rikeru on Xanga

さよなら。
恭喜恭喜

Happy Bunny Year Everyone!

how was your chinese new year?

mine was same like every other year and i think a little bit more traditional compare to some others

cause my mom is a really customary and superstitious person

that's why we had to follow some of the chinese customs

over the years and especially after making friends with people from varies countries

i have learn to appreciate all our chinese practice much more now

i think its fascinating to understand the culture of different countries and races

therefore it would be fun to share our customs and let the others

be amazed, bewilder and have a good laugh :)

as usual, the 3 main thing i look forward to every year are

new clothes, mouthwatering snacks and of cause the angbaos

it has been the same 3 since young till now haha

let's start with spring cleaning

"On the days before the New Year celebration Chinese families give their home a thorough cleaning.

There is a Cantonese saying "Wash away the dirt on ninyabaat" (年廿八，洗邋遢).

It is believed the cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the preceding year and makes their homes ready for good luck.

Brooms and dust pans are put away on the first day so that the newly arrived good luck cannot be swept away."

my 'clean' room after spring cleaning

(do not open the wardrobe)

"Some people give their homes, doors and window-frames a new coat of red paint.

Homes are often decorated with paper cutouts of Chinese auspicious phrases."

decorations for chinese blossom tree

its my 'job' every year to decorate the blossom tree for our home every year

"In many households where Buddhism or Taoism is prevalent, home altars and statues are cleaned thoroughly,

and altars that were adorned with decorations from the previous year are also taken down

and burned a week before the new year starts, and replaced with new decorations."

reunion dinner

"The biggest event of any Chinese New Year's Eve is the reunion dinner every family will have.

A dish consisting of fish will appear on the tables of Chinese families.

It is for display for the New Year's Eve dinner.

This meal is comparable to Christmas dinner in the West.

In northern China, it is customary to make dumplings (jiaozi 饺子) after dinner and have it around midnight.

Dumplings symbolize wealth because their shape is like a Chinese tael."

with papa in the kitchen preparing the food for reunion dinner

papa used to be yakuza that's why the tattoo on his body lol

steamboat has been our standard reunion dinner style since i was young?

but this year we had another pot just for me cause i wanted to try the tom yam soup base :)

i guess our house has the most scrumptious ingredients for steamboat

a few more dishes weren't caught in the picture

my papa laughing at my brother's new gf

and of cause there is my brother and new gf on the other side ;)

"By contrast, in the South, it is customary to make a new year cake (Niangao, 年糕) after dinner

and send pieces of it as gifts to relatives and friends in the coming days of the new year.

Niangao literally means increasingly prosperous year in year out.

After the dinner, some families go to local temples,

hours before the new year begins to pray for a prosperous new year by lighting the first incense of the year;

however in modern practice,many households hold parties and even hold a countdown to the new lunisolar year."

1st day

"The first day is for the welcoming of the deities of the heavens and earth,officially beginning at midnight.

Many people, especially Buddhists, abstain from meat consumption on the first day

because it is believed that this will ensure longevity for them.

Some consider lighting fires and using knives to be bad luck on New Year's Day,

so all food to be consumed is cooked the day before.

For Buddhists, the first day is also the birthday of Maitreya Bodhisattva

(better known as the more familiar Budai Luohan),

the Buddha-to-be. People also abstain from killing animals"

vegetarian food for 1st day of chinese new year

"Most importantly, the first day of Chinese New Year is a time when families visit the oldest

and most senior members of their extended family, usually their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents."

my uncle (papa's youngest brother) came to visit us

uncle's wife, my aunt and mam

mama cho happy with her oranges lol

together with my brother

it always makes me smile when i see the smiles of my papa & mama :)

my cousins

my brother

that's my sister in the pc, skype-ing with my relatives

brand new outfit for day one!

"Purchasing new clothing, shoes, and receiving a hair-cut also symbolize a fresh start."

kawaii ribbon top from http://www.kandykayne.com

angbao from my papa <333

"On the first day after getting up, kids would Bai Nian to their grandparents or parents.

In the ancient times, the kids will have to be on their kneels, placing palms and forehead downwards on the ground

and wishes them good healthy and longevity."

"Members of the family who are married also give red envelopes containing cash to junior members of the family,

mostly children and teenagers.

Business managers also give bonuses through red envelopes to employees for good luck and wealth."

