We are now well into CNY, being the 2nd day now. I have not had time to blog because I was busy with the preparations and celebrations.
So let me just recount. On the eve, I finished cleaning the house (finally and laboriously). I vacuumed the outdoor kitchen and mopped the indoor kitchen. The outdoor kitchen doesn't need mopping because it will get dirty again as we cook and we can clean up after CNY.
On the eve night time we went for dinner with my dad's side relatives at my grandma's house. We met my dad's siblings and their family. We had dinner near my grandma's house at a Chinese restaurant. We were the only ones having reunion dinner there.
The first dish was yee sang, then mock shark fin soup, herbal chicken, steamed fish, mushroom broccoli, scallops with veg, rice with lap cheong and then cut fruits for dessert.
We adjourned to my grandma's house where we chit chatted over more dessert and snacks. My grandma has a stash of sweets - Lindt chocolate, butter cookies, ice cream, Ritter chocolate etc. She really has a sweet tooth!
The first day of CNY we celebrated with just us - the immediate family. My bro in Canada didn't come back so it was four of us; my other brother was here. We spent the whole day cooking. We each cooked a dish. My mom cut the veggies for yee sang and I arranged the veggies into a dog shape! It was kinda cute... hehe.
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| Doggy yee sang |
My bro made siu yuk, which is roast pork... oh wow, it was crackling and all. He roasted it in the oven until the skin was really crispy! We could hear the crackling when he cut it... Omg! I was drooling... The skin was so good and crunchy. I didn't mind eating the pieces with the fat and all!
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| Siu Yuk |
My mom made my favourite... mushroom, abalone and broccoli. The abalone was from a can given to us as a gift. It would have cost RM100+, my mom estimated. She cooked the abalone for 2 hours. And soaked the mushrooms before braising them in the light sauce. It was good... so tender. This is soo my favourite!
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| Mushroom abalone broccoli |
2 other dishes my mom made a few days earlier were hong bak and chicken rendang. You can see them below. Also really good. Yum! The 2 dishes are traditional dishes and my my mom is really an expert as she has been making them for years.
Lastly, I made a chocolate and peanut butter cheesecake, not shown here. It has to be kept in the fridge to set overnight so we didn't eat it last night. We will eat it today! Hope it turns out well...
Anyway, this CNY is turning out well so far. I am really enjoying it, so that's good. It is a lot of hard work but it is so worth it! I will continue to enjoy cooking and eating the rest of CNY!
Labels: celebration, dinner, home cooking, meals
