A Simple Achievement

I've been very busy the last couple of months working on my blog and it has got a new look!!
It took many hours of hard work, trial and error but at last it looks nice, at least to me!! I do so want to share it with you.

So here is.  www.peggy-chan.com

Please visit and I would appreciate feedback, thank you.

My passion has always been creative writing, although I doubt I would ever write a full-length novel. However I do have short stories up in the Kindle bookstore on amazon.com.

One simple attempt which I would like to share with you is this.  I have managed to put into book form the simple home-cooked dishes which many Chinese families would be familiar with.
Do check it out here .

 Please give it a try as they are basic and very easy to follow. Surprise your family with a lovely home-cooked Chinese meal.

Isaac in Kuala Lumpur

This Chinese New Year is the Year of the Wooden Horse and it is also the first time that my year old grandson Isaac came to Kuala Lumpur to join the family reunion dinner and get introduced to the family since we don’t all live in the same place. It was a number of firsts for Isaac.  It was the first time he flew on the plane and travelled by train.  It was also the first time that he travelled in a car without being fastened into a baby seat as this is not mandatory in Malaysia.  Thus he was able to see many things as we drove to different places.

Here he is on the wooden horse!!

In the mornings that Isaac was here, my daughter carried him and put him into the various children’s entertainment machines to keep him occupied while his parents did some shopping.  He enjoyed those which had steering wheels as he liked to turn them.

However he did not like the machines to be in motion.  We tried out one machine which had a rocking motion when activated.  Isaac didn’t like it and asked to be carried out of it.  He didn’t like noisy machines either but would watch other children who were on the small merry-go-round.

He enjoyed the morning outings. Now that he has flown home with his parents, we miss him and have to be content with Facetime sessions when we are able to see him.

MGS Class of 1959 Chinese New Year Lunch

Today eight of us met to have dim sum lunch at a restaurant to celebrate the Lunar Year of the Horse. Most of them were born in the Year of the Horse while I was born in the Year of the Goat.

When old girls get together the camaraderie was nothing short of wonderful.  Catching up with the latest news about our families and grandchildren, talking about our other classmates who could not make it due to one reason or another, the years simply dropped away.  It was as if we were school girls once more, talking nineteen to the dozen as we feasted on the elaborate spread of food on the table.

The first dish was tossing the salad to usher in the New Year with wishes for good health, more grandchildren, prosperity and the positives that we would like to have in our lives.

 We pored over the old class photographs which one of the girls had brought along. It was a black and white as there was no colored film at that time. It was quite faded and old, 1958 and 1959, but we could pick out our young selves and those of our classmates who are still around and those who had migrated to other countries.

                                             Our class in 1958 Form Four

1959 Form Five

One of the girls brought cakes to distribute at the end of the meal while I brought some Mandarin oranges which we peeled and ate.

There was so much to talk about that we were the second last table to leave and by the time my classmate sent me home it was almost half past three in the afternoon. Our lunch lasted from 12 noon until 3:00 p.m.!! Before we left there was a discussion as to when we would meet again. As we are all getting on, these meetings are very precious and very much looked forward to. 

Happy First Birthday

What was to have been a big birthday party for my youngest grandchild turned out to be a non-event.
He had contracted a chest infection and had to be hospitalized. 

The resident doctor was unable to set up a drip for the baby and both his clumsy attempts traumatized the child so badly that the sight of anyone  dressed in white coming near him had him screaming non-stop. It was equally traumatic for us adults who witnessed his fear.

Fortunately the paediatrician successfully set up the drip in the afternoon and baby Isaac calmed down. It was so painful for us to see him hooked up to the drip and both his hands bandaged and rendered immobile so that he could not pull out the tubing.

A visitor brought him a balloon.

 Although the party had to be cancelled, the cake was brought to the hospital.  It was a lovely two-tiered cake decorated with Sesame Street figurines and tiny balloons.

 When the single candle was lit, Isaac was so excited that he couldn’t stop showing his wonder and delight.  He was very vocal in his excitement and his face lit up as we sang him the Happy Birthday song.

 Thank goodness for smartphones.  We were able to capture this on video and I’ve been playing it over and over again just to hear his delight and see his lovely smile.


This was also the first time he was given presents nicely wrapped up. He seemed to know that inside the little gaily wrapped parcels were things to look forward to.

 He was discharged in the morning of his actual birthday and we were so happy to have him home that his dad bought another cake for him.

  However there was no candle this time as we believe you can only light your birthday candle just once.  He did cut the cake again, decorated with the same figurines as he liked them.

  Praise God for His healing hands on Isaac who is now on the road to recovery.