-in-the-mouth wow factor, but not 'melty' enough IMO. 

Made my own jam too. Not that I can get pre-made pineapple jam anyway.

Then I found another recipe.

THEY WERE TO DIE FOR DOT COM!!! I'm so glad I found that recipe. This one is so much more crumbly and melty.

As far as CNY vibe, we managed to see it in a Vietnamese market.

Bought a pomelo just because we wanted to bath with the pomelo skin for good luck. Haha. No la kidding, I wanted to use pomelo in a dish I was about to make.

It felt quite like back in Malaysia, but they didn't have CNY music playing :( 

Saw these for the first time. So cool! The apples are 'tattooed', so it's actually part of the skin. It's not a sticker or anything. It was done by sticking the stencil on the apple before they turn red. With the sticker on, it is unable to get sun exposure and so won't turn red.

Although we don't have family members here, we have friends! Sam very kindly invited us to join her family for a reunion dinner on CNY eve. Her awesome dad cooked up a yummy feast for all of us!

Picture stolen from her Facebook hehe.


There were fireworks going on across the river and we were so fortunate to be able to see it from her strategically situated apartment.

I was lucky to not have to work on the day of CNY. Was asked to cover a shift but thank goodness someone else was willing to take over :) We started that morning with some apartment inspection in Collingwood, decided to have brunch around the corner after that. I've heard lots about Proud Mary so we headed there without much deliberation.

Yes, deliberate because I'm extremely picky with my food. If I'm gonna spend money eating in Melbourne (5th most expensive city to live in) it HAS to be good. Not only do I despise wasting my money on average food, it's wasting my stomach space too and that is a big no no. If I'm having all these calories, it had better be good.

My usual cappuccino to start with.

Potato Hash - Grilled bacon, spinach, a poached egg, bagna cauda (traditional Italian sauce of anchovies, garlic and cream). The hash looked more like a rosti to me, it was delicious regardless. I was expecting the sauce to have more anchovies and garlic flavour but it didn't. It was really subtle, but not bad.

Crispy Pork Belly Sandwich - Smoked paprika relish and aioli. I LOVED IT. It's crispy, fatty and so good. I suspect they've fried the bread with some kind of fat, pork flavoured maybe. There is absolutely no way a plain toasted slice of bread can taste that good unless it is cooked with some fatty goodness. The relish and aioli and the pork all went so well together. And that salad with a minty, refreshing dressing was just appropriate to cut through the heavy sandwich. I would have liked more salad though.

After brunch, more inspection at South Yarra. For dinner, we tried our luck at Chin Chin. It's always packed with people, as long as they're opened for business. So crazy. We managed to get a place at the kitchen bar. Not the best seats, but better than none.

Pad Seuw of Six Hour Braised Wagyu and Kailan - I'm not sure but I think Pad Seuw's Thai. It's basically rolled flat rice noodle, like Chee Cheong Fun, cooked with some Wagyu beef slices and Kailan in this savoury sweet, sticky, caramel-like sauce. At some point, I did find it to be too sweet but apart form that I really liked the taste of  the silky and tender Pad Seuw.

Coconut Crush - If I remember the name of that drink correctly... It's basically coconut water with some crushed ice, mint and coconut flesh. I love coconut - water, milk, cream, flesh, you name it. Having had coconut trees grown at home back in Malaysia, we always had fresh coconut water at home in the fridge. The coconut's from our coconut tree, we collect it, hack it, extract it, it doesn't get any fresher than that. This   drink unfortunately, was a major disappointment. It was a refreshing drink for that hot day, but that's about it. We've never tried any of their drinks before so we thought we wanted to give this a go. I've had bottled/canned coconut water before and hated them. I've had coconut water served in coconuts here in Melbourne, they're alright, not as good as what I used to have at home. I thought maybe it will be different and taste better if served in a restaurant, but no. I guess if you've never had coconut water before you won't be disappointed and can give it a try. For me, I'd rather have plain water.

Caramelized Sticky Pork with Sour Herb Salad and Chilli Vinegar - Had this before, loved it, that's why we had it again. Sweet caramel and pork are just meant to be together. Would have loved it more if there were some pork crackle :D

Palm Sugar Ice Cream Sundae with Salted Honeycomb and Lime Syrup - Yeummmmm. Sweet, salty, sour all in one.

That sums up our dinner for CNY! Not at all traditionally what I would do for CNY but at least we had a good time with good food.

CNY will not be complete without Yee Sang. I don't think most people realize how overpriced it is in restaurants for a dish which only consists of mainly shredded vegetables, some fried noodles and crackers, and some raw fish. Also, some of the components are artificially coloured so it's not exactly healthy either.

I really wanted to eat Yee Sang but wasn't excited about having to pay an exorbitant price for just a plate of salad. Solution? Make my own. Remember the pomelo? This was what it's for. It's so easy to make! And because it's homemade, I can decide what I want or don't want in it. I hate pickled shallots (kiu tao) that you usually find in Yee Sang in restaurants. Raw radish tastes awful. Coloured food? Nope. All of that can stay away from MY Yee Sang. I love me lots of coriander, peanuts, crackers, and sesame :)

Trying to take a picture with one hand while the other tossing the Yee Sang as you can see, is not an easy task.

The aftermath.

By the way, 2 people tossing 1 Yee Sang proved to be quite a lot of work to do lol. It was really hard to get everything mixed evenly with only 2 pairs of chopsticks! But I was quite happy with the 'mess' we created. Yee Sang is not a Yee Sang if it's not messy.

The taste? I don't want to blow my own trumpet but it was delicious. Maybe because it doesn't have the crappy ingredients I don't fancy in the typical Yee Sang. The only thing that I would pick on is the lack of red colour in the whole dish. I think capsicum or red chilli would complete the picture.

That was pretty much it, as far as CNY-ish events went this year. May this be the year of better happenings for us! :) Lots of good food, good vibe, good opportunities.