On our table

We had a simple dinner at home on Thursday evening since only us and my in-laws.  BIL and SIL and family did not come back this year.

Ngoh hiang wrapped in lettuces are the only green we ate *wink*

Our menu for the reunion dinner.  Missing the vegetable dishes as MIL forgot to cook.  Lol! She had a tiring morning as still need to work in the canteen, so this year we did not have an extravagant menu list unlike previous year.  But I like my reunion dinner. Simple and home-y.  Let me introduce the food to you. *wink*

Herbal chicken - very tender and herbs tasted mild

This assortment of Chinese sausage, siew mai and roasted pork belly is from a famous seller in Kapit who has been making and selling this for years

Hubby's gu gu who made some ngoh hiang for us.  I love her ngoh hiang, very fragrant as she added some 5-spice in the meat

Nothing much to say about this lotus leaf pork trotter. The taste did not go into the meat, so rather plain

Abalone chicken soup, good for well being and skin! Lol! You know, who drank a lot yesterday...

The star of the dinner - empurau head, steamed.  Sweet and tender.

If you wonder how it looks like. This is the head before being chopped and steamed!



Happy CNY 2014

I would like to wish all my Chinese blogger friends and readers a Happy Chinese New Year!!

Wishing everyone a great health, happiness and better fortune and prosperity in the Year of Horse!!

And as usual, Petronas always come up with meaningful and touching festive video. Below is the full video of the current cny festive greeting campaign. Enjoy. Because I really enjoy and love it.

Dinner after CNY shopping

We went to Star Megamall last Saturday for last round of cny shopping. Bought new footwear for myself and my kids while hubby spent on his new shirts and a new backpack. It was packed as the last weekend before cny.

After 2 hours shopping, we stopped at this place for dinner before heading home. Hubby heard from someone that the bak kut t eh is nice so we decided to give it a try.

Our dry and soupy bak kut teh. I prefer the dry version as it has spicy pork belly to my liking. 

 

We also ordered a plate of fried rice for the kids and cangkuk manis with eggs.

The food is alright and the service is pretty fast.

Hunting down seafood

Have indulged in some seafood recently. Always a seafood lover. As long as the seafood is fresh, I do not mind paying more.

My latest seafood eating is this morning when hubby brought me to Ming Kong cafe in the city centre. A lot of cars in city centre today; everyone is doing cny shopping and many Sibu people coming back for the holiday.

Ming Kong cafe is famous for its RM30 big prawns noodle. Still think Jakar's prawns noodle tasted better but for time being, this Ming Kong prawns noodle will do. Available in Sibu and no need to drive 1-hour plus to Jakar just to have prawns noodles.

Hubby and I shared fish and prawns noodles as I would like to try its fish noodle. The fish and prawns were very fresh. Prefer the prawn noodle more because of its eggs. ;)

Followed hubby last Friday night to his company's CNY staff dinner. We went to Jln Bandong for steamboat and bbq. RM18 per person.

Very fresh seafood. We took lots of prawns and crabs!!

Like its black shrimp paste dipping. They also have small chilli for those that can stand spiciness.

Tom yam and chicken soup for steamboat

Super spicy tom yam soup

Chicken soup tasted great as more seafood is put in

A way to end the year before CNY.  Tomorrow I would be going back to  Kapit. For those that want to send me off, my express is 10am so kindly be at the wharf before that time. All gifts and goodies are accepted. *wink*

Look forward to the celebration but not so look forward to the nearly 3 hours express ride from Sibu to Kapit. Sigh!

Weekend Menu #55: Crunchy iceberg lettuce

Do you like iceberg lettuce?  How do you usually eat it?? Other than having it in my potato and egg salad, I also enjoy stir frying iceberg lettuces. Love its crunchiness.

Iceberg Lettuce

Potato, iceberg lettuce & egg salad with mayo

This is a very simple Chinese stir fried lettuce recipe.

200g iceberg lettuce, washed and sliced

1 shallot, sliced

3 garlic clove, minced

Salt to taste

1 tsp sesame oil

Sauce: 1 tsp light soy sauce, 1tsp sugar, 1 tsp Shao Xing

Method 

1. Heat up the wok with 3 tbsp oil. Once heated up, toss in the garlic and shallot.

2. Once fragrant, throw in the lettuce. Cook for a minute then throw in the mixed sauce.

3. Stir fry for 20 seconds then add sesame oil and give a quick stir before dish out.

Xing Hua Mien

My SIL bought 2 packs of Xing Hua mihun and tinned clams this morning and decided to get next door coffee shop friend to fry for breakfast.  Remind me of the fried Xing Hua mihun in Kuching with taugeh, clams and eggs.  Missed the finer texture of Xing Hua mihun.  

Our plate of Xing Hua Mihun with some sambal in it. Not bad. Dry and enough "wok hei".

After the rain

Testing with my newly upload app on my phone. A photo collage, which is rather easy to use. Another way to display my photos. Still practising on the app but this collage is the very first I did.

