Summer 2009 - Newport, R.I.


A girlfriend in college once shared with me her Aunt's favorite saying: "Girl on a mission, finds a man with a mansion." When we visited Newport, R.I. in July, this phrase kept playing in my head along with "over-the-top" as we walked through the ginormous rooms that the Vanderbilts, the Berwinds and the likes once spent their summers many, many years ago. It was really mind blowing to see the facilities and amenities these mansions had to offer for a 6-9 week escapade each year.

It's easy to suffer mansion overload, so we had to choose wisely which ones we thought were worth visiting. We ended up in these super abodes.


Breakers



The Elms



Marble House



Rosecliff

Rosecliff is probably my favorite house mansion. It's not too cluttered and decorated with gilded trimmings - less is indeed more.


Cliffwalk

After experiencing a misty and dreary day before, we were very fortunate to enjoy a beautiful, sunny Sunday. It was just perfect for a walk by the cliffs. Definitely not to be missed if one were to visit Newport.

What a glorious day :) Blue skies and all...

Even "Marley" here agrees :)


Bowen's Wharf

Hats anyone? It's truly a summer staple...

What about some singing? Happy Birthday America!!!

Or, some R & R on board a yacht

We also came to a seaside town to enjoy... what else - SEAFOOD, of course! We tried two places near Bowen's Wharf - The Black Pearl and Barking Crab, over the 2 days.


The Black Pearl

Black Pearl patrons enjoying good food and summer sunshine

Our lunch, yum!


Barking Crab
Love the sign

Complete with instructions for the first-timers (it's unkind to write dummies)

Our appetizer - Stuffies

New England Clambake


Burp!!! I'm full and time to sign-off...till our next adventure.

After 20 years...


Last July, I found an old friend. We met when we were teenagers and lived not too far from each other in my hometown. We met through our fathers. Her father was my Dad's former boss in the Ministry of Youth & Sports. For some reason, I never remembered my Dad's bosses but Lin's father stood out. He was a strict but fair supervisor and my Dad always spoke very highly of him. After Lin moved back to West Malaysia, we did keep in touch for a while but didn't do so for many years after.

Now, back to July 2007. I was waiting for my father-in-law near the check-in counter at Newark Liberty Airport when a young lady walked by me several times. She looked familiar but for some foolish reason I thought, "No! It can't be her. Can it be her?" She still has that same youthful look of 15 years ago." Then, I told myself, "Serene, if you don't ask her, you'll regret it forever. You would have missed this one good opportunity to reconnect with an old friend!"

Holding that thought, I walked up to her and asked, "Are you Lin? Lin Idrus?!" The moment she said "Yes", it was like a dream come true. What are the odds of meeting again after all these years?! And, of all places - the airport, where thousands of people poured in and out of its gates on a daily basis. It seemed like "somebody-up-there" had arranged for us to bump into each other again. Thank you!

Unfortunately, Lin had to check-in soon. She was on the same flight as my father-in-law. We quickly exchanged e-mail addresses and I learned that she was in the final year of her doctorate program at Harvard. Lin is one of the smartest person I know and it's no surprise that she studied in three Ivy League Colleges in the eastern seaboard, with the exception of Princeton. Yes, I'm dropping a major hint here for you, Lin. I'm expecting you back in New Jersey after a couple of years in NUS.

So, we kept in touch - on and off. I'm kinda bad at it but vowed never to allow one score minus five to pass before meeting again. When Lin e-mailed about a month ago, telling me that her parents will be making a short trip to NJ/NYC, I jumped at the chance to get together.

We FINALLY met last week. It was like the years never went by. We picked up where we left-off immediately. I supposed true friendship is an eternal enigma that withstands time and distance. We brought Lin, Uncle Idrus & Auntie Asmah to Spanish Tavern for dinner. Indeed, there was some major catching-up to do. The night went by so quickly and I didn't want it to end. Adrian had never met them before and yet they hit it off so well!

From left to right: Uncle Idrus, Auntie Asmah, Lin, me & Adrian

We shared two Paella dishes between the four of us. The portion - huge! Thank goodness our waiter suggested that we share.

