Just a short post to say congratulations to MC & RW on their engagement! Seems like summer 2009 will be a action packed as there are already 3 weddings (including mine).
Speaking of weddings, I gotta start working on the invites. Yes, I know. I’ve been lazy to start but now that I’ve recruited MH to help me with them I’m sure they’ll be done in no time!
Last weekend went by so quickly! It’s probably because it was a lot of fun and time flies when you’re having a good time. First off, I didn’t get to see Ernie because his schedule was too packed at night. He was helping out with a production so wasn’t available to meet up for drinks after I get off work. No worries, I’m sure I’ll catch him when I visit HK.
Friday
I had a day off and went to have lunch with MH out in Richmond before heading over to HN Wedding to review the 2nd draft of the wedding album layout. There are still more changes to be made but I think we’re close to finalizing it. I also got a chance to get copies of my photos which I had upload a few for people to see. I thought they turned out pretty well, although there are ones where Al liked that I didn’t. Pictures will be posted in the next post.
Saturday
There was a sale at Making Memories with Scrapbooking so I went there with MH to look for something specific but they didn’t have it. (Can’t say what it is because it’s a gift =p) After a light lunch at Crystal Mall I met up with WuWu to go to the Taiwan Fest. There were more people there than I thought, especially at the food location. We went pass all the food vendors first to get a glimps of what’s available before deciding to start off with this huge meat dumpling with shredded bamboo shoots. It had this special sauce which is a little like sour and spicy which made the dumpling wrapping taste really good.
Next up we got this combo of 2 skewers of bbq lamb, 1 skewer of “stinky” tofu (it’s actually like fried tofu) and 1 skewer of bbq squid. The tofu is actually not even stinky compared to the one you can get in Asia. The squid was good and so were the lamb. I tried a bit even though I usually don’t eat lamb. For dessert we got shaved ice with taro dumplings, red/green beans and peanuts. Instead of condensed milk they use a simple syrup. It was very refreshing.
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We took a walk around the vendor section where I found these cute handmade cellphone accessories made with clay. They were so adorable. I got a peach baby and a crab baby.
The was also an arts and culture exhibition. Some of the items were really fasinating. Like the “pillow” made with wood and the thinking chair. I actually learned a lot about the Taiwanese culture when we visited the history/cultural section where they had information about the country as well as the different tribes living on the island. Thanks WuWu for history lesson! More photos from the Taiwan Fest are posted on my Picasa Album.
Sunday
Since the twins got asked to go pick up the bride with Alvin, I ended up having to wake up earlier to shower and get my hair done. Usually it doesn’t take this long when I’m at my own house but the twin’s bathroom is still a bit foreign to me. Plus curling all of your hair by yourself with a curling iron takes a long time. But since weddings are the only time I’d actually get to take my curling iron out for some action, I don’t really mind it that much.
Before heading to Minoru Chapel in Richmond, I went over to Alvin’s for lunch as well as the tea ceremony. There were so many people there and thank god I didn’t need to take off my heels (yay for hardwood floor!) since the strap wraps around my ankle twice which makes it a hassle to take the shoes off. I finally get to meet Ryan and Andrew, both which I had met online before in World of Warcraft. Acutally, I think about 1/4 of my guildies were at the wedding!
I was very excited to find out how the wedding ceremony was like at Minoru Chapel since I’m having my wedding there next year. The only thing I didn’t like was the crackling of the floor/chair as people stood up/sit down because it’s a pretty old chapel. Aside from that I don’t exactly mind the short aise because that means I can get to the alter faster, which leads to a faster ceremony! After taking pictures, the twins and I headed back home to rest before going to the dinner reception at Shun Feng Restaurant. Since it’s the standard Chinese banquet, I’ll just tell you the highlight of the night, which is when MH caught the garter! Those who were there will know what I mean. LOL
Here are some of the photos that LawLi took of us at the reception:
[I think Al looks too cute in that one...almost like my little brother...]
Monday
I had to do work on Labour Day because our CEO wanted the entire website to be updated by end of Tuesday. So in order to make sure I meet the deadling I took a head start. I can’t believe summer is over. Oh and only 11 months to go before the big day. Starting to feel a bit pressured now since I haven’t worked on the invites yet. I’ll get around to it…
Here’s a follow up from the previous post on the family reunion. This morning, we met up for brunch at the Glowbal Grill & Satay Bar in Yaletown. I haven’t been to the restaurant before and had read some not so great reviews but the menu looked decent so Kally and I decided to host our family brunch there. Originally Kally and Vivian were going to treat everyone to dim sum but I thought we could do something more western (since they can have dim sum in Hong Kong) so the three of us gathered our piggy banks and changed dim sum to brunch.
