Cashew Nuts - Wok Roasted

One of the CNY favourite snack is the cashew nuts. I bet any house with trays of cookies and nuts displayed, it's always the almond, cashews of pistachios that's a favourite and it goes well with beer, tea or soft drinks.

I waited till CNY was over to wok-roast the nuts. We had far too many snacks then and I'm glad that my table is almost clear now. I gave away lots of cookies and snacks to the neighbours and gardener.

Ok, back to the cashews. Here's how I did mine.

Wok-roast with sea salt

Pour sea salt over cashew and  fry on medium heat.

Stirring very frequent to avoid overburning

 Fry till cashew turns light golden colour

Sift away salt.

 Cool at room temperature and store in jars.

Now, isn't this a healthier way to gobble those yummylicious nutritious packed cashews ?  :D

Lion Dance Extravaganza

This year beats the previous years. We've seen so many lion dance performance. First was the lion dance at Chinatown, then a week later, we caught another performance at Pavilion and Lot 10...

... and there's another lion dance at the neighbour's house on Day 2

... and another at a relative's house on Day 4

... but the most interesting one had to be at the TTDI  market last Sunday.

We've been following the TTDI lion dance since last year and we heard this year's gonna be a 'big one' with an acrobatic performance, thanks to advance notice from Annie Q. Woke up early and moved our butt to TTDI market.

I'll let the photos do the talking here :

 

the ensemble for acrobatic performance.

the troupe

Hubs caught a few nice shots of the prancing lions :

.

 

The girl, Ashley and Amber,  had a whale of a time with the lions.. watch out, these 2 have potential to form their own troupe.

Then came the indoor performance at the foyer of the market but not before blasting 8 strings of firecrackers. Watch the sequence :

 

 Ready

 

RUN !!!!!!!!

bing bing bang bang,bing bing BANG !

so loud, we had to plug our ears !!!

The indoor stint

Kissing lions ! cute :)

 

"Thou" - Rabbit in Chinese character

The lion presents a platter to the organizers

and we get lucky mandarins !

A photo of us ladies and kids crazy enough to spend 5 hours of a Sunday to catch the lion dance extravaganza.. Patsy and Tessa, Barbara and Ashley, Annie with Fearles and Cruz , Amber and yours truly.

 

The day gets more interesting as Ashley and Amber aspires to be lion dancers. Here they are saddling on their poor daddy's shoulders doing the lion thingy

Then the third and final performance was at the meat section.

Erm.. I think Ashley and Amber has what it takes to start a mini lion dance club. Just look at them :

Barb, we should have asked the sifu if he's willing to take our girls in as disciples. Anyone interested to send their kids to lion dance ?? Perhaps they can earn us some $$$$ next CNY. hahahahahaha **wishful thinking**

 Annie's hubs was ready to launch some cannon confettis with Fearles and Cruz !

and sent Tessa, Amber and Ashley running to grab strings and ribbons from the confettis.

 

Confetti's galore !!!

 

and it all ended with a 4-string firecrackers. We almost got caught in the fireworks mayhem as they lighted the fireworks without any warning.. we all ran helter skelter... looking for a way out before our eardrums burst.. boy.. it was nothing but FUN !!!!

The aftermath !!

bye bye lion dance... we'll be back in 2012.. the Year of Dragon !!

Today marks the last day of CNY celebrations - Chap Goh Mei.
Wishing everyone Chu Ru Ping An  &  Shen Di Jien Kang !

CNY Reunions and such

My friends commented I have a very 'happening' and 'busy' CNY. Busy it is, and yes, it's happening too. No excessive drinking, binging or gambling - pua kiaw BUT... we try to catch up with family, relatives and friends as much as possible. Nothing could be more important than family ties and friendship rekindled in this festive season over a glass of wine or two. Most of us let's busy-ness dictate our daily routines and CNY is the time to take a deep breath and put our holds down, for a glass of wine.. or two :)

The in laws, nieces and nephews came over on Saturday night for another reunion. We can hardly count the number of times in a year that we actually get together so a gathering at our place makes it a reunion. Although the nieces were late, they made it nonetheless. One niece had to attend a wedding dinner and another niece runs a mobile phone shop and Saturday is a busy day. By the time they wrap up the business for the day and rush over to our home, it's almost midnight. Again, better than never and sincerity counts. We welcome them with open arms. I cooked da usual jazz - hokkien noodle, waxed meat rice, curry chicken and guai ling koa for all.

 

The kids only started playing fireworks at 1am !!

 

 The bottles we uncorked :

We are blessed with  a long break this CNY and the time is well spent with what matters most - our family members and dear friends :)

Day 4

 On Day4, we had breakfast with Annie and the boys at a mamak at Bangsar. Hubs liked the roti and dhal so much and has been requesting to go there again since.

 

After breakfast, we went to 3rd Aunt's house at Jinjang for lunch.

Amber loves dogs and she played with Chiro. Amber kept tickling Chiro until Chiro had to hide under the chair and away from Amber. We had a good laugh.