Auntie Asmah's trout in pignoli sauce. Good choice!

Psst!!!
Uncle Idrus is also a blogger. In blogspot.com, he is simply known as Pak Blogger Idrus and keeps an interesting account of his daily life in Malaysia and also, of his travels and other socio-political issues. I've added his blog in passing - malaysian to my daily reads.

Perhaps our next reunion will be in Ampang, Kuching or here in NJ? Who knows but it was really, really good to see you all again.

Knock, knock, who's there?


Well, it's Trish & her family. They are finally HERE en route to Palm Beach, Florida! I have known Trish since our days in Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia. Although she lived like a "nomad" (she moved so many times, I've lost count) -- we did well keeping in touch all this while. In the early 90s, I went over to the U.K. to see her and 6 years ago we met in S'pore and then she stayed with me in Kuching when she visited Malaysia.

Since then, good things have happened in Trish & Milko's lives. They are blessed with three sons Max, Ollie and baby Hugo. I haven't seen her boys and was very excited to meet them. Adrian hasn't met Trish and Milko, but he has heard so much about them through me.

On Friday night, we stopped by their hotel and had such a great time catching up with her and Milko, and meeting their bunch. They dropped by our place the next day, and we headed out to Garden State Plaza, which interestingly is owned and operated by Westfield -- an Australian company that specializes in mall business.

Err...perhaps we should have chosen a better location rather than next to the trash can???

Look who's going for a ride on the Venetian Carousel?

No doubt, we are looking forward to seeing more of Trish, Milko and the boys now that they're in Florida. WELCOME to the U.S. and we hope you'll like it here (and, decide to stay for good?). Serenity's wishful thinking... :)

Adrian's New Abode

Adrian moved from Chelsea Market to Park Avenue last month. His new office is, unfortunately, an old building near the Empire State Building. He doesn't have a direct view and one has to "crane" his/her head out in order to see it. Haha! At least he has his own room now. Although new, this will be his temporary abode until a permanent office space is finalized. He is hoping that the Time Square location will ultimately come true. Which means, no more subways and a more "happening" area as well.

In the mean time, this will do.

Adrian and his Fish! Pete the Perch (orange toy to the right)

***********************************************************

On another note, let's not forget what today is...

"Greetings & Happy Hanukkah to our friends, Rima & Adi in Philly."

Shalom!

Andy Kho

I first met Andy about 10 years ago when we worked together at Western Digital Media (formerly, Komag USA (M)). We lost touch after we left the Company. I don't even remember who left first. Anyway, Andy pursued a different career on the high seas on board MV Doulos; while I went to work for a garbage waste management company. Not as glamorous as being a humanitarian :(. We met again briefly during my cousin Andrew's wedding about 5 years ago. If I remembered correctly, he said that Diana, my cousin's wife was his Sunday School teacher. What a small world :)

Fast-forward to 2007...

I stumbled upon Andy's website a few days ago while reading a blog. As usual the cyberspace is always a great connector or in this case a re-connector. What a pleasant discovery! I always knew that he has natural talent; and a keen interest in photography, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he has decided to pursue a career professionally in that field. This is Andy's website:

ANDY KHO PHOTOGRAPHY

Good luck & all the best in your business, Andy! I hope you will add more photos to your portfolio soon. With clients like Channel [V], Zouk KL, OK! and Adidas to name the few, the sky is the limit!

Note: I'm being a real slacker this week. I started writing this post on Monday night but there was something wrong with Blogger.com and I couldn't post photos. What's a post without anything to see, right? Exactly. I gave up after a few minutes and didn't publish it until today.

Monday Night's Dinner


I'm running out of ideas for dinner. Just the other day I spotted this quick & easy recipe on Everyday Food - Orange Molasses Glazed Chicken. So, I decided to try it for tonight's meal.

3 cups of orange juice, 1/2 cup red wine vinegar + 1/4 molasses (a bit more is ok) - boil on high heat and reduce to 1/2 cup of baste.

