Chinese New Year Eve 2010

Date: 13 February 2010, Saturday
Venue: Uncle's house
Occasion: Family gathering for Chinese New Year eve

What better way than to spend the eve of the new year with the family. It's not everyday that I get to sit down for a meal with my family, unlike many of my friends. Have we taken our family for-granted?

Simple home-cooked lunch
My mum cooked a simple lunch for the family. To me, it doesn't matter if we have loads of dishes or just 1 dish; what matter most is the time spent with my loved ones :)

Lunch was at home, while dinner was at my aunty Anne's place. This year, we decided to have a steamboat dinner instead of the usual pot-luck. On such a warm day, having steamboat is truly a "free sauna" experience!

Greens & Fungi

Unusual Sight

Mama pomelo with her little baby! SOOOO cute, right? Oh, it's indeed a time for family!

So long! *shocked*
I've no idea how my uncles & aunties wanted to eat this *sweat* My aunties were suggesting not to cut the veggie into smaller pieces! *gasp* can't imagine getting choked by the long stem* The entire veggie is longer than my neck+head!! I argued my way to cut the veggie into at least half the length...

Home-stuffed Dried Beancurd/Taufupok
My aunty Anne patiently cut & stuffed the dried beancurd before frying it for our steamboat :) *thumbs up!*

Aunties at Work
Mum, aunty Irene, & aunty Mary were busy peeling ginko/pak kor for the next morning's vegetarian dish. The dish is one of the many dishes at the top of my list.

Uncles at Work
Uncle Bob & uncle Chee Peng pouring the soup into the steamboat pot.

Cool Cousins
PerutBesi Ruth with her sister, Rach & 3 of her cousins at the dinner: Kris, Lynn, & Suk Harn

Baked-Reheated Dumplings
Aunty C.T. brought over some dumplings as starters. It actually tastes not too bad - tastes better when reheated in the oven than in the microwave oven.

Enjoying the Dumpling
Everyone was enjoying the delicious & warm dumplings, especially my sister! :P

Table 1 Digging into the Pot
At 6.30p.m. everyone was ready to dig into the hot pot of soup for their goodies. *scoop scoop!* Hungry uncles & aunties just started without their 2 other members (2 more stools vacant!)

Table 2
We haven't even started when table 1 started...wergh...but we were surely enjoying our meal no less :)

Happy Table 1

Beancurd & More
It's a very easy-to-prepare & easy-to-eat dinner. All you need to do is to wash the food items & throw them into the pot of soup to cook ;) Steamboat is best eaten during cold weather though...ahhh...

Prawn-Cooking
This is how you should cook your prawns when having steamboat - avoid over-cooking the prawns & lessen the hassle of fishing for your prawn among the mass of other food items in the pot.

Dinner for the Wongs is never complete without dessert. Somehow there will always be something for dessert; you'll find either fruits (if aunty Nga is around), tong sui, or kuih! This time around, aunty Mary made 2 of her many specialties: Kuih Talam & Kuih Koh Swee *yums!*

Home-Made Kuih Talam
A perfect marriage of slightly salty white coconut-milk top with sweet & pandan-fragrant kuih.

Home-Made Kuih Koh Swee
I love this best. Indulge into the small-cup-sized gula Melaka kuih, coated with grated coconut as the grand finale of your dinner! *high in sugar*

Red Bean Soup
If you think that the kuih was the peak of the night, check this one out! Like omg...how could anyone eat anymore?? I had to somehow eat this - at least ONE spoonful, so I shared one bowl with my mum. Aahhh... "yat lau"... splendid ... "ummphh" ... satisfactory ... *lip smacking*

What's better than home-cooked food??! Nothing beats it, man. I am the kinda girl who rather have plain home-cooked white rice with a happy & warm family than having a grand meal with strangers. How about you?

How was your CNY eve 2010?

Loving her family,
Ruth