What we had on Chap Goh Mei

Since I didn't cooked for our reunion dinner, I took a little effort to cook dinner for Chap Goh Mei last week.

Hubby was working that day so a family dinner at home sounds better than eating out. Coupled with the school exam this week, I spent most of the day and weekend teaching and revising with my kids.

This was what we had on Chap Goh Mei evening.  I told you, I took a little bit of effort to prepare the dinner. The most important part was everyone was together on the table, saying grace and prayer and enjoying the dinner.

Steamed yellow chicken symbolises prosperity and togetherness.

Ngoh hiang/5-spices spring roll symbolises "团团圆圆” where family gets together.

Steamed silver pomfrets with ginger and salted mustard symbolises abundance and prosperity.

After that, the kids have some fireworks fun and the daddy lit the firecrackers to mark the end of Chinese New Year celebration.

In the evening

It was on the 9th night of CNY. One of the evenings where I didn't cook and we went out for dinner. We went to Nanyang Food Court as we wanted to get something from the supermarket and shop afterward.

The place wasn't packed and we were able to find good parking spot. I think that was normal as all the crazy CNY shopping was over. Most stalls in the food court were opened that time (around 7pm). 

One thing I love about food court is the variety. We have more choice to choose from. So we ordered what we wanted from different stalls that evening.

Jiu hu eng chai

Hubby went for something light for his dinner. Jiu hu eng chai (kangkong with cuttlefish) and chee cheong fan with prawns as filling.

Prawn chee cheong fan

As for me, I was the opposite. I went for rice and I had pork leg rice that evening. 

Hubby was tempted to eat some more so last minute, he ordered few meat-stuffed kompia for Foochow stall. So much for his diet! Lol. I helped myself to a piece since he took 2 of them. By then, I were stuffed! 

Luckily after a hearty dinner, we went for a walk and shopping in the nearby supermarket, so it gave us some time to digest our food.

Present & Cake

A Valentine cum CNY present from hubby. My old Samsung phone has been serving me for more than 5 years and it has not been good since I dropped it last year. 

Hubby has been a loyal Huawei phone for few years so he introduced me to a Huawei last month. I like it particularly its camera. However I still use the old phone as some information is stored there but most of the time, the children are using it to play games and go online.

I saved some websites in the old phone so I forgot some of the passwords to some sites. One of them is my facebook password so for the time being, I wouldn't be updating my blog post link via my facebook account.

Back to the present time, today is the Chap Goh Mei celebration. Children have no school today.  So with some spare time in the morning, I made some nian gao wraps.

I have 2 nian gao (Chinese year cake) so I use one of them for these sweet bites. I used popiah skin to wrap around the nian gao. I know, most people add yam or sweet potato to it but I didn't.

I have the nian gao wraps baked on oven for 20 minutes with turning them once in between the baking time.

In the past, I steamed or fried the nian gao in egg dipping but this year, I tried with popiah skin. Love the crispy skin on the outside and sticky and sweet inside. Must eat while they are hot! The kids loved them as they were treating them as snacks. No "yukky" comment unlike when I steamed or fried them with egg. This was so, so addictive, don't you agree? :)

Wishing everyone, a Happy Chap Goh Mei!

Eat in

It was one of the days where I cooked after few days of eating out over the CNY holiday.

Nothing extravagant as we had enough feast over the holiday. Home-cooked where everyone has their favourite. 

Pork ribs with white radish soup

Stir-fried Midin with red wine

Celery with sea cucumbers and mushrooms

Fried nuggets

How about you? Did you cook or mostly eat out over the holiday?

CNY day by day

We had a relaxing CNY this year. I were recovering from sore throat and fever so I slept in whenever I could over the holiday.

First day we were at my in-laws' and my parent's house. We visited a relative as well but that was our limit.

Kek lapis (prune)

Second day, we went to an uncle's house for lunch and then went home to prepare steamboat for dinner.

In the pool

The children and cousins had a blast at the pool beforehand. We finished off early that evening, just before 9p.m. as my in-laws had early flight the next day.

In the mall

On the third, we went to Vivacity Mall for lunch and movie. In the evening we spent some time celebrating my parent's birthday.

On the fourth day, we stayed mostly at home and recuperating. The next day hubby started work and had a lion dance in the office. Children and I went to catch the lion dance before we went to a couple of house visits.

Lion dance

Everything was back to normal on the 6th day. Schools and I got back to work. And soon, we would be celebrating Chap Goh Mei. Time really flies and soon it is over.

Celebrating their birthdays

My parents' birthdays are just a day apart being my mum is a day older than my dad.

We usually celebrate their English birthdays since their Chinese birthdays fall on the 7th and 8th of the lunar new year.

Every year I would make a call to them, together with the kids and hubby, we wish them a big Happy Birthday. So no exception this year. But this year, my siblings and I decided to treat them to a birthday dinner.

We agreed on having the dinner in The Airbox Cafe, Aeroville Commercial Centre Park. Mum's birthday was last Sunday so we had the dinner that night.

Aglio olio (RM20)

We did not know how big the portion was so we agreed to order 3 platters to share first. However hubby had this aglio olio spaghetti with bacons for the kids. Too peppery for the kid's taste but it was nice.

Our first platter to be on our table was this chicken platter. From spicy to cheesy and deep fried, everyone enjoyed every pieces of the chicken to the last bite.

Chicken platter (RM68)

However the pork platter was not so nice being the prata too dry. The sweet sauce pork ribs were alright but everyone did agreed that it was not all nice. For such price we would rather had 2 platters of the chicken.

Pork platter (RM118)

On the other hand, I being a seafood lover, loved this seafood platter. No complaint about this platter other that the deep fried calamari was slightly salty to my liking.

Seafood platter (RM68)

Overall the three platters were adequate for 12 of us. It was a nice dinner in The Airbox. The ambience was just nice with no loud music blasting at the back and we were able to talk without shouting. And importantly, mum and dad enjoyed the company and food. Happy birthday, mum and dad! Wish you many years of good health, happiness and longevity.

CNY story

Gone are those days where I could stay up all night counting down to the first day of Chinese New Year and still get through the day looking fresh and energetic. After 40 years I am no longer a spring chicken.

I were recovering from fever just few days before CNY. CN eve was rushing like crazy but luckily I did not need to cook for the reunion dinner.

Over the holiday, I watched my parents and my in-laws watching the kids. The kids especially the boys were at their highest adrenaline rushes when they met their other boy cousins. They would never grow bored or quiet for a minute. Meanwhile, my parents and in-laws are getting older, I realised. My in-laws looked tired and understandably as we had guests from outstation this round.

We have many gathering and feasting this year with both sides of the family. My father-in-laws, my dad and mum celebrating their birthdays this month.

It feels good to catch up as we don't do that much. We have our own life, family and matters to attend to so it is always heart-warming when everyone makes time and what is better than a wonderful and joyful reunion and visiting during the auspicious holiday.