Thursday 15 February 2018

Reunion Dinner 2018


My day was supposed to start at 4:00 am. But madam had no energy. So I stayed on in bed until 5:00am. I am not usually like that, alright? 

I don't know what's gotten into me but I was like, crap, the garden is a mess and I gotta get my act together. And it's already the eve. Gah!

So I did my workout (yeah, like so disciplined) and then I went outside to shift the mess from the right side of the car porch to the left. Genius.

Then I did some clean up which involved me spraying water on the car porch to get rid of the dirt and grime that had been collecting since the last Chinese New Year. Hah!


Then it was kitchen duty, peeling and slicing onions...


.... chopping garlic and .....


..... seasoning some chicken thighs. No, no, obviously I am not cooking Chinese food. This is fulfilling mum's request for Moroccan Chicken.


I fried 12 chicken thighs. There are 8 of us and I remember grandma always said that it is better to have more food than not enough.


Then it was all action in my beautiful blue pot.


Is that gorgeous of what?

Then before 4pm as I was getting out of the shower, the doorbell rang. My brother (the other one) invaded my kitchen to prepare his salad dressing. He also brought along mutton curry for the dinner.


Hello bro. What happened to your kitchen? Well, apparently the MIL is in the house and he didn't want to freak her out. 

So there he was chopping garlic while I went upstairs to get dressed. Then he asked for vinegar and all I had (besides apple cider vinegar) was balsamic.

And then he left. So madam was left to finish up some prep before dinner at 7:00pm. Lets see what was on the table.


Mum contributed sambal pork belly with petai. It was awesome! 


This is the mutton curry my brother brought over earlier. Delicious!


A big bowl of my brother's salad tossed in his special dressing. Yummeh!


Madam's Moroccan Chicken. This one I cannot comment.


Madam's simple acar of Japanese cucumbers and sliced onions.


As you can see, this year it was potluck which I think is a good idea. Division of cooking duties or even tapau duties hee..hee...

I was lazy and did not prepare desserts. Then while everyone was settling down after dinner, my niece complained that she was hungry. Haiks! You just ate, young lady!

The only thing that I could offer her were chocolate chip cookies from my freezer. Yes, that one.


There goes my stash of cookies. Time to bake more, eh? I was glad to see my niece enjoying the cookies. My nephew took some too and my brother had only one.

My foodie brother was too stuffed for cookies, mum was having tooth issues and dad took one. My sister-in-law, who is on diet, exercised her will power not to have any. Jia you!


Until there was a lone cookie left. Don't ask me what happened to it :)

Everyone left before 11:00pm and here I am typing this post (after more cleaning up).

Let's see what happens tomorrow.

24 comments:

  1. Wow looks very delicious, happy cny to you and your family ph

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    1. Gong Xi Fa Cai to you and your family too, Libby!

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  2. Wah! Sounds like everyone had fun eating at the reunion dinner - very good! Your mom brought her sambal petai dish all the way from home? Your baked goods in your freezer saved the day. Gong Xi Fa Chai! Happy CNY to you and your family!

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    1. Eating is always fun hee..hee... Mum's sambal flew with her all the way from Terengganu! Happy CNY to you and your family too!

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  3. Hi PH, Happy Chinese New Year to you. Those dishes though unconventional for reunion dinner but sure looked yum. Any chance your brother can share the mutton curry recipe?:-)

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    1. Hello dear! I just rescued your comment from the spam box. I don't know how it got there. Happy New Year to you too!

      The mutton curry was bought from a restaurant hah..hah.. But I will be looking into mutton curry recipes to share :)

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  4. What a delicious meal to enjoy with family! I'm always happy when my freezer stash of cookies is gone as it means I get to bake something new :)

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    1. I am at the ready to replenish my supplies hee..hee...

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  5. Yum yummmm!!! Next year you have to cook more cos I'm dropping by! :D

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  6. I'm impressed! Reunion dinner was just over & your post is up so fast. Happy CNY, my dear! xoxo

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  7. 5am is my usual start time. It's the only way I can squeeze all of my commitments into a single day. If I ever sleep in I feel guilty that I've lost time. I dream of sleeping in daily, however, just until the sun rises.

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    1. Ah! You sound like me. I dislike getting up late. It upsets me when my schedule does not go according to plan. I do sleep in sometimes, only weekends.

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  8. Lovely meal. You prepared them with love. I also clean like crazy yesterday and some more still recovering from my sickness. Thank God I am feeling better today.

    Gong xi fa cai to you and family.

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    1. Gong Xi Fa Cai to you and your family too. Glad that you are feeling better today.

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  9. Indeed a very "unique" reunion dinner :P But food really doesn't matter, the people you eat with is more important.
    PH, wishing you and your family Gong Xi Fa Cai!

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    1. How true. Gong Xi Fa Cai to you and your family too, Choi Yen!

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  10. You have so many celebrations!i admire your blue pot!

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    1. Yes, my blue pot is so lovely, right? LOL!

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  11. One of the best CNY dinner! Every dish looks delicious!

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  12. It's Chinese New Year but the dishes don't seem to be what we'd usually eat at a Reunion Dinner (you know, with auspicious-sounding ingredients)...hah...hah..but that's alright, it's the getting together that counts. But then you and your family has always been different from the norm...hehe! ;)

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    1. Yeah, we are so different hee..hee...

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