CNY Activities

Eve

we had the regular steamboat. our steamboat is special, in that, all the ingredients were prep and put into the steamboat. the heat is powered by charcoal mind you and it's wonderful. i think ours would prolly be the most different different concept ever. conventionally, you'd had the soup base and then put in the raw ingredients etc. in our case, the soup base is prepped and the ingredients cooked as well. there's like abalone, vege, fish paste wrapped in fish flour skin, yong ta foo items etc. the soup is extra sweet and very yummy this year. i had a couple of rounds.


we also have side dishes eg curry, bamboo shoots (my fave), sea cucumber, fried prawns, fried meatballs, fried sweet potatoes, stirfry cabbage, stewed chicken.. hmm.. it's a pity i didn't take any pics that night.


after dinner, the under 35s sat at one table and chit chatted and laughed. cousin inn wei is such a wonderful impersonator and full of jokes, made us laughed like crazy. then youngest bro PK commented that my RL polo tee looked weird on me *frownz* and we talked about ice cream etc.


was quite a good night and pretty fun. we left ah ma's place and got home to rest so as to meet the next day.


CNY Day 1

We had our usual lunch which consists mostly of the 'leftovers' from the night before. additional dishes included fish which was only left with bones by the time we reached. then the afternoon soup was delish! lots of abalone and top shell. it was radish soup. i love radish!! they soak up flavours so easier and taste especially good if the soup is wonderful and for that afternoon, it was great! we had the fried bee hoon and more sea cucumber and more curry and more fried stuff.


after lunch, we adjourned to the living room. trying our very best to while away time whilst waiting for dinner. as this year's CNY movies are all sucky, we didnt head to the cinema. extremely unfortunate. saving grace was that bro bought transformer dvd and it occupied us for most part of the day all the way till dinner.


when dinner time arrived, we headed to River Palace for makan. unfortunately, the food sucks. fortunately, fourth aunt suggested that the under 35s have a table to themselves and the company was great fun. we took loads of pics and commented how absolutely disgusting and terrible the food and service were. as such, it spurred the idea of taking charge for next year's dinner.


CNY Day 2

went to BTNR in the wee hours of the morning and came back to rest. had breakie with mum and bro at Old Airport FC. There was only a couple of stalls which were opened. was quite disgusted with some singaporeans. As business was brisk for whichever stall was opened, the stall owners requested for self service. the kopi stall which i was ordering from was no different. however, there were 4 fat idiots who refused to take their drinks self service and the poor uncle had to make his way to the table where they sat just to serve their drinks for a mere $3.60 i kept my stabbing stares on them and cursed them the worst of luck this year as i think they deserved it.


anyway, we started late this year. we only headed out of the house at about 4ish coz there was only 1 place to visit. thereafter, we were meeting our uncles and aunts at a restaurant with karaoke facilities at yishun. food was good and company wonderful. i sang many songs, though i wished that they have the latest Jay's album. i was nearly a mike hogger as cousins requested for me to save them from 'hell' hahah. received good comments on my vocals and i had loads of camera fun! pity i only had two pics from the night. the rest are all in facebook.


CNY Day 3

i started work. damn sian. wished i had taken leave early pity i didnt and finally couldnt as 3 were out of office already. was supposed to meet up with Angie and Sharon, the two evils but Angie was too concussed after flying back from US. so i was on my way home and bumped (well, actually they came to say hi to me) to Ferny, Fishy and Inn Wei. Apparently, they say they were meeting Jeffery and 4th aunt was going to join them for dinner. Thereafter, even PK was coming. So i joined them for dinner at Waraku. it was an excellent meal and incredulously, we ordered tons for stuff for very reasonable price! that was a great dinner!! we had lots of laughs and talked about MICs and Inn Wei did his many funny impressions! it was hilarious and we laughed till we dropped. dinner ended close to 10pm and we went home.


CNY Day 4

was rest day.


