Sabtu, 23 Februari 2008

Chinese Valentines Day & Chap Goh Meh

21st of February was the last day of Chinese New Year. Yes, the Chinese New Year has come to an end. The day was also called Chap Goh Meh (; pinyin :shí wǔ wěi; lit. "fifteen night") represents the fifteenth and final day of the Lunar New Year period as celebrated by Chinese migrant communities. The term is from the Hokkien dialect and refers to the fifteenth day of the first month, which is the occasion of the first full moon of the New Year.


It also coincides with the Chinese Valentine's Day. It is also when young unmarried women gather to toss tangerines into the sea, in a hope that their future spouse will pick it up! That's why I love Wikipedia! After this day, no more ang pows would be given out - a disappointment to me but a rejoice for married people. I had a friend sending me a sms asking me whether where would I be throwing mandarin oranges and I replied to him that I wouldn't be throwing any because my mandarin oranges are priceless. They're of special breed and you can't buy it outside. The taste is beyond compare so why would I want to throw it away?!! Moreover, I think we shouldn't pollute the sea or the drains will get clot will all the mandarin oranges since some people do not have access to the sea, they might choose the drains!


Every year this date is a very special day to me. I received a bouquet of lilies in my office on this day. It's been quite some time since I last received a bouquet of lilies. White Lilies have always been my favourite flower. I've never been a girl who love roses, I don't know why either.... It's so nice to receive a bouquet of semi-bloomed lilies and also lily buds waiting to bloom. The sight of it blooming the next day I came to the office fascinates me. The only thing I don't like about it is the yellow flower pollen that gets a bit messy when you move the flowers. It's so nice to come to the office smelling fresh lilies everyday! And who says life couldn't be like a bed of lilies?!!

My beautiful lilies


In the evening, I had a dinner at Elcerdo in (43 & 45, Changkat Bukit Bintang). It means "the pig" in spanish. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures as the place was crowded even on a Thursday night and I felt a bit embarassed to take pictures in such a nice restaurant with people's stares. It was almost like a fine dining restaurant but the placement of the tables are a bit too near to each other. I know that they are trying to maximise the small shops they had but with the price I'm paying for, I wished for more privacy as we can almost hear the conversations going on in the next table! The decorations and ambiance is nice and there are cute piglets pictures hung on the walls. Food wise was great.

Warning : It's a strictly non-halal restaurant that serves great pork dishes. I had the pork shoulder steak and pork schnitzel. They came with a complimentary goulash. The owner is a german, so the menu contains Spanish (Paellas & Sangrias) as well as German food (Bratwurst & Pork knuckles). The sangrias that I had here was different from the ones I had in Spain. Here, it's quite sweet and it's served in wine glasses. Basically, it's quite easy to make sangrias - cheap wine, gin, 7up, apples, oranges and lemon. A glass will cost RM20 but a jug will cost you RM90. So for 2 persons, I recommend a glass each will do. Did I mention that this restaurant has very smart staff too? We ordered 2 dishes to share and then they asked us whether do we want it to be served seperately so that the food will not get cold when we were eating the other dish. i think it's very thoughful of them. We also ordered a dessert (Werner's Special - strawberries in mango cream & wild raspberry sherbet) to share and they came in 2 glasses so we thought they gave us the wrong ones but we were wrong! They had helped us to seperate the dessert into two servings! So clever! I'm so impressed!


I'm really happy with the food. 2 persons, 2 main courses, 2 sangrias and 1 dessert will set you back RM160 poorer. I forgot to mention that half of the suckling pig is RM110 there and they allow you to break the white plates in a wooden pail after you had used them to cut up the porcine delight. It's supposed to be their specialty there. For RM110, I can have almost the whole suckling pig in a chinese restaurant. Not worth it to break some plates for that price. it's something you can do it at home!

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