Chinese New Year Dinner of the Wooden Horse

One Year Happier

Once more, a majority of us old friends (literary growing old) from USM 1975 got together to have dinner to commemorate the New Year of the Horse.

Bountiful Future

Higher means better luck and prosperity

Higher,please!

Much Better!

Looking for salmon?

This time around (12 January 2014), we had it in an untried restaurant in SEAPARK. It is called the Restoran Kari Kepala Ikan Tiga. This is the third restaurant from the chain currently operating in Kuchai  Lama and Puchong

Good fish!

Lets eat!

Wah! Really good fish!

Kooi Ming, what next?

Bernard, how is the property market?

Eat slowly

Those who attended include:

Ooi Say Chuan
Toh Chee Kiang
Tan Lee Kiang
Derek Teh
Catherine Yeang
Chan Yau Kok
Yeoh Gim Ooi
Bernard Yeo
Jenny Tan
Tan Kooi Meng
Heng

We had, as usual, a rousing time, bonding with one another.

Curry is good

Some more curry,Ooi?

  Food-wise, the restaurant got three orders totally wrong.

Firstly, they substituted the shark-fin soup (we requested so in support of the dwindling number of sharks in our oceans) with the uncalled for black herbal chicken and pig stomach soup when all we asked was to substitute the shark fin with scallops. However, the soup was pleasing to the palate. So, no real complaints here.

I just arrived from Teluk Intan

Secondly, the curry fish maw dish did not materialised at all. We got instead one with squids. The curry dish was okay but we ought to have the fish maw which I believe is more expensive that the commonplace rubbery sotong.

Unfinished business,lah!

Thirdly, they dished out a plate of cereal prawns to us which we had cancelled earlier on and it was to be replaced with salted chicken. We took it back and they had to cooked the chicken dish instead. Took some time though for them to serve.

The dessert of longan and sea-coconut was just too sweet.

So,what do you think?

After taking some candid photographs and a group photo, we went to have a teh-tarik session at the restaurant at the side of Giant Supermarket in nearby Paramount Garden.

We even discussed a possible trip for those interested to Perth as Air-Asia is giving 20% off the standard fare in the next two months.

After talking shop for an hour, we bade adieu and planned again to meet on 31 May 2014.

No more food,lah!

Venue?

If there are no alternative restaurant, we have decided to go back to Golden Dragon City Restaurant in Paramount Garden.

Derek and Cat

Great outing.

The Philomena Odyssey

A Good Movie

Philomena Lee's tryst  on a fairground was to lead her to an unwanted pregnancy and the boy-child was subsequently taken away against her will and transported over the Atlantic Ocean to live with foster parents.

Judi and the real Philomena Lee

That in crux, are the foreboding  events that would lead to a journey for two of the protagonists as they traveled to America to find the boy, now called Michael Hess who has a brilliant career with two past American Presidents.

Visiting Lincoln Memorial

Sadly, too soon, they found that he died of AIDS.

Despite that, the story turned full circle with Michael actually going back to Ireland to look for his lost mother.

The movie is fraught with many issues particularly controversies  with regard to the  iron clad principles adopted by the Abbey that Philomena was raised in and its need to keep secrets even though such beliefs are archaic.

Unending Pursuit

Based on a true story, it may be boring at times as it is dialogue-based  but I believe that Dame Judi Dench and Steve Coogan did a wonderful job as protagonists Philomena Lee and Martin Sixsmith.

Like Nebraska, we are having senior actors and actresses  bringing beautiful stories to the silver screen this time around as we approached the Academy Award event.

Will Philomena win?