Season chicken breast (skinless) with salt & pepper.

First baste. Bake in oven at 375F for about 35 mins or until chicken is cooked.

Second baste. Do this half-way through the cooking time.

Ta-da! Dinner's ready. I decided to add-in some greens & potatoes for a balanced meal.


And, last but not least!

Guess who turned up for dinner last Saturday night? Ding-dong...! Yup, he made the trip from the West Coast to the North East. He's the C.E. from the O.C.

Left to right: Henry, the Cooknengr, Serenity & Adrian

Here we were in Satay nearly a week ago. Our very own little Kuching Bloggers Pow-Wow. Nothing fancy, just sweet & nice.

A reunion after 20 years!

Papa had a great reunion with Grand-aunt & her family yesterday. He hasn't seen Grand-aunt since her last visit to Malaysia in the late-80s. They had a great time catching up and it was an afternoon well spent :)

My secret shame revealed: it's time for me to brush up on my Mandarin. Let's just say, I suck at it & I'm truly ashamed. I'm a "banana". Those who are Malaysian will understand this term.

Lovely photos from our family gathering...

Top left: Grand-aunt & Papa
Group photo (top right): Uncle David, Rebecca, Aunt Jane, Sarah, Grand-aunt,
Papa, Me & Adrian
Group photo (bottom): Dinner at Grand Shanghai in Edison, NJ

Papi, O Papi...

Seeing Adrian & his sister with their father made me miss my own these days *sniffs*. My Papa isn't much of a traveler. I think he has flying anxiety/mild claustrophobia. Nevertheless, he did try his best to provide some enjoyment for our sake. I remember our first family trip to Singapore. I was about 6 years old and excited beyond words. I was so hyped-up like a Mexican jumping bean. Looking back, I must have annoyed the hell out of everyone.

It was also my first-time on the plane. Mom & I were upgraded to first class while my Hiah-hiah (brother) was seated in coach with him. Of course, it's nothing to shout about but I was an impressionable child back then. The flight attendant gave me a box of crayons and coloring book. I was such a happy camper that day. To a child, the food looked so quaint in little serving containers. Ironically, air-plane food puts me off these days. I think it must be coach class syndrome.

It was the most memorable one week in Singapore. Our family friends and grandma's first cousins (Tua Ee Poh & Say Ee Poh) were with us most of the time. We did all the touristy stuff, eating & some shopping. Back then, Lego, Star Wars merchandise, Philips walk-man, the original Michael Jackson (sans rhinoplasty & vitiligo), classic Care Bears, bubble-gum, fizzy candy & Kalkitos were all the rage. Ah...the retro 80s.

Papa nearly gave us a heart attack one day when he accidentally cut himself on the palm of his hand while paring an apple. We had to rush him to the Singapore General Hospital for a considerable amount of stitches. I remembered there was blood everywhere. While we were waiting for him, my brother & I saw an old Indian man sitting on a wheelchair. Being kids and having nothing to do, we started examining him from top to bottom. He seemed placid, quiet and then our eyes traveled down to his feet. He had the biggest swollen hallux we had ever seen; 3 times the original size! Being the awful children that we were, we started laughing uncontrollably. We tried to be discreet but I think he was in too much of a numbing pain to even notice us silly tots.

Anyway, back to Papa. He had to spend the rest of the holidays with a bandage over his left hand. To avoid getting the wound/stitching wet, he wrapped a plastic bag around his hand when showering. Hmm...poor him.

Father's Day is June 17th. At least we have one daddy from Kuching to have a real celebration with this year. While we fete Adrian's father to a nice day out and Chinese dinner next week, I shall be thinking fondly of my own Papa back home.


I love this photo very much; taken ad-hoc while everyone was looking at me for some particular reason. I cropped the people out a bit in this photo, hehe! Look at the hairstyle ;)) *lol* Nevertheless, I like it a lot because Papa looked very natural in it. He wasn't trying to smile for the camera; instead he's looking at me. It's all about him. This post is for him.