During last week, I had contacted Glowbal regarding a limited menu (we picked a short list of items for the menu) as well as having a special plate for my grandma. We know grandma isn’t a fan of western food but she will eat pasta so Kally and I had requested for a chicken pasta in white sauce for her. However, they had never confirmed that request prior to our brunch. Also when we arrive, the menu is the standard brunch/lunch menu and not the limited menu we had thought we’d get. So I was a little disappointed.
Everyone arrived around 11am and we all got seated at the back corner where we got a lot of privacy. We can be pretty loud so that location is perfect! I helped everyone order their drinks as well as explained some of the menu items to the aunts and uncles who aren’t familiar with the dishes. The most popular items seemed to be the P.E.I Lobster Benedict and the Woodland Mushroom & Havarti Cheese Omelet. The Lobster Benedict had chunks of lobster between the egg and crispy pancetta with hash and greens on the sides. Grandma’s pasta was really nice. Lots of grape tomatoes, sliced asparagus, and chunks of chicken with spaghetti. She also loved the hash (potatoes) since I caught her taking them from grandpa’s plate a lot. Oh another interesting thing to note is that they gave us mini donuts in a bamboo steamed basket instead of the usual bread and butter.
Here’s the slide show of the family, the food and the baby jar of ketchup:
The food turned out better than I had expected. My experience with one of the restaurant under the same umbrella, Italian Kitchen, wasn’t that great so I was really glad that Glowbal pulled through for the family brunch. Our server, Ben, was excellent! He was very patient with us and had met all our needs, such as getting more baby ketchup bottles (see slideshow). I would definitely recommend Glowbal for brunch/lunch.
It’s been a while since the Chan family had all been gathered at one location. We were always missing a couple of people each time when there was a wedding or when people travel around to HK/Vancouver. However, we held a family reunion here this year and it reminded me of the Sunday dinners we used to have at grandma’s house when I was little. Almost everyone is here with the exception of Uncle Randy and my cousins who had to work. It was loud, just like old times. Here is a group picture. It’s a bit blurry because the photographer (aka Al) is pretty bad at his job.
Here’s my Picasa slideshow test:
Dad also took this opportunity to “officially” announced my engagement. Everyone knows already since I told my grandma and Kally. They each told one person and then it spread like virus (ok maybe not as bad). Anyways, I’m glad Al get to finally meet all my family because I’ve already met his a while back. Now we’re “even”. For the photos of the Chans, visit my Picasa Album.
We’re having a family brunch tomorrow at Glowbal Satay Bar & Grill. So stayed tune for more photos.
Today I went to pick up some gifts for my cousins in HK. I saw on The Laboratory of Edibles that you can purchase Tokidoki toys at Hills of Kerrisdale. So I nagged Al to take me there and got 4 Cactus Pups for my cousins as well as a Moofia toy for myself. I got the Milk!
After shopping, we headed to HN Weddings to do pick out the dresses for the photoshoot. You can read about my experience and the dresses I picked at Jan’s Wedding Notebook. When we were at HN Wedding, we also got to meet Ah Bu (not sure if that’s the right spelling). He seems to love Al a lot. Maybe it’s because Al smelled like the French toast we had for lunch?
*Piss. This is the first time I’ve posted a picture of Al here just by himself! Yay Jan for sneaking this one in!*
Just a recap before you see the pictures. The wedding turned out really well. It was among one of the more organized ones I’ve been to. Waking up at 5am to get ready turned out to be pretty funny as multiple alarms started to go off and I still remember Chu wiggling off the bed to unplug her charging cellphone. I think we should have more girls sleepovers!
Anyways, as you can see from the previous post, we had a fun time making the boys do some weird games before we let them pick up Ying. I was then part of the crew (with Jen, Ames, Michelle, & Shirley) responsible for the tea ceremony and the decorations. We were well ahead of schedule and had fun chatting and fooling around before everyone arrives. The best moment of the day, aside from Ying & LawLi exchanging vows at the church, was when Shirely and I took off our shoes to decorate the reception hall. The carpet never felt soooo good.
Chu and LawTam did a fantastic job MC’ing the whole day. We finished the night with about 1hr of dancing. Mike was trying to teach me how to salsa dance. It was such a huge challenge as my feet seemed to be disconnected from my brain that night. I also got to meet up with some friends I had lost contact with since I graduated from SFU. It was really nice to see that everyone is doing great.
Here are some of the pictures from the cute couple’s wedding! LawLi look so different without glasses. I’m hoping to get more pictures from Mike and LawTam later. Will upload once I get them.
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For more pictures, visit my album on Picasa.
