Ren ri

It is Ren Ri today so wishing everyone Happy Birthday. 

Traditionally we would be having Lui Cha on this special day. There will be Hakka Lui Cha stall opening this week but not in time for today. Will blog about the new stall once they open.

So let's have some Foochow chicken mee suah instead. Comforting and warm noodle soup with fragrant red wine drizzled on it. Definitely nice to take during this wet season.

Lunch on the eve

Shop is taking a 3-days break for CNY. Our first CNY at the shop, so we had a proper cleaning and fire crackers playing on Thursday. Our CNY holiday is from 9 to 11th, so we are re-opening our business tomorrow. 

Our reunion lunch on the eve of Chinese New Year at home started around 2 pm.

Our reunion meal this year was more protein based with meats served on our reunion table. 

My mil cooked this lovely braised wild boar meat with lemongrass. Super tasty, super nice. The meat was given by a relative who arrived from Kapit last weekend. 

A friend gave us this big white pomfret so we simply having it steamed. 

Just add some fish sauce, garlic and ginger, the fish was ready for steaming. It turned out to be lovely and delicious. 

Another seafood was this lobster that hubby bought not long ago. Just simple boil was good to preserve its freshness and sweetness. 

Not all was cooked at home, for example a pack of RM40 roasted pork from Old Bank Cafe in the morning. 

And roasted duck that was sold in  Bao Xiang BBQ shop in MJC. Supposed to be RM65 for one whole duck but it was sold for RM70 on the eve. 

I did the chopping since they don't chop on the eve for you. I chopped half of the duck for our lunch while the remaining half I kept in freezer. 

The kids love ngoh hiang (spring roll) so we bought a pack of frozen mini ngoh hiang and deep fried ourselves. Never could go wrong with Jakar mini ngoh hiang.

To balance up our intake, my mil cooked stir fried mixed vegetables. She served green peas, red pepper, baby corns and leeks in one dish. 

So what was on your reunion lunch or dinner?? It is still not late to wish everyone "Happy and Blessed Lunar New Year"! Gong xi fa cai!!

It was over

Chinese New Year celebration was over with Chap Goh Mei on 5 February.  My mil insisted on cooking that evening instead of going out for dinner. 

Fortunately not all needed to be cooked, as we bought some dishes in the morning. 

The one that we needed to cook was this ginseng salted mustard chicken soup. My mil never tasted such soup, so I made this tasty, appetizing chicken soup for her to try. 

We cooked half of the big prawns that we bought in the morning. Steamed with lots of garlic and egg. 

We also bought this pre-packed jelly fish from the wet market. This pack cost around RM15, it was hubby's favourite. 

There was some Kuching sio bee (siu mai) in the freezer, we took some to steam and have for Chap Goh Mei dinner. 

We also bought 3 pieces of ngoh hiang from wet market. RM7 per piece. We ate the ngoh hiang with this lettuce. I took few leaves from the lettuce and remaining, I stir fried with garlic.

How we ate the ngoh hiang?? Just wrap it with the lettuce and pop into your mouth. 

Learn this eating way from my dad. 

After we were done with our dinner, we played firecracker to end the Chinese New Year celebration. And then it started to rain so we waited till around 7pm to bring the kids out for some fireworks fun before calling it a night.

A cousin of hubby from Sibu passed this biscuit to my mil who loves this snack. Crushed peanut coated rice cracker. And we managed to finish it off that evening with the help of our niece!! 

Last day

It was the 5th of February. Chap Goh Mei. The last day of CNY celebration. 

A long day for me as I woke up around 530am, brought my mil to 3rd Mile wet market.

After done with our shopping, we bought our breakfast from this coffee shop. While waiting, both of us had a morning drink and took a rest  Tapaued Sarawak laksa for me and kolo mee for the others. It was slightly after 630am when we reached home.

We planned for Chap Goh Mei dinner, so we cleaned the farm rear prawns. RM60 for over a kg of prawns, we used up half for the dinner. Balance, in the freezer for future consumption. We also bought some salted mustard to cook chicken soup. More in my next post.

So after settling down our loots and have breakfast, we went out around 10am, this time hubby tagged along. We went to collect 1 white chicken and 1 black chicken (RM99.20) from a friend's house and then proceed to pick up hubby's niece and we had lunch together.

We went to  and as it was late in the morning, the mixed pork soup has run out!! So they only managed to make one bowl of noodle for hubby!! RM7 for his noodle with whatever they have left. 

I didn't want noodle, so I ordered this nasi banjir (curry rice) for RM11 as my lunch. 

Yay!! In the morning, I had Sarawak laksa and now in the afternoon, I ate curry rice!! Luckily my tummy can stand such spicy tastebuds that day! Lol. 