"Some families may invite a lion dance troupe as a symbolic ritual to usher in the

Chinese New Year as well as to evict bad spirits from the premises."

dancing lion in the house yo!

each year, my mom would definitely invite the lion dance to our house

they will dance for 30 minutes or so and eventually dirty your place with vegetables & oranges which is supposed to be lucky

using the oranges they will then place 4 numbers for you to buy 4D

temple for praying

my kawaii happy papa at the temple

first visiting

"While fireworks and firecrackers are traditionally very popular, some regions have banned them due to concerns over fire hazards,

which have resulted in increased number of fires around New Years and challenged municipal fire departments' work capacity.

For this reason, various city governments (e.g., Hong Kong, and Beijing, for a number of years)

issued bans over fireworks and firecrackers in certain premises of the city.

As a substitute, large-scale fireworks have been launched by governments in cities like Hong Kong to offer citizens the experience."

day two

"The second day of the Chinese New Year is for married daughters to visit their birth parents.

Traditionally, daughters who have been married may not have the opportunity to visit their birth families frequently."

of cause nowadays we don't really follow the traditions anymore

my sis used to visit my parents on first day of new year instead of the second

it all depends on individual schedules and conveniences

daddy's side relatives visiting us

then to my aunt's place for visiting

they have the same smile :)

river angbao

they had the same ride in genting theme park

outfit for the 3rd day

"The third day is known as chì kǒu (赤口), directly translated as "red mouth".

chì kǒu is also called chì gǒu rì (赤狗日).

chì gǒu means "the God of Blazing Wrath" (熛怒之神).

It is generally accepted that it is not a good day to socialize or visit your relatives and friends. "

didn't follow the traditions and went for visiting too!

niece and nephew came to visit

isn't she kawaii??

dinner & shisha with the guys

5th day

"Dumplings on the morning of Po Wu (破五).

This is also the birthday of the Chinese god of wealth. In Taiwan, businesses traditionally

re-open on the next day (the sixth day), accompanied by firecrackers"

the 7th

"The seventh day, traditionally known as renri 人日, the common man's birthday,

the day when everyone grows one year older.It is the day when tossed raw fish salad, yusheng, is eaten.

This is a custom primarily among the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia and Singapore.

People get together to toss the colourful salad and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity."

yusheng at js's place

yu sheng with papa & mama

the 8th day
"Another family dinner is held to celebrate the eve of the birth of the Jade Emperor.
However, everybody should be back to work by the eighth day.

All of government agencies and business will stop celebrating by the eighth day.

Store owners will host a lunch/dinner with their employees, thanking their employees for the work they have done for the whole year."

"The ninth day of the New Year is a day for Chinese to offer prayers to the Jade Emperor of Heaven (天公) in the Taoist Pantheon.

The ninth day is traditionally the birthday of the Jade Emperor.This day is especially important to Hokkiens.

Come midnight of the eighth day of the new year, Hokkiens will offer thanks giving prayers to the Emperor of Heaven"

拜天宫

"Offerings will include sugarcane as it was the sugarcane that had protected the Hokkiens from certain extermination generations ago.

Incense, tea, fruit, vegetarian food or roast pig,

and paper gold is served as a customary protocol for paying respect to an honored person."

10th day

"The other day when the Jade Emperor's birthday is celebrated."

11th & 12th day

"On these days, friends and family are invited for dinners."

the gang at my place :)

13th day

"On the 13th day people will eat pure vegetarian food to clean out their stomach due to

consuming too much food over the last two weeks.

This day is dedicated to the General Guan Yu, also known as the Chinese God of War.

Guan Yu was born in the Han dynasty and is considered the greatest general in Chinese history.

He represents loyalty, strength, truth, and justice. According to history,

he was tricked by the enemy and was beheaded.

Almost every organization and business in China will pray to Guan Yu on this day.

Before his life ended, Guan Yu had won over one hundred battles and that is a goal that all businesses in China want to accomplish.

In a way, people look at him as the God of Wealth or the God of Success."

15th day

"The fifteenth day of the new year is celebrated as Yuan Xiao Festival/Yuánxiāojié (元宵节) or Shang Yuan Festival/Shàngyuánjié (上元节) or Lantern Festival"
"Rice dumplings tangyuan (simplified Chinese: 汤圆; traditional Chinese: 湯圓; pinyin: tāngyuán),
a sweet glutinous rice ball brewed in a soup, are eaten this day.Candles are lit outside houses as a way to guide wayward spirits home.

This day is celebrated as the Lantern Festival, and families walk the street carrying lighted lanterns."

"In Malaysia and Singapore, this day is celebrated by individuals seeking for a love partner,a different version of Valentine's Day.

Normally, single women would write their contact number on mandarin oranges and throw it in a river or a lake while single men would collect them and eat the oranges.

