Chinese New Year Reunion 2011

I don't know if it's just me but time seem to fly even more faster this year. I'll be finishing my training tomorrow and will officially start my duties next week! Can't believe i've been training for a month already!


I usually reach home quite late on work days - pretty much explains the lack of updates. The limited time I spent online are usually to reply e-mails of people that is somehow, somewhere special to me and the social media. I'm straying away from facebook though - if you're working, you pretty much know how dangerous the social media can be.



It's getting late so I'm just gonna do a brief picture post just to keep up with the tradition of me posting pictures of my reunion dinner! I am not commenting on the dishes since it's home cooked and my judgment would definitely sound bias :p




My dinner this year was fashionably late - 9.30 P.M to be exact so I made the right decision when I said no to my friend when he asked if he could join my family for dinner. My parents are coming again next week so he might be joining me for Chap Goh Mey dinner. :)




It was rather special in a way too, as this was our first year of hosting our parents. And it's only then I realized how much my dad spent every year for reunion dinner! The cost pretty much went shooting up when we had to get new cutlery and serving plates as we didn't have enough.




A lot of dishes eaten on reunion dinner are eaten for the meaning it brings - like yee sang for prosperity, prawn for happiness and longevity noodles for a healthy life. I don't particularly like it though but as modern as I can be, I stay to my roots too. No harm following what your forefathers say right?



Like every other year, reunion dinner is followed by massive cleaning! Lol. When the clock strike 12, we played the floating lantern - as a substitute for fireworks :P The lantern is supposedly for you to write your wishes on it but mine has chinese words printed so I didn't write anything. I can't read mandarin but I got the nice uncle who was selling lanterns to explain to me each and every lantern available there. :P

Huat ah!

p/s : I know this post isn't as interesting as I used to write and I can do better than thisbut i'm having writer's block. :s I'll be back with a great post next! So much to share!

The beginning of the year of rabbit

Happy Chinese New Year everyone yawww!

wow, it's been exactly a month since I last blogged. For the uninformed, I've just joined the workforce early this year and I guess the whole month of me being idle was the fact that my body is adjusting to a new body clock. I would say my body is pretty much adjusted to it now so i'll try to blog more often after this. I've got so much food posts to share! and, I even got a new semi-pro cam that takes f-awesome pictures!



I'm actually (and sadly) in KL for the Lunar celebration because it would be too costly for me to go back just for the weekends. I'm still in classroom training now so I'm not entitled to any leave other than the public holidays. Won't complaint about it though. I've already been blessed with a job so yeah, when you have one thing, you sacrifice another.

It's very different celebrating CNY in KL- or any festival for that matter because I somehow felt like the feeling would never reached it's climax (using a sex-language always helps in describing anything ;p) But after being away from my parents for more than a month, it didn't really matter where I was celebrating it. What matters most was that, I was with my parents. Yes, I know it's uncool to say this, but i'm really close to my parents. :)



I would say it's quite a relaxing CNY for me since my apartment here is only a quarter size of my Kuching house so the cleanings were very brief. The fact that I was also working full day on the eve of CNY also made me escaped from the reunion preparation. hehe. Our reunion dinner were very late though, cause my parents arrived from Kuching around 5pm and after my sis picked me up from work and all, we only reached home - and started preparing at 7.3op.m.



We went to Genting early this morning and met up with my extended maternal family there. I haven't been there for years! It was cold and misty outside but when you're inside the buildings it was rather hot because of the crowd. I skipped the theme park since the queue was crazy and spent the whole afternoon in casino and was winning quite a bit of money until I became greedy and lose all of my winning money. But it was all good and fun.



We ended the trip with a Starbucks session. Ah, it's good to be able to pay for your family. Satisfaction maksima! hahaha.

Anyway, Gong Hei Fatt Choy to all my readers that has been loyal with me! May the year of rabbit bring us all pools of moolah!

2 0 1 0 - In A Nutshell

I've said this over and over again but 2010 literally flew by! Allow me to do some recap - just in case I suffer a memory loss in the middle of 2011! ;p

Nothing exceptionally interesting during the first quarter other than my visit to AirAsia Academy. If you've been a long reader of my blog, you would have read how I declare my love for aviation again and again so visiting the Academy was enlightening for me. They were one of those corporate people that are so easy to deal with. On the same trip, I also visited the Petronas sky bridge for the first time. Felt more Malaysian. Lol!