Below photo was taken on Monday morning where I caught the misty view on that day after the rain. The top of Kingwood Hotel was covered by the mist. Very nice, don't you think so?

And  I had breakfast with hubby at a Malay coffee shop. Kafie Cafe at Jln Kampung Dato.  I had fried mihun while hubby was having fried noodle and we shared a bowl of curry mutton. Very fattening I know for a breakfast. But great to taste some curry mutton on a cold morning.

We are almost freezing over here especially at night these few days. Rained non stop. Even the aircon temperature adjusted to 27degree celcius, it is still very cold. Everyone is tugged nicely in their blankets. My Jamie is still recovering from flu and cough. Now I could heard the big brother has sneeze yesterday. Everyone is catching the bugs!

Eat moderately

Chinese New Year is around the corner and I am sure everyone is busy preparing, cleaning, shopping and getting ready for this auspicious festive. What I like about CNY is reunion dinner, where everyone comes home and gathers on table, feasting on good food.  I always enjoyed helping in the kitchen cooking dishes for the reunion dinner, even before I was married. 

After married, I spent most of my CNY reunion dinner in Kapit with hubby's family.  I remember on my first trip to Kapit in 2004, we had our reunion dinner at home.  Shark fin soup, steamed fish, roasted piglet, were some of the dishes prepared.  We had a catering from a local restaurant while my MIL cooked hot & sour seafood soup and a vegetable dish to add to the menu.  It was a big feast.  I remember I ate a lot.  First time as new member to the family, everyone kept picking food to me. I were too full beyond description till I could not move.  And I had a hard time slept that night.

Not only having difficulty in sleeping, I had heartburn and indigestion.  Must be overeating and maybe the super hot & sour soup that cause the heartburn and indigestion problem. I took some Chinese pills to soothe the discomfort but still I had a sleepless night on the eve and having the wake up so early for church mass that started at 8am, I looked like panda.  

Since then I have to remind myself not to over eat.  Do not eat after 90% full.

I found an interesting infographic on "Hot-Cold" properties of food that we eat according to Chinese medicine.  To avoid the heartburn and indigestion problem caused by food, we should eat more neutral food.  But being human being, we tend to enjoy food so we tend to eat more assortment of hot and cold food.  Worry not, Gaviscon has remedy to relieve any discomfort.  So for the coming CNY, do stock up some Gaviscon relief products, which now come in sachets, that is convenient and easy to bring around.

Miscellaneous Picture #13: My random pick

Another colourful red packets from hubby's office

Thanks Wenn for the wonderful CNY card.

Going to start reading this novel this week and looking at thing, it may take some time to finish it.

A bit of CNY themed decor in the house

The cute dolphin ball in front of the lucky charm cat

My addiction is these candies (below)

Be beautiful for the coming CNY.  Just brought a new lip gloss

No fun anymore

It is tough to be kids nowadays. Once they entering schools, fun seemed to come hard. Not much times to play.

For instance, I find it tough for my 5yo to cope with his school works. A lot of writing and copies, plus spelling and dictation every week. Being a 5yo boy, we expected him to be playful and not attentive to school works. Every day he will bring back few exercise books to finish and I am having some "tug of war" with him to finish at his own will.

I cannot imagine what will happen when he is going to primary school. The sister also have her busy schedule and school works. Tuition and Kumon twice a week and music class on Wednesday, so she has her hands full in afternoon on weekdays. Only some breathing time on weekend if she has no test or finished up her works earlier. So I do not mind her having some time watching tv and play with the brother on weekend. Even on weekday she still have time to watch her drama series after school. Now she watches Philippines drama Indonesian and Korean drama. More a couch potato than the dad! So you can see, both kids so look forward to Saturday and Sunday all the times.

A look at her Kumon exercise. It has been almost 2 months since the 1st Kumon class. She has done her addition and substraction exercises up to digit 100. She is getting better with Maths I can see.

I do not know whether it is right approach but as a parent, we hope to give the best to our children so they can thrive in the future.

What's on your packets?

Red packets or "Ang Pow" in Hokkien is a sight during CNY. Married couples are to give money-filled packets to children as good luck. And for children, it is customary to greet elderly "Gong Xi Fa Chai" and so forth when they are to receive ang pow.

This got to be the most impressive (and probably expensive) red packets I have seen so far this year. From my BIL who get graphic designer to design and print his company's ang pow every year and this year I am lucky to be in Sibu and receive few ang pow packets from him. Very modern looking right?

What impress me the most is that the horse graphic can change to the auspicious Chinese word! 2D effect.

Red means prosperity. 

How about you? Have you seen any red packets that really impress you?

Wear different this CNY

Have a quick jump onto weighing scale this morning and I am 53kg. Still some more to lose but wonder in time for CNY or not? Guarantee put on more weights during the festival instead. Just hope whatever dresses I bought last month would still fit me nice then.

