Sunday 7 February 2016

Chinese New Year Reunion 2016


The dinner is done, food eaten, lots of leftovers and after my family left for the evening, I spent a good hour or two washing up and packing up the excess food. Everyone seemed happy with what I cooked except me.

Let me continue from where I left off yesterday. After I was done with the cleaning it was time to relax. I needed to wind down after the drama with the broken cake and broken tap. After a simple dinner, I parked myself on the sofa with the air conditioner on full blast. I watched some TV and then my mind was drawn to something. This.


In times of stress, I stuff my face with Pringles. It's better than Prozac. I ate the whole canister and heck, it was so good. Then I whacked 3 mandarin oranges and took 2 capsules of probiotics so that the little critters can work on the fiber. Am I being gross? Then I went to bed.

I woke up at 4am and after last evening's transgression I had to work out. I probably burned only 5 chips.


After all that jumping, it was time to prep for tonight's dinner. The beef curry was taken out to defrost.


Since my sister-in-law and my nephew and niece do not take beef, I had to cook some chicken for them. I decided on Ayam Masak Merah, something I have not previously attempted. Bad idea. Never cook something untested if you are going to serve it at a dinner party. Chances are you will mess up. I got the spice paste ingredients ready before I went to Aeon to shop for some chicken and other stuff.


I dropped by Cold Storage first to browse since they open at 9:30am. I found this. Crocodile meat. Seriously? No, that wouldn't do for the reunion dinner.


Then I made my way to Aeon. I had to be early because I knew there would be a crowd. I just wanted to grab what I wanted and get the hell out of there. As I was walking to Aeon, I felt my bladder getting full. I already went twice before I came out. I think I have a prostate problem. Hang on a second. I don't have a prostate.


See? Many people are already waiting outside Aeon. Drat. I can't afford to go to the toilet at this rate.


The roller shutter started to open. I was ready to make a dash.


And then it shut down again. Somebody must have pushed the wrong button.

When it finally decided to roll up again, me and a few eager shoppers just ducked and made a dash inside. Cucumbers. Where are the cucumbers? They were nowhere to be found and I was feeling suffocated from the growing number of shoppers.

So I just grabbed some from the organic section. I also picked up some salad leaves, tomatoes, lemongrass, smoked duck and chicken. By 10:20am I was out of there. Speediest grocery trip ever. And I was feeling pressure from my bladder. I just had to suck it up and hold till I got home. At the escalator, I wanted to run but it's very hard to run when you need to pee. Right, Lina?

When I got home, I dropped the groceries and did what I had to do. Then it was all systems go in the kitchen. This was what I served for the reunion dinner tonight.

Nasi Tomato

Kuzi Daging (Beef Kuzi). It tasted funny to me.
Failed Ayam Masak Merah.
Acar Timun
I was not happy with the beef curry because it tasted vastly different from what I had cooked previously. But my mum and my brothers told me it was good. The Ayam Masak Merah was a disaster. Too much ginger, too little garlic and the taste was off. This warrants another attempt. I must nail it!

This Poon Choy came courtesy of my brother and sister-in-law. Cost them quite a bit, RM400 I think.


It came in a pretty insulation bag. Inside were scrumptious treasures.


That's just the top layer. There were many goodies underneath.

There was a lot of food and naturally there was quite a bit of leftovers. Initially, I wanted to toss the beef curry but my mum asked me to freeze for her to take home to Terengganu. I tossed the Ayam Masak Merah because it was beyond redemption.

Opps! It's almost midnight and I have to get some shut eye. Tomorrow I am hosting lunch and I better get some rest. Good night!

18 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting this immediately after your reunion dinner for I have to stay up all night as per tradition to prevent the nien monster from eating my loved ones so I have to go blog hopping to keep me awake.

    I can't comment on why you felt that your dishes were not good when your family says they are good. The photos look great. To me, they look good since I like almost all kinds of curry (if they are mild ones and not too salty).

    I won't have the energy as you to buy the ingredients on the same day you are going to cook them. I know some people have stocked up their raw ingredients for reunion dinner a few days before. Wah you are a risk taker, to hold it and not go to the toilet when the urge was there. If you had to go in the car, then how? So risky but luckily you did it! Hold it in successfully till you get home.

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    1. This is the first time I hear about the nien monster! I was so tired I slept so soundly and luckily the nien monster didn't visit hah..hah...

      I didn't have a choice because my plan to go shopping earlier was spoiled by the kitchen disaster.

      I think I have a strong bladder hahahaha!!

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  2. Happy & Blessed Chinese New Year 2016 to you, Phong Hong. Lol! If my bladder is full, I wouldn't be able to concentrate on my shopping.

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    1. Hi Nancy! Gong Xi Fa Cai! LOL! I had no choice but to shop.

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  3. keong hee huat chye....your nasi tomato looks like nasi minyak....sedap

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    1. Keong Hee Huat Chye! It's quite similar to nasi minyak. Smells the same too.

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  4. Aiya at least you still managed to serve dinner lah. Reunion dinner is all about the company and not so much the food, although the food is a nice bonus lah. When I read the title of your previous blog post, I thought something much more horrible happened. Compared to what the Taiwanese are going through now, a broken cake, broken tap and not-so-good ayam is small case lerr...

    Hopefully you'll do better with the lunch today anyway. Gong Xi Huat Cai to you and family! :D

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    1. I guess you are right. I shouldn't make such a big deal out of it. The main thing is that I had my parents, brothers and family under one roof. It was fun :)

      Lunch was better today but not without some hiccups hee..hee... Gong Xi Fa Cai to you and your family too!

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  5. Hi Phong Hong,
    Gong Xi Fa Cai !
    The food and pen cai looked yummilicious.
    This year, I'm no stress, just be a kitchen helper as MIL take charge of the reunion dinner food when we have our celebration in Malaysia.
    There's bound to have leftover and non-stopped feasting during CNY !

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    1. Hi Karen! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

      Well, lucky you hah..hah.. Hope you had a great CNY with your family!

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  6. Lovely! We did not cook our own, were invited to join my in-laws. Used to be nicer when my MIL was fit and able, my SIL's cooking not as great but it was ok, nice too.

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    1. I hope your SIL doesn't read this hah..hah... Just kidding :)

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  7. From the pics, all the dishes looked good. I'm sure your family is very appreciative that you cooked all those dishes irrespective of the taste. But I do agree with you as to not cooking something you've not cooked before...it's usually a disaster at first try (as my previous experience had taught me too...hehe!) :D

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    1. Well, thanks hee..hee... I used to do trial runs before the actual date but this time, there was simply too much to do.

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  8. Salute you for all the dishes that you cooked, if me, i peng san liao...

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  9. Hey next time you host lunch, I wanna go over and eat them too! Boleh!
    You are so cute to jump and exercise. I wonder how much calories I could burn from jumping too. I am seriously into burning all my CNY fats now. Sobs!!

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    Replies
    1. I know...the fats....that's my post-CNY blues hah..hah...

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