During the trip , I managed to stop by for coffee with my lecturer and the conversation went into things that were pretty private. It was refreshing to see views of "certain things" in the minds of people who are much older. He also still remained the best lecturer I've ever had!



One ritual I practiced during my university days was checking in hotel before my final examination. I re-visited Tune Hotels in April, after exactly a year from my last visit. It was rejuvenating! Ordered pizza and had a couple of beers while watching Couples Retreat!



In May, I bid goodbye to the lecture halls and sleepless nights. I don't miss going to lectures but as crazy as this may sound, I really missed doing assignments. It was a part of my tertiary education that I enjoyed.



I went to Penang in June for my internship and it was a new adventure of sort. But everyone who started their internship in June would agree with me when I say June was when time passed the slowest. It was as though as the clock stop moving!

In July, 23rd to be exact, I met TL*. It was one of the highlights of the year and I actually miss going gu gu ga ga over his text messages and how I would spent the whole night talking to him on the phone - only to end up like a zombie at work the next day. Haha.



August and September were pretty much passed by without me realizing. I do recall going on gastronomic journey searching for the best lunch place with my colleagues. It was probably the only part I enjoyed during my attachment.

October were somewhat an interesting month for me. Lets see! On the first day of October, I had the most amazing first date! It was nothing poshy. Just the two of us with a pint of beer each, resting on the couch and our hands never leaving each others skin, talking and enjoying the time.



I also made a trip to my alma mater after an early breakfast with TL*. A lot of things have changed and the teachers could hardly remember me! haha.



It was also in October, I bid goodbye to a friend I really care and adore. I don't think my feelings ever change but I made the decision - and I'm not one who grieve over my own decision. I've since been meeting new people.

I can't recall anything bizarre in November besides me having pork overdose on my birthday! Less than a week later when I had dinner with Huai Bin at Finnegan's, he ordered another pork knuckle and I swear at that point I don't want to see anymore pork knuckle ever! haha. Most of the nights in November were spent with me puffing shisha! Ah, i'm definitely gonna miss it! And of course the great company. Beng, I'm already missing you as I'm typing this!



I only started searching for jobs in December so three weeks was spent in KL attending interviews. I was lucky enough to secure a job after only going for interview in two MNCs. One told me I was too good for the job and another hired me. I'm blessed, really. Oh Oh, a female nurse also touched my breast in December. Lol!



My last hours of 2010 was spent having coffee with a friend before we adjourned for beers to usher the new year. It turns out to be a wrong decision because we were in the club of the wrong demographics and the whole atmosphere was a tad too weird - albeit an interesting sight. haha! p/s : Thanks for the company Christopher!

I'm leaving Kuching tomorrow and will start the beginning of 2011 stepping into the rat race. Hopefully everything works out well. :)

Happy New Year all!

Winter Solstice

How was your Winter Solstice last night? I cooked the balls with sugar syrup and it was served with jelly and soya bean. It was awesome, we're thinking of making them again tomorrow! :D



Was meaning to blog this yesterday night after dinner ended, but was too tired and dozed off.



We had guest over and I cooked a feast! For the first time in my life I cooked a whole chicken! The Hainanese Chicken Rice were the main dish and to accompany the chicken, we had garlic fish and stir fry asparagus.

T'was a good night. But no pictures, cause I forgotten all about the camera when the guest came. ;p

How to prepare Christmas Turkey with Stuffing

If you've read my blog long enough, you would know that I am one who is not fascinated by any festivals. The only one that I get really thrilled is the jolly Christmas! Partly because it comes with really awesome food and it's also the only time I get to eat to eat turkey. It's not that its of much difference compared to chicken but I love the preparation!



Last year was actually the first time I had a hands-on experience on preparing the turkey. My parents were away for holiday and they gave me the responsibility to prepare the Christmas dinner. :P

The turkey price ranges from RM 95 - RM 150 depending on size and has to be defrosted thoroughly before marinating it. The turkey is marinated overnight with minced/blended garlic, black pepper, worcestershire sauce, rosemary, thyme, salt and MSG. Marinating it overnight will also ensure the meat to be tender and moist.