Dearest Papa,

"Happy Father's Day!"

xoxo

Papa's Day Out

Touched down...6.45 p.m. at Newark Liberty Airport. We're doing above speed limit on the I-95. Papa was all immigration and customs cleared in a jiffy! He was already waiting for us at the arrival hall. Shame on us for being late :( Anyway, Newark has always been the most efficient in comparison to La Guardia & JFK.

After a restful night, we took him for dim sum at Silver Pond Restaurant. It was a hot & humid day yesterday. There was an arts festival at Fort Lee, so we took a leisurely stroll around the main street. There's the usual arts and craft stalls, flower stalls and food & drink stalls selling bread, pickles, honey, etc.

Beautiful flowers for sale

Then, we chanced upon a Harley-Davidson exhibit around the bend. A very mediocre collection, I might add. Nevertheless, a photo op for Papa to remember by.

Well, sort of!

A family affair

I've been away from my blog for a couple of days to attend to the routine and the not-so-routine. Anyway, everything is in order now and I can at least take a breather to post an entry, albeit a muddled one. Incoherent rambling is not my style but some days one's mind just works that way ;)

I've been busy getting our apartment spic & span for the arrival of my F.i.L. this Saturday. Another guest, S.i.L. will be arriving 2 days later from London. It's been a while since we had visitors staying at our place. The last being my two lovely cousins - Evelyn & Elaine from Canada. A welcome change to our otherwise placid routine! By the way, Evelyn has just returned from a fantastic European vacation. Hey E, did you bring back that masskrug from Munich's 400 beer halls?

Meanwhile, I haven't forgotten that it's Gawai or Harvest Festival for some of my close friends back in Kuching, Sarawak. Yup, I am thinking of the "ngabang" or open-house (a very Malaysian concept of inviting friends and families over to one's house for lots and lots of eating & drinking; like an extended Thanksgiving of some sort). Helping to fuel the rigorousness of Gawai merry-making and its rhapsody of activities is the popular home brew called "tuak" . Tuak is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice, yeast & sugar and is consumed in massive amounts during the first week of the month long celebration. These days, it's very schickimicki to make tuak out other exotic, tropical fruits.

So! To my Gawai celebrating friends, plus one in Ohio...

xoxo

Ethno fusion music

I've been wondering what has become of the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) held every year at the Sarawak Cultural Village since 1997. This year marks their 10th Anniversary. Is it still as popular or has the attendance dwindled? I went to the RWMF twice in the early 2000s and enjoyed their workshops and nightly concerts very much. The last concert I went to was 5 years ago. Unfortunately, I didn't like the rowdiness of the crowd. I began to wonder if people were really enjoying the multi-cultural blend of music or getting intoxicated from alcohol and delusional on "something".

One of the local acts that stood out was Tuku Kame's Jerry Kamit. During the concert, he played an amplified sape or sapeh with such agility and versatility; blending both traditional and modern tunes. Anyway, here's a music video I found on You Tube with Jerry playing to a song entitled "Our Rainforest." The song is very upbeat and catchy although I am a little bit apprehensive about him standing so near the pounding waves. Spoilers: Jerry's string-less sapeh & his tie-dyed out-fit. *sniggers* Overall, it's not bad really ;) No doubt, he's very musically talented. Ethno fusion music is pretty cool.

Mother's Day 2007

For the three mothers in my life;
my Grandma, Mama and Ee Ee/Godmother.

This is my tribute to you. I'm not a poet so no soapy poems ;). Just a "Happy Mother's Day" message straight from the heart and with lots of love on this special day.
~xoxo~

Is-a very nice!
Not a full movie review, just a few paragraphs of MTCW on it.

Curiosity won over us. We checked out - "Borat! Cultural Learnings..." on DVD last Tuesday.

Sacha Baron Cohen a.k.a. Borat, Ali G & Bruno is ingenious.

As Borat, his risky and risque take on taboo subjects and sensitive issues executed with slapstick humor is definitely worth watching. So infectious that Adrian & I are still reeling in bouts of laughing gas days later. Some may find it offensive, repulsive, anti-semitic, discriminatory [to women] but if you watch it with an open-mind; then I guarantee you will be highly entertained.

