UPDATE: April showers bring May flowers... and welcoming a new water dragon!

Hello all from Southeast Asia!

It has been a long and tedious process (in more ways than one), but finally have hit paydirt! Let's start off with some important announcements and recent developments on our side of the globe:

After a long and somewhat drawn out process due to administrative beauracracy, I have finally made it to IBM Malaysia as part of the Asia Pacific Accounting team! My responsibilities will involve management and review of the financial controls process associated with all transactions dealing with the clients around the Asia-Pacific region, and it will definitely be a challenge I look forward to surpassing over the next year. In addition, I also managed to network with some locals who all seem fairly friendly and helpful. I learn from them, and at the same time they look to me for a different perspective on how to manage business and social queues. This being my first week, they loaded our itineraries with orientation related tasks and general familiarity with the IBM culture. Coincidentally IBM Malaysia just celebrated their 50 anniversary in 2011, and for the next 50 years they hope to make alot more value added products and services to cater to their clientele. Wish me luck in being part of that team to make things happen!

So as most of you know, I am currenty pursuring my US CPA licensure, but as a unique case I am doing it from overseas, and the closest location to where I am now is Japan to offer the testing facilities required for certification policies. As this is the case, I need to fly to Japan every so oftern in order to fulfil the requirements of the licensure steps. My window of complete fulfillment on all four parts of the examination before I become certified is 18 months, and it started back in October 2011. That means I have until April 2013 to make good on the remaining three sections. I have one trip scheduled for the end of May, after Karen's birthday, and hoping that will be a success. Of course with my new found position with IBM, and the rigors of a demanding work schedule coming my way over the next year, it will definitely be something I have to take to task.

 

Finally, I know many of you were wondering before I left New England, about where life would take Karen and myself over the next two years or so. Well, to start off, it was a moment to reflect on those who we would miss hanging out with, seeing family, and reminiscing about the local flavors that would be in short supply while we were overseas, to mention just a few. Next we had to deal with the matter of future planning, in the grand scheme of things - especially starting a new life in a semi new country/culture. While we don't want to provide spoilers to coming attractions, it is important to stress the fact that none of you should worry too much about when we intended to start a family of our own, and to make sure you have some extra space in case we do come around to visit again in the near future... and for those with what I call 小朋友 in your households, I do hope that they are in the mood of sharing hehe.

So in a nutshell, I finally have a job in Malaysia, still studying and preparing for certification, and at the same time trying to manage everything around a new bundle of joy. Things are falling in to place, it's just a matter of us getting used to all the changes surrounding. All of our worldwide family and friends, as well as past colleagues are in our hearts, and we definitely hope to see all of them again sometime in the near future. Whatever life brings all of you in the coming months, just know that we never forget, and that we look forward to reconnecting.

A note from Karen: Sorry to have been so quiet lately but lots of things have been happening. The past few months I have been plaqued with fatigue and nausea (for good reason) and was really in a real apathetic mood.  I did not want to do anything or go anywhere because of the constant feeling of tiredness and the nausea. To make things worse, I developed an aversion to eggs and anything dairy related (and I do love my yogurt and cheese). However, now that second trimester is here, I've been feeling loads better with those dreaded symptoms gone. Won't say much now since Kent already spoke but we are eagerly awaiting our Baby Wong (aka Wonglet) to arrive in September.

Chinese New Year 2012

So here it is...a better late than never post of Chinese New Year in Malaysia. It's long overdue for me at lieast, since it has been 10 years since I last celebrated CNY in Asia. On the eve of the festival, we went over to my grandma's house for the reunion dinner.

The pic on top is a dish that is eaten once a year during CNY particularly in Singapore and Malaysia. It's called yu-sang and it's essentially a mixed, pickled fruit salad. Because my grand-aunt and grandma do not eat raw fish (which is traditionally eaten with the salad), we opted for jellyfish instead. The tradition is that the salad is tossed by everyone in the family, with everyone proclaiming a wish for the new year and the idea is that the higher the toss, the better. So as you can imagine, it becomes a very noisy and even more messy ritual.

Here's Kent and I posing with the yu sang on a very big plate!

Mixing the yu sang:

The rest of the food served that day during the reunion dinner. From the top row, left to right, we have stir-fried leeks, asam prawns, brocolli with "tunku" and "fatt choy". At the lower row, we have roast duck, a version of the Nyonya "Pong Teh" chicken and sweet and sour fish.



