Lunar New Year 2012

Lunar New Year is always a very busy period for us. We still practice the home visiting for most of us. we have 15 days of celebrations. on the eve, we normally have pot luck. then on other days we will take turn to invite each other to our house for celebration. we either cook or order buffet.  i would love buffet because cooking  for a big group can be tough. the marketing, washing, cutting, cooking is fine, then come the worse thing - washing! but the most enjoyable thing is seeing them enjoying and admiring my food.

for lunch, i have a little steamboat with my family. then dinner is pot luck on my husband's side. last year i did the mustard salmon my nephew (from Holland) teach me. it was a great success, almost everyone enjoy it greatly except for one or two that don't take salmon or raw food. this year, i did pan fry scallops. my girl did the same dia\sh in London too!

I invited them to our house on the 4th day. and i did some cooking.

a simple spread ready for our steamboat party!

prawns, fuchou fishballs, fresh salmons, abalone, pork, beef and lots of vegetables
(fuchou fishballs = fishballs with minced meat inside)

i spent almost 1 hour to fry the chinese susages - to remove the oil and to get them to be like ';Bak kua' style. 18 eggs and 2 'lap ark' - waxed duck drum stick. and complain " too much ingredients!" last year i did a almost similiar dish and had the same comment. Mmmmm.... next year i shall change...... :)
(bak-kua = roasted sliced pord meat )

curry chicken. no complain. should be good. because we finish all.

ah! this simple dish is a love. scallop with prawns and lost of fried garlic.

旺来旺来（good luck come）

a little corner for new year with the giraffe over looking. the oranges are for home visiting

Oops.... i forgot to show the goodies......

Girlfriends

January is really a busy busy month for all of us. Lunar new year falls on 23 january. 1 J need to do all her LNY promotion for first 2 weeks. another week to clean and bake. 2 J went India for 2 weeks. then i then 3rd is LNY. then i have relatives coming my place on the 4th week. Somehow we manage to slot in the last day for our monthly food gatherings.

the restaurant is located at sampang bedok, 3rd J had purchased the coupon for deal internet. the setting was simple but looks quite comfortable. with the ala carte menu , we have some food where we are allowed to order only once and some unlimited. the service was average but along the line it slackens too quicky when the crowd gets a little bigger. most come with coupons and have to do phone booking. Hence i expect them to be ready for such group. we only saved $4 each, but if the service could have been better, i dont mind to come back to try other food. we pay $14 instead of $18.

this chicken satay is really big. and quite nice.

pandan chicken is ok

i tik the stuffed chicken wing has too much meat and too fillings and "geelak ' too

fried prawns, this is goood!

stir fry mix   :(

it take 3 pp to take this photo! bcos they dont know how to use my hp!  :))  or may be we too pretty.

mango salad and pamelo salad is yum yum

Anyway, we do have a nice evening chatting. wanted to go for drink but one is driving . so thought of going coffee, but all seem closed. Hopefully next month we could have a better environment that we can talk til we drop!  Cheers to my girlfriends.

A Special dinner (beijing)

I am cooking this dinner for people whom we enjoyed the Beijing trip together. It has been lots of fun  and laughter. with there 2 young friends we met. they are just friendly and very easy going. my brother-in-law is especially happy with the wife beside him, but my sis-in-law is quite joyful and lots of jokes too. that makes a happy little group. we have 5 others too.

we had a late nite with our family members. ....for majong session......and cards game. so i started late, but all in time.

my brother-in-law cooked it for us when we visited hime in Holland. i love the dish and i think it is very unique.

I tried using my own recipe. this is the second time i prepared it. i hope to do it better the next time with a better timing in cooking time.

nevertheless, i am proud to say it is yummy. and my hubby presented is very beautifully.

this is a simple stir fry kai lan, i didn't notice E didn't eat kailan. yet he enjoyed it. wahaha! i shared with them this simple dish.

this is one of my favourite dish too. Braised pork. my brother-in-law enjoy it very much.

these are simple dishes bu may be a little time consuming. but it's a happy cooking when all enjoyed it, especially when M is a cook himself. errr... i forgot to take the soup... i forgot to our pictures too! alamak!

daddy buy mangoes. LC buy mangoes, E & E buy strawberries and grapes. we have so much fruits. wish my girl is here to share our fruits too.....  after dinner, my son fell asleep like a little piggy.....!

An accident

i have 2 guest coming for dinner tonite. i have antoher 2 relatives staying over my place. Last night, we had a really late nite til 4am. I woke up really late, but manage to do all the marketing for tonite's dinner and do preparations. But i only realise i forget one item . Hence i took my bicycle to the nearest provision shop, but before i could start i fell, and a great humpty dumpty fall. i was wet (morning had rain ) i was angry at myself. anyhow i went home to change and walk to buy. everything seem fine, then a old lady told me (just as i crossed the traffic.)
"there is an accident infront, terrible......" she was mumbling . i notice she is quite teethless
"huh?"
" a student was knock down by a car... terrible...."
i look where she pointed but see nothing, except a big bus at the bus stop with lots of students.
I continued walking, then i noticed the bus reversing, where i saw the scene. a taxi stopped in the middle of the road  and...there was a girl laying on the street. someone was making a call, someone was talking to her with 3 looking over. and people here and there. suddenly i recalled when my girl was hit by a van in London last year. my tear just flow , i could stop myself. she was fortunate to have a doctor around to help her. the girl was moving but the scene suddenly is so terribly scarely. its 2pm, but i felt it like so dark and errie.  i couldn't walk yet i dare not stop , my tears was just rolling down. imagine i am in Singapore, she is far away in London.
that very nite when she called, (it was late night in Singapore) , my heart just sink from my 8th floor down underground. she had just returned to London and such terrible happened. and for the next few days, i just doing everything wrong. i took the wrong bus, alight at wrong place, forget where i want to go,what i want to do, except for her to say yes. she wants to see me, she want me to take care of her for 2,3 weeks she let me fly. but she insist no. seriously i couldn't forgive myself, i would have just fly.
Though she seem fine now, but the fear is endless.
if only someone can tell me 'how to me a good mother'