The taste is an indication of their possible love: sweet represents a good fate while sour represents a bad fate."

This day often marks the end of the Chinese New Year festivities. :)
♥ Gyoza ♥

dough: flour and water

i'm not sure about the exact amount of water and flour but knead till its not sticky

let it rest for 30mins and you can move on to make the fillings :)

fillings: marinate minced pork with soya sauce, pepper & sesame oil

add on chopped garlic chives (can replace with cabbages if you don't like garlic chives)

mix well

knead dough in to little pieces and flatten them using a wooden rod

put the fillings in the center and wrap it up

and its all ready to be cooked!

happy cooking everyone! i just had 10 of them, nomnomnonm :)
my new curls :)
♥ Curry Cheese Noodle ♥

ohayo, i know this is absolutely not for breakfast

but i love it so much i can have it 3 meals a day

one of my favourite brand and i only prefer

curry / tomyam / laksa / kimchi favourite

basically anything spicy

slice cheese and other ingredients that you prefer

i usually prefer rocking ham chicken franks hotdogs :)

you should know how to cook instant noodles right?

boil the water and add in the noodles, easy as abc

i usually cook slighting longer cause i love soggy noodles

and i put as little water so possible

maybe just enough to almost cover the noodles

in this case, you can still save your noodles later on if it's too salty

but not the other way round

add in the seasoning after everything is cooked

stir well, you may add in eggs or a touch of coconut milk if you like the taste (optional)

turn off the fire and place a slice of cheese on top till it melts

stir well and you that's it!

Cheesy hotdog noodle with chotto curry taste!

hontoni oishii if you like strong taste

Happy Cooking!
konnichiwa, how have you been?

its been ages since i last logged into here

ever since the break up i guessed, i just didnt have the motivation to write anymore

cause i wasn't happy and was crying almost everyday

time flies, its year 2011 now :)

sorry for not updating so much but i will start to from now on

here's a little summary of what happened in my 2010

♥ January ♥

at the river valley yaki tori place with tai having our usual dinner

♥ February ♥

Chinese New Year with my bestie whom recently got married

congrats to you my dearest friend, i'm so happy for you :)

when will it be my turn?

when will my castle be ready?

♥ March ♥

yumiko's 1st partying night and we brought her to zouk

♥ April ♥

Phuket trip with my babygirls

♥ May ♥

Wavehouse

♥ June ♥

Single and over at Wendy hen's party

♥ July ♥

hotel stay with the girlies, celebration for iver & jes's birthday

♥ August ♥

Genting with papa & mama <3

♥ September ♥

Happy birthday to me. Thanks to Js & Ben for the amazing cruise party.

♥ October ♥

Bangkok with ma ladies :)

♥ November ♥

Happy Halloween :)

♥ December ♥

konnichiwa, Meri Kurisumasu!!

Thank you, each and everyone of you who has been a part of my 2010.

Thank you for those who are still in my life in this 2011.

Thank you.

Thank you for being there for me and i really appreciate and love you from the bottom of my heart.

i hope this year, there will be more laughters and lesser tears.

Rikechan ganbatte!
i'm sorry i know i've not been writting, cause my life is too awesome now :)
How to pronounce your favourite brand