 

One sad thing to note on Chiro. She had a playmate - Aibo- a black Chow Chow. Aibo is my aunt's beloved and sleeps on the floor in my aunts room. This year Aibo is missed. She passed away a few months back when the new Cambo maid accidentally closed the car door when Aibo climbed in. She left the locked in the car and out in the hot afternoon sun. Aibo passed out and the family was in tears when they found Aibo. The maid was sent back to the agent immediately and poor 4th Aunt, she could no longer trust maids.The house was a lot more quiet without Aibo's exciting bark.

Anyways, 4th aunt cooked a storm. She makes hakka char yoke exactly like how my grandma used to do.

 

We had visitors in the afternoon, ES and his family. We shared a bottle of Carruades de Lafite

 

In the evening, we went to hubs' cousin's open house at Damansara Lagenda. Cosy, great food and hospitality and we had another up, close and personal encounter with the lion dance troupe.

We left early and rushed to another gathering with my schoolmates at Ei Leen's house at Setia Alam. Although late, it's better than never. The kids had a blast, playing hide and seek at Ei Leen's new home while the parents indulged in cold beer, keropok and chitter chatter.

and that marks the end of an almost weeklong holiday. Monday was back to the grind,, waking up early to a long snarling traffic to work ....

What We've Been Up To This CNY, Day 1 - 3

Time flies and we already in Day 12 of the new lunar year.

We try to fulfill as many gatherings, reunions and open houses as possible as we believe this is the time and season to catch up with old friends, schoolmates and relatives.

We had our reunion dinner and with customary dishes and since we only cook some the dishes once a year, this is the time to indulge.

 

Steamed waxed meat with nga-ku, sweet and sour pork ribs, stewed duck, steamed kampung chicken, braised chi-ku, roast pork, mixed vege, braised sea cucumber and abalone soup. Lots of work to prepare the dishes and we are very lucky, the househelper is willing to work on the eve and cook us a storm.

After dinner, BIL will decorate the house with new lunar year banners and stick a rabbit poster on the main door.

One Day 1, we'll wake up for our customary brunch :

 

Hinghwa soh-meen with fishballs, maw and abalone slices.  This is a traditional dish that the inlaws will indulge in on new lunar year, mid autumn and winter solstice festival. We are only back for the new lunar year and therefore, this is a once in a year dish for us. Amber loves it and she had 5 fishballs and half a bowl of noodle. 

After brunch, we'll dress the kids up in traditional cheong sam. BIL #2 got the nieces identical chiffon cheong sam.

 

Nice ? I think they look cute :D

 

 

We'll pai-nien at eldest BIL's house before noon. Eldest SIL is goes vegetarian for half a day and we'll all binge on her wide selection of cookies. Eldest SIL  & BIL will go back to the inlaws to have their serving of customary Hinghwa soh-meen. Hubs sister and her family will arrive from KL and join them for 2nd round of soh-meen.

 

Later part of the afternoon, we will all leave for Malacca for a complete reunion dinner at New Lagoon, Melaka Raya. I call it 'reunion' as hubs sis and her family will join us and the whole Ong clan will have dinner together. For the past umpteenth years, we'll catch a new year movie after dinner. This has been a family tradition too but this year, we decided not to go join the long queue at cinemas. The family went home and hubs and I went to Jonker Street to meet Chew Lee and her family.

 Malaika and Amber was born on the same day. Interesting eh ? Malaika was so sweet and adorable, she was looking forward to meet Amber but Amber took some time to warm up to her.

 

 

Malaika could indulge in ice cream but Amber, who's allergic to dairy, indulged in ice cubes :D

On Day 2, activities slowed down. Hubs met up with his school mates, MIL went to her brothers, BIL#3 went to her in-laws and we too, packed for home after lunch. 

 

 

A smooth and safe jouney home, lucky us, no traffic jam unlike previous years, where Day 2 is packed with cars along the north south highway

I went back home to fathers and brought him to visit my aunt and had dinner together

On Day 3, we visited hubs friend, Mr Lau, who helped us plenty when we were renovating our new home. Hubs had been wanting to visit him and this year, we could spare some time (4 days off -- that's a luxury for us). Hubs and I was thinking of transforming our backyard to a wet laundry area and we consulted him for some advise.

Since we were already in Cheras, I visited my schoolmate Jo. She's in town this new year as her dad is ill.

 

We stayed on for another session of loh-sang and lunch. Chatted while the kids played. Her maid cooked an eggless noodle for Amber.

 

Amber and Sherry having lunch and played princess and sorts while we chatted.

The cool pre-CNY days was coming to an end and Day 3 was scorching hot. Amber couldn't wait to hop in to the fridge for a chilling blast and I caught her like this :

 

We visited another friend, ES and his family, then went home to my dad's for dinner and later in the evening, visited my Taman Tun aunty.

Hectic day ?

You bet.. but CNY is all about catching up with friends and the older folks