CNY Day 5

we headed to WC's place for dinner and catch up. had more food and finally some beer (3 cans) and chatted with WC till 11 ish before we headed home.


CNY Day 6

was 6th uncle's son Addison's baby shower. more food and loads of wine. drank bottles of reds which costs like 300 to 400 bucks per bottle. Champagne etc. waw, i had the best drinking sesh yesterday man!!


i was so gorged with food that i usually start my breakie with cherry tomatoes. it was terrible with all the heavy eating and i feel so bloated. there was even a day that i didnt want to eat lunch and just crave for something simple like fruits. in fact, i was quite grossed out actually.


this morning i just had a fresh green salad and coffee black. now i am off to take my wanton mee which mum just bought from my favourite stall! till laterz.

An additional resolution and a new family project

hmm.. when i thought of blogging this hectic period, i dunno where to start. it's been a crazy food eating spree since monday. i think i only managed to take a break on thurs, then it's off to more food on friday and sat. despite stuffing myself with goodies and non goodies (well not all restaurants churned out the yummiest food) the most important thing that i will remember for this CNY is that it brought the cousins closer.


you see, i have this tendency of doing disappearing acts for ions and i am pretty good at that. i believe this comes naturally after certain events which happened in my life over the years. it becomes easier to let go of strings attached and once the decision is made, the disappearing comes almost instantaneously. i find it incredible too! i guess sometimes i can be pretty hard hearted which i believe is some form of protection.


in any case this year, i will add another new year resolution.


to communicate and stay in touch with my family and extended family members on a regular basis. if not weekly, at least monthly.


basically, i kinda doubt it's going to be difficult. because of the most pathetically served food during CNY dinner on the first day, a couple of the cuz have come up with a plan that we will source for a good restaurant in 2010. Along with that, we are also thinking of revolutionalising our yearly CNYE dinner as well.


Think - for almost 25 years (for myself at least), we have been eating the same type of steamboat each and every year. Well, not that it's not delish, it's just that, we are thinking it should come with something different next year. This is likely to be challenging not only coz we are thinking of making an exceptional dish call 'orh nee' (sweet yam paste with ginko nuts and pumpkin) during the next CNYE dinner. We managed to get the recipe and now just need some practise. We have also to consider the tastes of our parents as well as ensuring that the food prepared are healthy and suitable to their taste. We kinda have to keep in mind that they have been having the same dishes for even longer than us and old tastes as with old habits die hard.


so Project 爱 has just completed its first brain storming sesh. committee members will reconvene on feb 28 for further discussion. we'll see how it goes. interesting as well as exciting. cool! :)

mum's yearly CNY dessert

every year dunno since when, my mom started preparing this extremely time consuming dessert. it's got the ginko nut, the lotus seed, dried longans and chinese red dates.


i remember she used to ask me to knock away the ginko nut shells and remove the stems in the lotus seed. after removing the ginko nut shells, the ginko nuts have to be boiled to remove the layer of thin brown skin as well as the skin which makes the nut bitter. it can be a half a day event if it's one person doing the job. by then i'd be uber tired and my hands wrinkly coz of soaking in too much water. the cooking's left to her and prior to that, she will actually soak the ginko nuts and the lotus seeds in sugar syrup for 1 or 2 days in the fridge. only on CNY morning, she'd start the cooking.

the red dates being soaked

the ginko nuts and lotus seeds soaking in the sugar syrup

this year thankfully, it was through the shortcut method. she bought ready prepped ginko and lotus seeds. of coz the end result aint as good as the one prepped over days, but i guess it's ok for auspicious reasons. most of the time i find it quite sweet hahaha. anyway, it's a yearly dessert which can only be eaten once a year. so it's always good to start the year with lots of sweetness!! :D

the end product for this year

Here's wishing everyone

新年快乐，事事顺利，万事如意，新想事成，牛年行大运！！
发财，发财，发大财！
HUAT AH!!!