Abaeté: Ah-bye-ah-tay
Agnes B: Ah-ni-ess Beh
Alejandro Ingelmo: Allay-handro In-gel-mo
Alexandre Herchcovitch: Ah-le-zan-dreh Hair-ch-co-vich
Andrew Gn: Andrew Jen (rhymes with “ten”)
Andy Thê-Anh: An-dee Tay-Ann
Ann Demeulemeester: Ann Duh-mule-eh-meester
Anna Sui: Ana Swee
Anya Hindmarch: Ahn-ya Heind-march
Arthur Mendonça: Ar-thur Men-doe-sa
Badgley Mischka: Badge-lee Meesh-ka
Balenciaga: Bah-lin-cee-ah-gah
Balmain: Bal-mah
Bebe: Bee-bee
Behnaz Sarafpour: Beh-nozz Sa-rah-fur
Bettye Muller: Beh-tee Meu-ler
Bottega Veneta: Bo-tega Ven-e-ta
Bulgari: Ball-gah-ree
Burberry Prorsum: Bur-bur-ree Pror-some
Carolina Herrera: Caro-leena Hair-era
Cartier: Kar-tee-aye
Cesare Paciotti: Che-sah-ray Pah-cho-tee
Chaiken: Chay-ken
Chanel: Shuh-nail
Comme des Garcons: Comb-day-gar-sewn
Christian Lacroix: La-Kwa
Christian Louboutin: Loo-boo-tahn
Dana Buchman: Day-nah Buck-man
Dior: Dee-or
Dries Van Noten: Drees Van Know-ten
Diane von Furstenberg: Fur-sten-berg (pronounced as spelled)
Dolce & Gabbana: Dole-ch-aye Ga-bon-na
Dries Van Noten: Drees Van Know-ten
Emilio Pucci: Eh-mi-li-oh Poo-ch-ee
Ermenegildo Zegna: Er-men-a-geel-do Zen-ya
Etienne Aigner: Eh-tee-yen On-yay
Furla: Fer-luh
Gareth Pugh: Gareth Pew
Gianfranco Ferre: Gee-an-fran-co Fr-aire
Giles Deacon: Jy-els Dee-kin
Givenchy: Jee-von-shee
Giambattista Valli: Gee-ahm-battista Valley
Gianfranco Ferre: Gee-ahn-franco Feh-ray
Hubert de Givenchy: Hue-bare duh Jee-von-shee
Gucci: Goo-chee
Hedi Slimane: Eddy Sli-mahn
Hermès: Err-mez
Hervé Léger: Air-vay Lay-jay
Hussein Chalayan: Hoo-sane Sha-lion
Issey Miyake: Ee-seh Mi-yah-key
Jean Paul Gaultier: Zhan Paul Go-tee-aye
James Perse: James Perse (as in a lady’s purse, not ‘pierce your ear’)
Joeffer Caoc: Joe-fur Kay-ock
Junya Watanabe: Joon-ya Wah-tah-nah-bay
Lambertson Truex: Lam-bert-son Tru-ex
Lanvin: Lon-vahn or Lon-vawn
L’Wren Scott: Le-ren Skot
Loewe: Low-ev-ay
Longchamp: Lon-chahn
Louis Vuitton: Loo-ee Voo-ee-ton
Madame Gres: Mah-dam Gray
Marchesa: Mar-kay-sa
Mainbocher: Maynbo-shay
Maison Martin Margiela: May-sohn Martin Mar-jell-ah
Marchesa: Mar-kay-sah
Miu Miu: Myoo Myoo
Moschino: Mo-ski-no
Monique Lhullier: Mo-neek Loo-lee-ay
Narciso Rodriguez: Nar-siss-so Ro-dree-gez
Nicolas Ghesquière: Ni-co-la Guess-ki-air
Olivier Theyskens: O-liv-ee-ay Tay-skins
Pierre Cardin: Pee-air Car-dain
Prada: Prah-da
Proenza Schouler: Pro-enza Skool-er
Ralph Lauren: Ralph Lauren (as in Lauren the girl’s name, not Sophia Loren)
Rei Kawakubo: Ray Kah-wah-koo-bo
Rochas: Row-shah
Rodarte: Row-dar-tay
6267: Six-two-six-seven (not Sixty-two-sixty-seven)
Sonia Rykiel: Saun-ya Ree-kee-eel
Sophia Kokosalaki: So-fee-a Ko-ko-sah-lah-kee
Tapeet by Vicini: Ti-peet by vi-ch-ee-knee
Thakoon: Tuh-koon
Thierry Mugler: Tee-air-ree Moog-lay
Tibi: Tbi or Tu-by (not Tee-bee)
Tocca: Toe-ka
Ungaro: Oon-ga-ro
Versace: Ver-sah-chee
Vionnet: Vee-oh-nay
Yigal Azrouel: Yee-goll Az-roo-el
Yohji Yamamoto: Yo-jee Yam-ah-mow-to
Yves Saint Laurent: Eve San Lor-ron
Zac Posen: Poe-zen
⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆ BIRTHDAY PARTY II ☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒

the following morning at the dock

glad that i didn't really drank much the night before and was able to wake up for the beautiful sunshine

loving the sunshine and the sea breeze

i wanna wake up to this everyday

kiki and her morning coffee

my sexchi lala

our lil captain for the day

all ready to set sail with Kingdom!

woohooooooooooooooo

happy macho jae

Danson & Lala :)

Niku doing his mtv shoot

the rooms and its mini entrance

at some island, can't recall the name

life jackets and canoes on the yacht, mad awesome

getting ready

lala kawaii!!!!!!

kimochiiiiiiiiiiiii

happy 3 friends :)

everyone starts canoeing

me being lazy on the canoe cause Ben said to leave it all to him :)

happy!!

competiting

the overweight canoe

canoeing my princess kiki

tired lol

she's acting tired too

the kawaii couple ^^

my favourite picture

⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆ THE END ☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒☆⌒