Happy New Year my friends!!! Thank God that year 2003 is finally over! What a year! There were just too many bad things last year, I hope we are making progress now and let 2004 be the year of revival! So what did I do on New Year’s Eve, you bet, I worked (it is not a public holiday!) until the evening and went out with my secondary schoolmate Arnold who just returned to HK from UK for vacation. We had a big Japanese feast in my favourite restaurant, unfortunately it was the last day of its operation, I would miss that. Then we joined another friend and arrived in Tai Koo Place just in time for the New Year Countdown. Drinking my favourite Belgian beer Hoegaarden at East End, chatting and enjoying the loud music and crowd around for 1.5 hours, I returned home a very happy gal.

In the afternoon, my brother and I went shopping for food stuffs in the wet market for tonight’s BBQ held in our mother school in Stanley. We impressed many with our fresh oysters, scallops, pig’s neck meant, vegetables combo, sweet potato and corn … though we left our whole squid behind in the fridge at home! The whole BBQ area was occupied by more than 30 people, the atmosphere was great except that we had to wrap up prematurely at 21:30 (so that the guard could go to bed). I am looking forward to another big feast tomorrow night at home and better get prepared for an intensive session of tennis on the weekend to lose the fat I gained.

Merry Christmas to all! What a wonderful season, seems everything in Hong Kong is getting better now, the atmosphere is great every where. I see crowds in the streets, in the malls and virtually all places. People are smiling, eating, shopping… I spent most of my “holidays” at work, but I still feel very happy, because this is the first Christmas I work for myself, haha!! A lot of good friends have returned in the holidays, I was thrilled to meet my SWAP friends (ten years already!), my old teacher in St. Stephen’s and a number of other old buddies (we are all old now, aren’t we?) last few weeks. I also miss the HKU LLB classmates, all of them are working very hard in the legal field, let’s add oil together!

How will I celebrate my birthday? Already had two birthday meals with friends, I would definitely reserve today for my family. My mom would cook my favourite dishes (of course include crabs…) and chiu-chow style birthday soup. My sister may get me a birthday cake, but I would treat the pudding made by my grandma as birthday cake anyway… how old am I? You should know it, don’t ask me please….ok, I was born in the year of “snake” according to Chinese zodiac sign. I like to have my birthday in December, it adds an extra “holiday-feel” to my special day and I can eat more in Winter.

After an 14-month exile in Australia, my younger brother Henry is finally back in Hong Kong. He has completed the foundation year and going to study in a university after his “summer break” here. The whole family gave him a warm welcome at the airport last night, there will definitely be a series of big feasts to follow. I wish I could eat a lot and transfer 10 pounds to my brother. He can then give me 2 inches of his height to me as birthday present.

All my friends know that I am crazy for crabs, hairy crabs are not my particular favourites, but anyway they are crabs. This year my tennis friends together had a hairy crab party again and I enjoyed it very much. If you like eating yummy and reasonably-priced crabs, you gotta eat them at home and buy a whole basket of them. Each of these crabs may cost as much as $250 if you eat them in a restaurant, now it is only $80 each. If you can’t finish a whole basket (I can’t either!), share it with your friends or give them away as Xmas gifts. I think the hairy crab season will not end until the Xmas, go eat more!

Well, I do have some legitimate excuses for not updating my personal weblog for two months, but that won’t prevent me from saying sorry to all of you - who always show your care and love. I’d rather put up a short summary of what happened in these two months. First, my mom had an operation on something that had troubled her for a long time, she stayed in the hospital until last month. The operation was successful, she is now rehabilitating at home. Second, I set up a small business to do the things I enjoy for a living. It is still a very small operation, I feel glad that I have finally got a place called “my office”. The projects are coming in gradually and there are thousands of things on my schedule. It’s exciting to be on my own, controlling what to do and when to leave office. Do visit my place and get together for a lunch or tea!