And of course, the new year wouldn't be complete without a pic of the two "golden oldies"; my 96-year old grand-aunt (left) and my 94-year old grandma (right).

Have a good water dragon year!!

A day in KL

We usually do not venture into Kuala Lumpur (or KL as it is fondly known) simply because the suburb where we live has basically everything we need. But occasionally, we do venture into KL for the museums and if we want to do something "artsy-fartsy".

Kuala Lumpur is the federal district; surrounding Kuala Lumpur are various towns and cities that make up the Klang Valley (a population of roughyl 8million inhabitants). Think downtown Boston surrounded by the various towns and cities that make up Greater Boston.

http://www.wikitravel.org/

Above is a picture of the Klang-Valley Transit System. As you can see, it is a busy conglomerate of different transit lines taking one to the various towns and cities all over the Klang Valley. If you follow the pink line, you will see that one of the final stops is a place called Kelana Jaya. This is where we live. Follow the pink line further and it will take you to a stop called KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Center). And where does this stop leads you? Well, right into the Petronas Twin Towers.

The Petronas Twin Towers is the tallest twin-building structures in the world (yes, even taller than the ill-fated World Trade Center if it was still standing), with over 88 floors of occupied office space. At the botton of the Petronas Twin Towers is the famed, glorious shopping mall called KLCC. This is like fifth-avenaue in New York packed into one. Think Tiffany's, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, Faberge and the likes. The mall is also home to Petrosains, a science museum and Aquaria, KL's aquarium. Beyond the towers and the mall is a green oasis of trees and grass which provides a nice retreat from the afternoon heat. One can even bring your kids and wade in the public pool.

The pictures above shows you the Chinese New Year decor that is present at all the shopping malls in the Klang Valley and likely the whole nation. And being the year of the dragon, dragon decor is abundant!

So, of course, being geeks that we are, we decided to check out the Petrosains one weekend. And of course, being Chinese, Kent wanted to see if he could get us free entrance to the museum. He realised that by being a member of the Museum of Science in Boston; the Petrosains in Kuala Lumpur allowed complimentary admission. Woohoo for us! We were not allowed to take pictures in there and hence, no pics. But we do recommend a visit should you are ever in the area. While most things are catered to children, we did find things to do as adults.

Later, we went to have lunch at a new eatery called Pepper Wok. At this eatery, you choose the meat and the seasoning and you basically mix the food up in your own sizzling platter. I had curry chicken with cheese platter while Kent had some rice and beef dish.

Waiting to dig into our lunch

After lunch, we walked around the mall a little bit and then went to try a new Hong Kong dessert shop called Tong Pak Fu. We have been wanting to try this place for a while but never found the time (or parking spot!). Plus this place was always packed! We were glad we gave this place a try. The desserts were very good. I had a chilled mango soup with grass jelly, sago and pomelo while Kent had milk shaved ice with tapioca pearls, grass jelly and honeydew balls.

So there you have it, a nice day out in KL. Good company and good food. Drop by sometime, and we'll go galivanting as well.

Next post will be about CNY (chinese new year) in Malaysia. It's been getting very busy over here with all the festivities and preparations. Hopefully we will be able to post a blog before January ends. Till then, have a good week and see you soon.

Turning a year older...

This post should have been a week earlier but we've been very busy with work and some other stuff. But I'd like to leave you with pics on how we celebrated Kent's 30+ birthday. Please enjoy!

 We went to a chinese restaurant specializing in Shanghainese cuisine. We had mantou pow as well a "siu loong bao".

Off to the main courses (L to R):  Stir-fried chicken with dried chillies, lemon chicken (picture of the lemony sauce not shown), eggplant with a hint of salted fish and mince meat and beef with kai-lan.

 Picture of us about to devour our dinner

And of course, the best pic of the night. A picture truly tells a thousand words!

'Tis the season!

Hello everyone!

Cute cupcakes from a local bakery

I know it's a few days late but we've been mighty busy during this holiday season. Nevertheless, it's not too late to with everyone a wonderful holiday season.

We started off our holiday season by joining the local church's carolling group and went wassaling from home to home, singing christmas carols and well, eating! Later in the week, we attended Christmas Mass at the church and had a Christmas lunch with my grandmother and grand-aunt. Then, a day after Christmas aka Boxing Day, we went over to a friend's place for their Christmas party.

