[Ta Kung Pao]

Tavia Yeung and Ron Ng, together with Tai Mung Mung took part in a Christmas promotion yesterday, playing games and hosting a grand draw for the viewers. Earlier, Tavia has been on the Mainland filming for "Double Dragon of the Tang" for a few months and is happy that the filming finished before Christmas so that she can have a peaceful Christmas Eve. Tavia says: "As I took three or four cases of luggage to the mainland, I have been unpacking and cleaning lately and I didn't go out for Christmas Eve, just celebrating with a few friends at home. I didn't even buy any presents, so I just did their drawing for them. On Christmas Day I spent the day sleeping and lazing at home." In China, her life was quite normal and Tavia has gained five or six lbs. When asked if she has been approached by a slimming company, she laughs: "I'm discussing it!" Looks like there will soon be another addition to the slimming spokesperson industry.

Ron Ng has recently been secretly filmed and rumoured to be scene with a girlfriend who resembles Gigi Leung. He replies rather bluntly: "If I had a girlfriend, I would admit it. She was just a friend who happened to be helping me get some clothes. I don't want to talk about this, because I don't want it to affect her. In fact, she no longer wants to have dinner with me now." He insists that he does not have a girlfriend at the moment and does not want to cause trouble for anyone else as he wants to concentrate on his career. Someone suggested that he should date Tavia, then he can have a good reason to be with her. Ron laughs: "I already knew her when I was in the dancer's class. If I was to ask her out, I would already have done it." Talking of them working together a lot recently must make them more accustomed to each other, will this make the chances greater? He laughs: "Wait and see!"

Also, Tai Mung Mung says that the biggest present she has received this year is passing half her driving test. She has now passed parking, turning and hill starts and is just missing her road test on 29th. Now she is saving up for a car.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2003-12-27/UL-212494.htm



[Ta Kung Pao]

Joyce Tang and Kevin Cheng were filming outside a shopping mall for "Chicken Soup of the Soul" yesterday and the story tells of them returning to the car after going shopping to find that their tyre was punctured. Normally in these circumstances, it would be the man who changes the tyre, but in this story, it is Joyce who changes the tyre and Kevin who stands by with a tissue to wipe her sweat.

Talking of Christmas, Joyce says that she spent a peaceful Christmas with her boyfriend Marco Ngai. She says: "We have to work every day and originally we had thought that we would have no time to celebrate Christmas, but luckily we both finished work at 1:30 am so when we got home, we just celebrated with some nearby friends and joined their party. They had already exchanged presents, but saved one for me!" She also says that there are no Christmas decorations at home, so there is not much atmosphere in her home. She smirks and says: "I hope that on my birthday on 29th I can finish work earlier, otherwise I will have to spend my birthday at work as well."

As for Kevin, he feels that working on the holiday is a good thing, because he does not have a girlfriend and feels lonely on special occasions. He says: "When I see other people paired up, I would rather be at work. However this show should only be filming until the Chinese New Year, so I will not have anything to do on Valentines Day. I hope by then I will have a girlfriend!"

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2003-12-27/UL-212487.htm



[Ta Kung Pao]

Nancy Sit took her three children to a real estate promotional event and when asked if she has plans to buy a new home, she says that this is part of her budget for the future and hopes that she can have something for them all. Nancy's daughter Yau Shan who is studying in America has recently returned to Hong Kong to spend Christmas and New Year with her family. She knitted a scarf and shawl for her mother as a present, but she could only give half the present because she has only finished the shawl and the scarf is not yet finished, so it will have to do as a new year present.

When asked if seeing her eldest daughter was the best Christmas present, Nancy laughed that the biggest present would be that her three children all study hard and get good grades. Her eldest daughter has also been awarded a scholarship! So what presents has Nancy bought her children as a reward? Nancy says that she has been very busy, so she was only able to take her children and father out for dinner on Christmas Eve, but when they got in the car to leave, she was already asleep. Her children are very understanding and are not asking her to take them anywhere, opting to return home and let her have some rest instead.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2003-12-27/UL-212495.htm



[Sing Pao]

This Christmas, Bel Lau was invited by the hosts of a Metro Radio programme to join them in a Christmas Dinner. Surprisingly, despite growing up abroad, Bel has not had many Christmas dinners, but she loves eating meat, so Western food is right up her street. After filling herself up on food and drink, she even went into the kitchen to learn how to make fried salmon, but eating and cooking are two very different things.

The Christmas Meal was all based around German foods and from the two selections for soup, Bel felt that the mushroom soup was more to her taste as the Hungarian beef soup tasted too strongly of green peppers. The prawn salad was a little spicy and was good to whet her appetite; the starter of smoked salmon with the onion sides was fragrant and tender; the other salmon dish 'Finnish Salmon Rolls' was given a verdict that if you like it then you will like it a lot and is it not as fishy as she imagined, with a rainbow speciality to it.

The next dish was her favourite slab of meat in the form of the irreplacable turkey in Western Christmas Dinner. This was coupled with boiled red cabbage and Bel smiled: "It is very thick, nearly an inch thick. Great texture, very thick - turkey does feel very rough, but it is full of poultry flavour." As for 'Baked Goose Livers with Wild Plum Sauce', this was packed with flavour and tasted very good.

Finally the meal was topped off with dessert of 'Vanilla Yule Log Cake Slice' and with a particular liking for dessert, Bel says: "The dessert is like the treasure of a Western meal, so you should really try it." The ingredients include Blueberries and Redcurrants, also fruit peel and raisins, full of strong flavours. Raisins are good for you and the sweet taste is not bad at all.

http://www.singpao.com/20031227/gossip/496030.html