Honestly I have never wore a cheongsam in my life.  Reason is being I am not a tall person and do not have a nice figure.  So I never really keen to wear a cheongsam before. 

But this year being slightly adventureous, I decided it is high time to give cheongsam a try.  Better now than later because I never know how I would look like in near future.  Maybe a round figure in few years time??  Maybe then, I would go for tailor-made cheongsam. *wink*

"Cheongsam" a Cantonese word, relatively means "long dress".  In Chinese Mandarin, it is known as "qipao". Cheongsam in recent years have gained world recognition and enjoy a growing popularity in the international fashion. In China, cheongsam is more known as "qipao".  And like I said earlier, I am not tall so I would not opt for the "long" cheongsam.  So my 2 new cheongsam is at knee length. About RM100 per piece, and I am pretty happy with my purchase.  Do not accentuate much of my figure but same time, it has that feminine cut. 

I like this cheongsam most because of its floral design as well as the blend of chartreuse color of the leaves. 

Like my choice of my cheongsam?? 

Besides the 2 cheongsam, I also have 2 dresses (one is black and another milk color). I havent bought any new sandal this year. Hmm, should I buy one with shorter heels instead of wearing my last year's high heel that I hardly wear?

CNY is just 2 weeks away!  Have you shopped for your CNY clothing yet?? 

We done all the shopping for new clothing.  And my kids also get to wear traditional Chinese clothing. Going to take a shot of us in traditional wear on first day. :)

At this moment...

Another gruelling week and finally weekend is here!!

At this moment, I am waiting for my girl to be dismissed at 1pm. Few more minutes to go. This year, her classes finish at 1pm Monday to Friday. Could not wait to go home and cool down as this afternoon sun is killing me.

Tomorrow my girl will have her 1st replacement class. 2 classes on 2 Saturdays leading to CNY.

Taught my kids a new abbreviation and that was what they did using their building buttons.  *wink* 

So, what is in store this weekend? Going to do some CNY shopping for home decor. Most probably those red lanterns and some auspicious word decor for the house. And maybe some cookies as well. Yours truly does not bake, so have to buy some and bring back to in-laws' house.

Oh yeah, if you still cracking your head over CNY Eve's reunion dinner menu, why don't you try out some of Shirley's compilation of CNY recipes. 

And I also discover a new fashion website, SallyFashion that offer 30% discount! Love some of its dresses. Isn't it great?

Happy Friday and have a fantastic weekend, everyone. xoxo

Grateful

I am grateful for....

2013 has been a wonderful year although we had some hiccups along the road

everyone in good health, stay happy and content with whatever we have

smooth transition from Kuching to Sibu.

being a new mum all over again and able to receive the wonderful gift from Almighty Father, ie a new life in my baby

noises and messes around the house as that indicating healthy transition of growing kids and their playful nature. Plus with new sound from the baby lately that is of high pitched nature is like music to my ears

reminding myself to be patient and strong for my family

everything is alright for my 1-month old nephew who was born prematurely at 6 months. Pray for his health and well being.

been alive another day and pray to God for his wonderful creation and blessing.

today as it is already mid-week.


What about you? What are you been grateful of?

Last week edition

How was your weekend? I am finally adjusting to the waking up early for school days, taking care of baby and busy with my 2 older kids' school and activities. Sometimes I wonder how I survive all those gruelling weeks. lol.

Last week I also put a big hole in my credit card. One shot. Booked ourselves few air tickets and hotel reservation online. 

Jamie likes to be carried like this and sit up straight

Baby Jamie is turning 4 months on Saturday. He is at the cutest and active stage right now.  He is all smiling and babbling baby with high pitched screams and cooing all the times. Not to mention his leg strength, able to kick the blankets away and twisting his body here and there. Yesterday saw him turning to one side but not brave or strong enough to turn 180 degree. 90 degree is good enough for now. Soon! Very soon that 180 degree trick.

Nap less during the day but slowly sleeping longer at night. Some nights he can wake up once at night for feeding but some nights I have fed him thrice. Pretty tiring as I have to wake up around 530am to get ready breakfast and snack boxes for other kids.

We are now getting a cleaning maid to clean the house twice a month. RM80 from 8 something to 5pm. At least I do not have to stress myself out on housechore. Really find cleaning maid helpful in that aspect.

We had some frightful evenings last week with maddening and utterly noisy rain that causing floods here and there. Hope for a better weather this week.

So how do you start off your Monday morning? As for me, I cooked my simple but yummy fried rice today since there is leftover rice.  

What's in my agenda today? Nothing much but maybe I can start packing our luggage. Going back to Kapit for cny next weekend. Have washed the new clothes so I better pack them away. Then I would not forget anything when times come. Some more travelling with a baby. Need to ready almost everything for baby. And I have to write in to school telling the teacher that my girl is going back and absent from school earlier. So far no notice on when the school is going to close for the celebration so my guess is there is none.