My curry rice was alright. Spicy with lots of meats. It sure took me a lot of effort to finish my plate. Lol. 

Hubby's niece went for fried noodle while mil ate few chai kueh. No photos taken. After we were done, we went to Emart to fix hubby's spectacle before went home and rested. Next post is on our Chap Goh Mei dinner. Stay tune!!

Simpler dinner

First of all, Gong Xi Fa Cai and Happy Chinese New Year to all!!

A pause to my holiday post, it is time to usher the Year of the Rabbit. It was simpler affair this year, unlike what we had for reunion dinner last year.

Thanks to my mil, she helped me with the cooking. And hubby's niece who is staying with us for few nights; she helped with the reunion dinner yesterday. 

This year we had yee sang. We bought this prepacked yee sang and hubby did the preparation. 

The yee sang after he had done with it. Pretty nice and appetizing; we enjoyed it very much.

 

 

We bought one roasted chicken and 300g of roasted pork belly from Old Bank Cafe in the afternoon. 

My mil did most of the cooking with the help of our niece while I was busy cleaning with hubby and the kids. 

Her fish maw with 'tai ping'(peace) egg soup was very good and nostalgic as my late fil loved this dish. 

One of hubby's catch last year was used up for the reunion dinner. We can't finish the whole fish so cut it into half and steamed the head for the dinner.

Beef rendang cooked by my mil few days earlier; she heated it up for the dinner. 

Stir fried plum sauce prawns also made onto the table. 

Marinated chicken wings from previous dinner; my mil fried them up. 

This Pacific clam was cooked and gave by a friend of hubby.  Very spicy and I only took one bite. 

And that completed our reunion dinner. And as for this morning, a must to have chicken mee suah soup for breakfast. 

Wishing everyone good health, prosperity and joy in the Year of the Rabbit. 

Never missed it

Today is Chap Goh Mei, so wishing everyone "Happy Chap Goh Mei"!!

Back to the 1st day of the Year of Tiger, my mil and I woke up around 6am to cook chicken soup. We were having chicken mee suah for breakfast. A tradition in the family especially the Foochow to have a bowl of mee suah on 1st day of Chinese New Year. Since I married to my hubby, we have never missed it as either I cooked at home or we went to my in-law's house for it in the morning. 

After a breakfast of mee suah, we went to my parents' house and spent few hours and had lunch there. Then we went home to take an afternoon rest. My mil stayed at home as she didn't want to go out visiting and an aunt and family came to our house.

Hubby and I went to a friend's house which was a minute away in the evening. We had mee suah at his house. A scrumptious mee suah as we had abalone and maw with it!!

 

Mee suah represents longevity and good health, so I hope everyone stays healthy, safe and have an abundance of happiness and peace this year!!

A family affair

Decoration in Vivacity mall

When I thought I would not be sweating in the kitchen for the reunion dinner on Monday, I was wrong. 

When hubby discussed with me on the dinner menu middle of last month, I had to stand by to receive one of the biggest challenge in my cooking life! 

8 course Chinese menu, I was to cook them but luckily I didn't have to. Because we were blessed with buying and receiving few dishes than to cook the whole course. And my mil was around to help me in the kitchen, so preparing the reunion dinner was not much of a hassle and it became a simple family affair for us on Chinese New Year eve. 

#1 Mouth watering chicken (KOU SHUI JI, 口水鸡)

Initially we were supposed to prepare this chicken but we received 2 roasted chickens from a friend few days before the eve. So we ended up with 1 of the roasted chickens on our reunion dinner table.

#2 Steamed white pomfret

We collected 3 big white pomfrets, one Rompine pineapple and a box of oranges from a friend that morning. We cooked one of the fishes.

#3 Abalone, mushrooms, carrots and broccoli stir fried

My mil helped to cook this dish.

#4 Braised pork trotter

I cooked this dish few days earlier. 

#5 Taro pork belly (Dong Po Rou) 

This pre-packed meat was bought from emart hypermarket. It was rather good. Hubby enjoyed it, so we may buy it again.  RM25 per pack. 

I just thawed and steamed it in the rice cooker, then cut into slices. 

#6 Deep fried spring rolls (ngoh hiang)

Lovely ngoh hiang from Jakar. I took out 2 and deep fried them. 

#7 Stir fried winged beans with garlic

#8 Chinese jiaozi (dumplings)

#9 Pongteh (chicken and pork)

This Nyonya dish was made by hubby's aunt who joined us for reunion dinner. She mixed chicken and pork with potatoes for her pongteh. 

Thanks, aunt for joining us, we were happy to have you on Chinese New Year eve. 

Happy Chinese New Year!!! May we all be blessed with prosperity, good health, peace and happiness throughout the year.