Well, everyday is an obstacle for me to perfect my shots with my Canon 400D. Previously, I’ve grasps enough of outdoor scene. This time, it is in a place that I hate most. I’ve never like taking pictures in a restaurant as they are using yellow lights which makes your picture yellowish and it seems like everyone is down with jaundice. So, lots of trial and error again this time.

Back to the event, my Nephew, Alex who is residing in Singapore was down in KL from KK with his Wife-To-Be, Lily, after a successful ‘negotiation’ with his future Parents-in-law. Eventually we met up with him for a dinner with Hubby’s other siblings. Well, this is my first time meeting her too.

While waiting for the rest to arrive, this is a shot of my eldest bil. I think he can’t make up his mind of what to order.

When I showed him this pic, he can’t remember himself engaging in that posture. lol.

The honorable guests arrived shortly. The moment they walk in, Lily had that glow in her eyes that catches my attention. From there, I whipped out my camera and started snapping secretly.

I have to say, she is really photogenic. Makes my life easier too. haha… She felt very awkward when I keep on aiming the camera at her. Ah well, I told myself to tone down as not make her feel uneasy.

As for food, since CNY is just around the corner, we had Low Yee Sang. Woohoo!

While I was thinking how much exposure/shutter speed to set my cam, suddenly all of them started digging in.

A little of havoc there but I still managed to cheat thru screen. haha…

The happy faces of toasting.

What did I mean by ‘cheat-thru-screen’. In low lights, I set the ISO to 1600 to get a brighter result without using the flash. But anything with high ISO, the picture will turn out grainy. Obviously if you resized them, you can’t see the noise at all. So, this type of picture is not suitable to be printed out. So sad isn’t it.

Well, another trial and error here.

Since I’m using 50mm F1.8 lens, I should have increase the aperture to F4.5 to avoid the blurring image on the left. Well, at least I learn a new thing today.

After all the makan-makan and some socialising with………. (what do you call my nephew’s wife ah?) ………… LILY, she got all excited with the pictures I shot. Ahem! Of course kembang la. This is her comment, “Wow! Never in my life someone captured my photographs this way.”

She then actually started posing for me.

I can’t help myself to scrapbooking again. What a lovely couple they are.

I get Alex to do monkey face at the background. See what he did?

Potong stim. That is not money face la. That is like Mr Bean!

We ended the dinner with CNY dessert. The ‘Nien Kau’ coated with grated coconut.

This is the way how I usually eat them! Now I can’t wait for Chinese New Year to come.

Some people called it ‘the chinese bubble gum’. lol

On the way out from the restaurant, I can’t help myself with one last shot of the ang-ang decoration.

 

Chinese New Year coming liao lor. Tong, tong, chiang…. tong, tong, chiang…..

p/s: My eye getting an eyesore from the jaundice. Ouch!

Chinese New Year (CNY) is also known as Spring Festival (春节 - Chūn jié) or the Lunar New Year (农历新年 - Nóng lì xīn nián) is the most important of the Chinese traditional holiday.

Let me share with you random pictures I took throughout the festive season.

Low Sang aka Yee Sang

Traditionally practiced during the seventh lunar month which is also called “Yan Yat” (every human being’s birthday). Dishes consist of thin slices of raw fish (most commonly used are salmon), crackers, shreaded and pickle vegetables, herbs and sauces. While tossing and mixing the ingredients with a pair of chopstick, one should also chant out loud - Huat ah! Huat ah! which means prosperity. There’s also longivity and liveliness but some hockkien Ah Pek forget them all. Who cares. Toss them as high as you can!

Gingko Dessert (Pat Kor - cantonese)

Longan flesh with Gingko and red dates simmer for hours in rock sugar water.

Fireworks

Back then, we used to play sparkles and some fire crackers. Nowadays with the technology advancement, we get to watch 15 minutes of fireworks display for free. There are many beliefs about why fireworks are used. One is that the noise wakes up the dragon who will fly across the sky to bring the spring rain for the crops. Another belief is that the noise of the fireworks is supposed to scare away all evil spirits and misfortunes, preventing them from coming into the new year. Do not forget, it is illegal to light up fireworks.

New Year, new clothes

A suit of new clothes is a must to significant a new year. Here comes a new Superman PJ’s. Yeah, new red underwear for Superman too. Red symbolizes fire, which according to legend can drive away bad luck.

Again some random shots in the temple.

I find these hanging joss stick very interesting. Makes a good photographic item too.