For the stuffing, finely diced onions, fennel, button mushrooms and sausages. Try not to used the local frozen sausages as they tend to be quite soft. I used Vienna sausages where you can get it at Cold Storage for roughly RM 27 - a pack of five.



The diced potatoes and carrots are to be pre-boiled to cook. Let it cook for about 75% only though. You don't want them to be slimy and soft once the turkey is cooked.



Then you also have the streaky bacon. It's pre sauteed so that the caramelized fats of the bacon would add flavors to the stuffing.



Mixed all the above ingredients together with italian herbs, black pepper, salt and MSG.



Before you start cutting the vegetables and what not, remember to soak the bread in the milk first. White bread soak faster but I used wholemeal loaf so it take a while to fully soak. This is added to the stuffing so that the stuffing would be slightly creamy (not the liquid kind of creamy but you get the idea right?) and at the same time won't be all lose and scattered.



Once the bread is soaked thoroughly, mixed it with the other stuffing ingredients. It should look like this before being stuffed into the turkey.



There's actually no "engineering" to stuffing the turkey. Just stuff it till it's full, then stitch it. Remember not to cut away the skin at the upper breast - if you do, then you have nothing to cover your stuffing. I'm sure surgeons or doctors are good at this. Lol.



Rub butter on the turkey skin and arrange rolled streaky bacon the side. Bacon are like magic in cooking. They always add flavors to any cooking especially the fat streaky ones! hehe.



Roasting the turkey takes a long time so if you have guests coming, you should at least have five hours grace. The turkey should also be put on room temperature at least an hour before roasting.



To avoid it from being too dry - as it will be roasted for a couple of hours, glaze the turkey skin with butter and the oil that ooze out from the turkey itself every fifteen minutes or so.



Once the temperature thermometer is all popped up, your turkey is done! Serve it with sides of your choice. :D



If you're not too tired after all the turkey roasting, you can also prepare espagnole sauce to go with the turkey. It's very easy!

Melt about five tablespoon of butter (They say Christmas is when you put on weight :P) with about three tablespoon of flour.



Then add the turkey goodness - stock from the roasting! :P



Stir in a very low heat cause you don't want it to curdle, and you're done!



Serve the espagnole sauce with the roasted turkey. Bon Apetit!



This is actually a post I had been wanting to write for a year. I didn't wanna blog right after I prepare it cause I didn't see the relevance of writing about how to prepare turkey after Christmas. A year has passed and now Christmas is just less than a week away from today, so I hope this post comes in handy.

Feliz Navidad everyone! ;D

Kuih Bulan

*updated!


This year marks the fourth year of me celebrating the 15th day of the 8th month in the Chinese calendar away from my parents. It's not that we actually have huge celebration back home but it's just nice to be home with your family during festivals like this.

I always make it a point to get myself a moon cake even though I don't really favor the taste of this sweet pastry. Somehow I always believe it was eaten for prosperity. Lol!



Legend has it that, moon cake was actually a way the Yuan (some say Ming?) Dynasty passed the messages around without letting the Mongolians know. The message is slipped in the moon cake! Not too shabby for a wedding proposal also eh! :P

Anyway, happy moon cake festival everyone!

****

I celebrated my Mid Autumn festival the truly 1Malaysia way. Lol



Had awesome Nasi Kandar with kuah campur for dinner (instead of you know.. stir fry pork?lol)! Huge piece of chicken! =D



And since it's Pink Day, i head over with my friend to Baskin Robbins for awesome Brownie Ala Mode (Chocolate Fudge with two scoops of ice cream topped with caramel, M&Ms, whipped cream and cherry!) Just look at the caramel. It was sex!! :D



Finally, a picture of the full moon I took on the way back to my apartment.

Hope you guys had a great night. I certainly did!

Dragon Boat Festival

At the time of writing - 11.10 p.m, everyone must have burped Bak Zhang!

This is my first time eating Bak Zhang in Penang. It tasted a little weird and different from what I used to eat back home. But of course, this Bak Zhang can't be make as a judgment since it was bought at random stall.

***p/s : can I not go to work tomorrow? :(