CNY 初四 at The Arte

Its the 4th day of CNY and I met up with the folks from poly for our annual CNY gathering, lo hei and gambling session.  This year, we met up at Paul and Caren's new home at The Arte which overlooks the PIE toward McRitchie Reservoir.  Pretty good view I must say...

Andy, Janice, Jade & Ryan came back to Singapore for CNY and will be flying back to Papua New Guinea on Monday, so its quite timely that we met up today.  Ryan was asleep when I arrived.  Saw him sleeping in a cute position so I took a picture of him hahaha...

We had Spizza for lunch, compliments of Paul before we did a customary LO HEI.. Its funny how year after year, we still only remember a few phrases to recite when preparing the dish.  Its always 黄金满地, 甜甜密密, 顺顺立立... and then we're stuck. hahaha..

Caren enjoying the preparation while Raymond overlooks

What would a CNY gathering be without gambling right?  Well, this isn't Marina Bay Sands or Resorts World.  We play small and I'm very sure everyone gets their usual kick out of seeing me lose money.. :p  Anyway, we started playing blackjack with Andy as banker.

Blackjack turned boring and we switched to in-between... You know how our parents always taught us not to be greedy?  Yeah, but we never learn right?  Even though we play this game every year, somehow we just never learn... I guess its human nature to place a large bet when you get an Ace and a King.  Trust me, you will get either an Ace or a King.  Yup, its proven.  Just ask anyone who has played this game and they'll tell you greed caused their loss... 

Jane, our volunteer bunny for In-Between

The pool money reached over $400 at some point

Halfway through, we craved for some coffee and Janice offered to drive out to buy for us.  Thanks Janice!! Andy wrote our orders on a paper plate and Janice actually gave this to the kopi-soh.. can you believe it? Hahahaha

In the meantime, the kiddos got bored and started entertaining themselves with the iPhone and iPod Touch... 

Jade & Ryan entertaining themselves

Somehow I was lucky enough to bet ALL and won the pool of cash to end that game. Phew... And since I won some money, the guys decided to have another few rounds of blackjack with MOI as banker!  Argh... Fortunately, I had a blackjack t-shirt from Gap which I bought from Las Vegas in 2010 and this t-shirt served me well.. at the last round, I actually got a blackjack!  Net result: I'm in the black this year.. No more loses like previous years.. Woohoo!!!!!  

Me and my Blackjack tshirt