I think Borat is pop-culture's newest icon and that "Boratism" will find its way into our dictionaries in the near future. His mumble jumbled Eastern European/Hebrew vocabulary is hard to ignore and fits his character like a glove. It's really made for him.

Kudos to those who worked on the promotion of this so called "movie film", as Borat would say. They took their "comedi-ness" (if there's even such a word) seriously down to a tea or rather down to the disc, in this case. Check out the spoof.

Hey! You gave me a pirated Borat film, NOT?! It got me at first. Shame...shame. But that's the central theme, isn't it?! A mockery of everything.

Understanding Borat's "cheapness" and background, he would indeed be capable of doing this. "DEMOREZ" sounds familiar??? Yeah, I have a few of those in my DVD case. Maybe more like Memorex. Gotta love the hand-written font/title on the disc.

Highlights from "Borat! Cultural Learnings..." courtesy of stalin9 (You Tube):



My favorite DVD extras. A Baywatch parody ala Borat style courtesy of MrKraka (You Tube):




To steal his line, "Chenquieh".

Koreana Experience - Part II

We met up with June today. She is Adrian's friend from his MBA days in Illinois and they haven't seen each other since 2001.

June recently took up a new job with Johnson & Johnson Medical as their Franchise Director for Women's Health in South Korea. She is here for 3 weeks as part of their training program. She had just arrived last week and was fighting fatigue and jet-lag. Poor her! We had a great time showing June around northern New Jersey.

Of course, no meeting is complete without a meal together. All this while, we've been coming to the Lighthouse Seafood & BBQ Restaurant (Myung Ga) at Broad Avenue, Fairview.

This is us: June, Adrian & I by the window of Myung Ga. Enjoying our hearty meal :)

The place is usually crowded during lunch and dinner. Hence, we gather the food must be authentic enough if Koreans were coming by the bus loads to eat.

Lots of Korean tourists, locals ...this photo was taken about 2 weeks ago. Note: There's some more people, outside the door, waiting to get in.

Anyway, we got the confirmation straight from June today. It is GOOD!

For starters - kimchi, anchovies, cuttlefish, pickled cucumber, beansprouts, lettuce with sesame-mayo dressing, etc.. This is your typical complimentary Korean appetizers. I think Chinese restaurants could do better than their measly little plate of peanuts or pickled cabbage.



Suun Dubu or Spicy Tofu Soup is a popular, healthy and tasty choice. Adrian had a mix one with beef and seafood. You can have it cooked from mild to extra spicy. Crack an egg into the bubbling claypot and Bob's your uncle!



Spicy vegetable soup (forgot the Korean name, mianhamnida!) for June.



This is my choice - Bi Bim Bab or rice with a little bit of everything.



Korean BBQ ribs marinated in fruity sauce. We all agreed that this is the most delicious of all. Yum!

An nyong hi - ka sye yo, for now.

From Culture Club to culture shock

"Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon, you come and go, you come and go..."
You are what you sing, George. Now you see him, now you don't. Boy George is not as famous as he used to be in his Culture Club Days. For those of you who grew up in the 80s, like me, we remember him best like this.

But, whenever BG is in the news, he must be doing something outrageously worth commenting, like when he tried to revive his musical career on Broadway with this freaky "wet-paint-drippin'-over-the-face" look. The show - Taboo, closed less than 3 months after opening. Would you waste your $60 just to see this?! I didn't think so either.

And finally, we woke up to this photo on the internet, newspaper and television. U-huh! BG sweeping the sidewalks of lower east side Manhattan. Poor BG was ordered by the court to 5 days of community work for falsely reporting a burglary in his apartment earlier this year. Why, why, why??? The police found drugs instead. Oh..oh!!! (I thought BG would be smart enough to chuck them out before the cops came).

Yup, he IS wearing capri pants. You have to give him A+ for humility though. Hey George, while you're at it could you mop my apartment too? It's smaller than the Depot, really.