Winter Solstice & Christmas 2011

Time really flies. In a blink of an eye, it's almost the end of year 2011 already! The family gathered recently on 22nd & 24th of December for two (2) of the "grandest" festivals/events for Chinese & Christians - Winter Solstice & Christmas.

Every year, without fail, the family will gather during Winter Solstice a.k.a. "Dong" for a meal together. This festival is the most important for Chinese as it is believed to be the actual 'Chinese New Year'. We usually have a pot-luck dinner, where each family will bring a home-cooked or signature dish to be enjoyed together. This year was no different.

Here's to share with all of you what we had on the "Dong" festival:

Roast Chicken with Stuffings & Sides from Merienda de Eva (courtesy of JL, who gave me the Groupon!)

It was quite yummy :) Thank goodness I ordered the chicken for this family gathering, lest my own family would not be able to finish this whole roast chicken ourselves! Good food is best enjoyed together with the rest of our family & friends.

Braised Chinese Cabbage & Dried Scallops

All my aunties are great cooks & each of them have their own speciality. This year, we had something different from aunty Jenny. Check out the load of scallops! Totally delicious!

Braised Chinese Black Mushrooms with Sea Cucumber in Superior Stock

Another delectable dish. Aiseh, I would wanna pick up some of these skills soon to pass on to future generations! *slurps*

Steamed Aubergines Topped with Sambal Belacan & Fried Shallots

If you love aubergines/brinjals & you enjoy spicy dishes, this was a thumbs-up as well :) Ah, I'm so blessed. Now you know why I can't loss weight effectively?

Home-Cooked Barbecue Pork/Char Siew

Yes, my family cooked this too!

Roast Duck from Loong Foong Restaurant, Paramount Garden

Roast duck from Loong Foong has been part of the menu pretty much at every festival/family gatherings every single year (as far as I could remember!). It's fragrant & tender, & the sauce is also consistently tasty.

Stir-Fried Cucumbers with Chicken Gizzard in Vinegar Gravy

I've no idea how to name this, but in Cantonese, we always refer to this dish as the "cheng gua shuen". The cucumbers & chicken gizzard are supposed to be still crunchy in a slightly sweet & vinegar-sour gravy. Yums! It's a family tradition for as long as I could recall as well ;) You'll notice the same dish in almost every festival post on my blog...heh.

Stir-Fried Mixed Vegetables with Prawns

With the load of meat that we have on the dinner table, vegetables are extremely essential!

Dig In!

Who won't be hungry with a table full of delicious home-cooked/bought food??!

Dessert: Yam Paste with Gingko

Every family gathering over dinner MUST be completed with desserts. We actually had some pineapples for dessert, but I didn't manage to capture them on photo :P I managed to capture this one though...it's a newbie to the family's tradition! Aunty LL & uncle Tony sure have a great deal of patience & talent in coming up with lip-smacking dishes, even desserts!

Must Have: "Thong Yuen"

Winter Solstice without the thong yuen would never be complete. Every year, I'll just eat as much as I could take in (after a HUGE meal for dinner!). However, I just realized that the amount we're supposed to eat = our present age. Ahahaha...seems like I'm only twelve years old this year! :D 

That's quite a lot of food, eh? :P We were really in an "eating mood". Our little Christmas Eve 'supper' didn't lose out as well!! To add to the "horror" (or perhaps blessing!), it was a 2 days gap of heavy/lavish meals. It was a so-called supper at my cousins' house, but it felt more like a late dinner since it started at 9:30p.m...haha...I need to loss weight!

Flower Arrangement on Tables

How cool is that, eh? :D Guess what's the "vase" in the first photo on the left! I'm sure some of you may not have seen it before!

Christmas is a Season for Giving - Door Gifts

Everyone who comes gets a lollipop to start/end the party in a sweet-er note :)

Gifts for the Gift-Exchange

Yes, we had a gift-exchange amongst family members on that night. I reckon there were almost 40 persons at the party!

Christmas Tree at my Cousins'

And this was 'supper'

We had pretty good nasi lemak with deep fried chicken packed from a nearby mamak in SS2.  

Are you hungry now? :D *crunch*

Red Velvet from Just Heavenly

This was said to be "the best" red velvet that you'll get in town. I was seriously too full to eat anything much, so I didn't have any desserts that night! :S

Home-Baked Christmas Themed Cupcakes

One of my cousins' aunt is a very passionate cook/baker. She came over with 3 different types of home-made desserts for this party wei... *fuh*

 Home-Baked Fruit/Raisin Butter Cake

See what I mean...they're not that easy to be made, are they?

Home-Made Konyaku Jelly with Longan

The 3rd type of dessert from the same aunt.

Juicy Cempedak

Juicy Red Rambutans from Ipoh

Everyone enjoying themselves at the party

Singing of Carols

As it's Christmas Eve, we gathered after dinner to sing some carols & usher in Christmas 2011 :)

Thanks to our great hosts (includes my aunt who isn't in the photo) for the party!

Tis the season to be eating...falalalala-lalalala...by the time we got home, it was Christmas Day already! Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

This year, I gave our more than 50 gifts & just like a kid, I'm SO thankful for the gifts that I received as well! :D

May the Light of the world continue to shine through your lives & give you a greater sense of hope, peace, & joy this Christmas & always :) God's greatest gift of Love is for you! Consider receiving His greatest gift in your whole lifetime!! God bless!

Hope all of you had a great & meaningful Christmas 2011!

Christmas without Christ isn't Christmas,