All in all, it was a simple celebration. Nothing over the top but definitely enjoyable.

Christmas decor in the various shopping malls in KL. * Pics from MSNBC*

Alright, after Christmas, it was onto New Year's. And nothing is more Malaysian than to celebrate New Year's with some durians.

Durians from a family friend

Being a pro at opening durians.



Aah....durians. And now we eat!



Per my mom, eating durians can make one too "heaty". To counteract the "heatiness" (for lack of a better word), one should drink salt water straight from the durian shell. I personally don't believe these shenanigans but nevertheless, both Kent and I drank from the durian shell to humor my mom. 

And finally, to bid adieu to 2011, I'll leave you with a pic of the KL skyline in the midst of the 2011-2012 New Year's celebration. Wished I could be cool and say that I was there but Kent and I welcomed the new year just like a boring, married couple would: in bed and fast asleep!

*pic courtesy of thesun.co.uk*

Happy 2012 everyone and have a good one!

Pork Burgers!

Ninja Joe is a new burger joint in Malaysia that specializes in pork burgers. We've been wanting to try it but never found the time. We finally made the trek to a local mall to try it.

We were greeted with the Ninja Joe sign and another poster advertising that pork burgers were avaiblable here. Kent loves the Ninja Joe logo.

  The interior was decorated with catchy posters all about pork and pork burgers.

The burgers come in 6 different flavors. Since we were hungry, we ordered a set of 6 burgers. A set of 6 burgers with different flavors costs about RM 23.00.

The burgers were individually wrapped in Ninja Joe designed wax paper with the flavors specified with a sticker. The cute thing is that the burgers came in a brown paper bag with the words "Ninjas Inside".

The burgers are not large (more like small sliders), but definitely packs a punch of flavor. The buns were soft, chewy and had a slight of sweetness to it. Each burger came with its' own flavor profile, a slice of tomato and slices of lettuce.

Kent appears very happy with his burgers. I think he enjoyed it more than I did. Even though the burgers were not large, eating 6 of them in one sitting was definitely an overdose.

After that all pork, we just walked around the mall to burn off some calories. All in all, a good experience and we look forward to eating more pork burgers at Ninja Joe.

"Yuk Kuat Cha" (肉骨茶)???? You betcha'!!!

Sunday morning breakfasts are a big thing here in Malaysia, especially for the Chinese. Usually the image of a Sunday Chinese breakfast would usually be Dim Sum, but for some Malaysian Chinese, it's "Yuk Kuat Cha" (肉骨茶) or Bak Kut Teh in the Hokkien dialect.

To quote from Wikipedia, "
Bak-kut-teh (also spelled Bah-kut-teh) is a Chinese soup popularly served in Malaysia, Singapore, Mainland Chinese and Taiwan.....The name literally translates as "meat bone tea", and, at its simplest, consists of meaty pork ribs simmered in a complex broth of herbs and spices for hours....Bak kut teh is usually eaten with rice or noodles (sometimes as a noodle soup), and often served with you tiao / cha kueh for dipping into the soup. Soy sauce (usually light soy sauce, but dark soy sauce is also offered sometimes) is preferred as a condiment, with which chopped "chilli padi" and minced garlic is taken together"

So what did we do this cloudy yet balmy Sunday morning? Well..what else? We drove to a city by the sea called Klang (about 30 minutes away from Petaling Jaya) to have us some Bak Kut Teh. As mentioned above, the dish is usually served in an herbal-based broth but we have heard of one restaurant in Klang (also touted as the city best known for Bak Kut Teh) that have a "dry" version.

Without further ado....

A google map pictorial of our Sunday morning journey to try some good Bak Kut Teh

And got down to business by ordering our tea

 And trying new drinks such as Sparkling Fuji Apple, getting our condiments ready (chili padi with soy sauce) and our yu tiao.

Dad and Kent looking at the menu...lots of other foods apart from their specialty.  

Finally....the moment we have been waiting for - the Dry Bak Kut Teh. If you like the herbal based broth of the traditional Bak Kut Teh, then you would probably like the dry version. It's like a 10x concentrate of the tradtional Bak Kut Teh.

 

We also ordered the traditional broth-based Bak Kut Teh (left), pig innards (center) and some stir-fried vegetables just to be healthy.

Happy after a good meal!

Till next time guys......