In Celebration of the New Devadas

The newly weds: Ruben and Lisa Devadas

August 26, 2006 was a big day for Ruben and Lisa! It was the day they celebrated their joy of matrimony with their loved ones. The evening reception was held at Saujana Golf Resort in Subang Jaya.

The dinner was not only a reunion for the newly weds' families, friends and co-workers but also a get-to-gather for the CIMPians. People came from near and afar to celebrate this special occasion with the newly weds. The buffet dinner served was a unique fusion of eastern and western cuisine.

The event was short and sweet but word has it that some of the people (Rani and the company) were partying till dawn the next day! No matter how the evening was ended, we sincerely wish Lisa (the new member of the Devadas) happily married ever after, mazel tov!

Say Cheeeeeeezzzzzzeeeee!!!

The ladies: hey, let's take a picture!

The ladies: smile!

The ladies: What?!!! Picture already taken? We weren't ready yet?

Congratulations from Lisa's ex- and current officemates!

Myself, Lisa and Romona

Happy couple #1: Mani and Selvan (who just got married 4 months ago)

Happy couple #2: Romona and Andre (who are expecting a baby)

Happy couple #3: Karen and Barry

Happy couple # 4: Mark and Dian

Happy couple # 5: Adrian and Yvonne (my beau and me)

The gorgeous and elegant ladies: Romona and Pauline

Elsa, Rani and Manny

Steven, Adrian, Yvonne and Mani

Bearing blessings we travel afar from CIMP

Phew! After all the mingling and photo-taking, I finally get to enjoy the dinner

Lisa is waving goodbye to her guests.

Cookout at Romona's

Romona invited us for a cookout lunch today!!! Her honourable guests include Manny, Alex (Manny's sidekick) and myself. To make the freshest Vietnamese spring rolls and soba, we bought the ingredients from Taman Tun Dr. Ismail market and Bangsar Village Grocer. And then, we headed back to her apartment to prepare a feast of Vietnamese/Japanese fusion lunch!

The meal was prepared in the collaborative work of the four of us. Romona prepared the mouth-watering cold soba despite her injured toes, Manny and Alex were the "leave dryer and cutter" of the day and I was the overall supervisor of the boys (haha!)

Even though Manny accidentally flattened the baby romaine lettuce and mixed the greens and herbs in a bowl, the meal was very well done and everyone had a GREAT time.

Soak the ingredients: Thai basil, corriander, mint, baby romaine lettuce and scallion (spring onion)
Romona is 5 months pregnant, doesn't she look gorgeous!!!!!!!

Manny: Ops, I did it again! I just flattened yet another piece of the baby romaine...

Alex: Slowly but surely, I will finish cutting the turnips, just don't rush me, Yvonne!!!!!
Romona is making the soba.

Voila, the beautifully cleaned, prepared and assembled meal! Vietnamese spring rolls ingredients and cold soba!!!!
Main ingredients for Vietnamese spring rolls: julienne fish "crab meat", turnip, mango, avocado and cucumber.

Manny's creation--"hunt-for-your-own-herb" bowl, aka, find the veggie/herb you want from the pile of greens.

Soba-licious! Hmmmm....Oishi!

The hostess and her guests of honor...... are going to......

be the "hungry ghosts"!!!!!!

Manny: Let me show you the "proper" way of making a spring roll.. first, wet the rice paper using a brush, then put all the ingredients onto the soft rice paper, after that...

Ahhh.... this hongkin' roll can't fit into my mouth, I should have calculated the amount of ingredients in the roll using differential calculus!!!

Yummy Roasted Duck Rice!!!!!!!!

Little Bodhi: I love roasted duck rice!!!

CIMP is on term break, so a few of us--myself, the Mah's (Don, Bern & little Bodhi) who came back from Canada to visit, Steven Tan, Sean and Ee Von (ex-CIMP students) decided to lunch at the famous "engineer duck" shop in Paramount--Sunrise yesterday.

Despite the lazy afternoon heat, people were lining up outside the shop, patiently waiting to be seated. Thanks to Sean and Ee Von who managed to get us a table that we didn't have to wait in the sun. The shop opens at 11"30 am but the roasted ducks are usually sold out before 2 pm.

Bodhi is such a good baby, even though the heat was killing everyone, but he sat quietly, observing everyone at the table. He sure loved duck rice though, for an 18-month old boy, he finished half of the plate of duck rice--more than I can eat sometimes.

It was a GREEEEAAAT meal! The roasted ducks were so scrumptious--the flesh was juicy and tender but the skin was roasted to perfection--crispy and crunchyily melt in your mouth... yummmmmm!!!!!

All in all, the meal was of good food with great company!

The Mah's


The Paramount boy, Sean and Seksyen 17 gal, Ee Von (ex-CIMPians)

The crispy skin roasted duck and fried onion with iceberg lettuce

Yes!!! It's Possible!!!
The Tan's (Charmaine, Felix and Khai Ling Tan) who have made it all possible

To my dear friends who are in North America who may be craving for some Asian greens, there are other ways to get them besides buying them from the specialty stores or Asian markets. Yes, it is true!!!

I could not believe it until my green-fingered friends, Khai Ling and Felix, who live in the northwest of America showed me that they managed to plant long beans, red Asian spinach, kang kung, red chili, okra and lemongrass in their backyard this summer. Therefore, nothing is impossible, my friends, with some seeds from Malaysia, summer gardening, water and lots of love... voila!!!

So, hold your breath as you behold the pictures of their awesome harvest this summer--the Asian beauties!!!!!!!

The emerald green long beans (kacang panjang) are such beauties!!!!

Long beans on the plant. Aren't they gorgeous?

These red Asian spinach (bayam merah) are actually bigger and nicer than the ones I get from the market in Malaysia.

These Japanese cucumbers (timun or kyuri) are very tasty and crunchy, they are perfect for sandwich, salad or even on its own.

Water convolvulus (kang kung or eng chai) is very popular in Malaysia but this is the first time I see them in North America.

These red chilies (cili merah) look like roses among the thorns.

Check out the glorious sunflower (bunga matahari), it looks too good to be real!

Lemongrass (serai) is one of the main ingredients for authentic Thai food and curry.

Okra/lady's finger (bendi) on the plant, I have no idea that the tips point upward.

A close-up okra, yummy... anybody for curry tonight?