reflections of cny 2013

What joy - my eventful CNY this year was a far cry from my previous one where i was imprisoned in my own home through my struggles of The Great Confinement. -.-

Anyway, here're just little snippets of my CNY 2013 ...

Finally got the chance to dress our lil prince in this pearly white Chinese traditional wear that i bought from Hanoi sometime back. Well as you can see, the pants was way too long for him, but i loved the silk top though. Perfect for a first day of visiting the elderly....and collecting red packets, of course!

CNY is all about dressing up in RED, and all the better if Man Utd had won a match the night before.
Like father,...

...like son lor.

During great-grandma's house visitation, Darren is forced to go 'bottomless' as grandma beh-ta-han with the lengthy pants and just had to shorten the hem.

"shy-la"

Darren got to hang out with cousin Tristan.

Tristan got to hang out with cousin Darren.

Darren made a new friend by the name of Samuel, a cute talkative 5-year old nephew of my colleague, Jin. Much to his chagrin, Samuel was so hoping that Darren would jump out of this chair and run around with him. lol. Next year, Samuel.....next year.

Back in Malacca, it was nice to see Robert (friend of uncle's, from US) has come to visit again this year.
And let's not forget my nephew Dave who would never let a stranger carry him. Hence, you can see how precious this photo is, nevermind that no one was looking at the camera.

Everyone looks forward to the most important thing during CNY - the FOOD, glorious FOOD!
The eating frenzy starts right from the customary CNY eve reunion dinners......(if you don't count chowing down those CNY cookies even before CNY starts!)

My home-cooked reunion dinner at Imbi was so fanciful and complete, they even made a "Four-Season" platter. So cool or what?!

With so much meat going around, the words 'guilty' and 'glutton' just do not jive well with CNY - thank God i was wearing a stretchable dress!

By the way, i'm a sucker for fatt-choy (it's the dish below where you see those black moss shrouding the button mushrooms) so that's an A+ for dinner!

And of course, no one escapes the "Prosperity Toss" (lo-hei) of CNY. I may have tossed 7 times this year, but here were my fave 2 ......

from Ah Yat Abalone Forum 

from the House of Imbi (by invitation only) ..haha

This year, we did something we would never think of doing - buy an entire roast pig and a duck (as companion) for RM 228+ (promo), and dig into them with a dozen other mouths.

Food plays such an important role of bringing family and friends together. And start them from young too!

I see RED, i see good fortune and success!!

I see SNAKES. In fact,  i see a two-headed snake!
(waitaminute, none of us was in the pic,.....shucks, must have been occupied with Darren)

Rowdiest lou sang crowd ever! When you have 30-odd people trying to dig their chopsticks into the dish, you end up with layers of people dropping bits of yee-sang on your head!

CNY also marked a double celebration for those whose birthday falls during this auspicious period.
Like for a colleague of mine, Li Kuen....

the loveliest bunch of underwriters!

..and my big sista, Millie!
Dave's just practising blowing the candle for his soon-to-come 2nd birthday cake.

The very unique custom-made (or rather custom-arranged) birthday cake(s) ...

They're from Secret Recipe, of course!
How many of the 12 flavours do you recognise? ^^

Mind-boggling question after candle-blowing....

Trust me, it wasn't easy making sure everyone got to taste all 12 flavours of the cake!


CNY is a time when famous Chinese restaurants in town are bound to be fully packed.
This year, i brought Darren to Grand Imperial in Bangsar...

...for a gathering with some uni mates whom i've not seen in ages. It was simply awesome to be in touch again.

CNY draws to a close on its 15th day - which is considered as the Chinese Valentine's Day.
Gone are the long holidays - back to reality. Why do we always feel so tired after the CNY holidays, and that's even before starting work!

Even Darren is all worn out.

Till next year, here's to a robust Snake Year to all!

tau sar piah with a twist

Guess what?

Kaya puff?

Wrong!

Ever heard of Chicken Floss Tau Sar Kok?

Yup, that's the usual green bean filling with a touch of chicken floss!
Eaten fresh, it is super crispy on the outside and super flavoursome on the inside.

 No doubt in my mind that it's a must try if you're down in Malacca (by the way, it's non halal)

Go to the factory cum shop directly and grab a pack of 5 for RM 4. Call ahead if you're planning to get very greedy with your purchase. Coz they make a limited amount per day in order to retain its level of freshness!

 Yet another worthy original from hometown Malacca... ^^

makan at mikan

Yet another Japanese restaurant which has had rave reviews written about it - I just had to give this a try. 

 It was lunchtime on a weekend, but with only two tables occupied, the atmosphere was certainly one where you could hear a pin drop. Even if you couldn't hear it, one of the many waitresses just standing gawking at you would certainly rush to pick it up for you.

It was so serene, one could certainly look forward to a quiet and peaceful meal here.

 Or maybe it's only like this on weekends?

Anyway, here's what we selected...

AWESOME and FLAVOURSOME!

tastes as FRESH as it looks!

LOVED this too!

loses out to even Sakae SuShi's version

Looks and tastes great...juicy and tender!

least fave as i dun like crabsticks!

choc reigns over the vanilla

 Overall, i had a great time dining here....most commendable for its freshest ingredients and beautifully prepared and garnished dishes.

Judging from the prices of their sets....

Yes, yes ..it's on the slightly pricey side but still, i was glad to have savoured the taste of The Land of the Rising Sun at this very specialised restaurant.

For all its worth, at least there's no queue outside the restaurant and you'll very easily find this place inside Maju Junction - look for their huge signboard with the name 'MIKAN' in Chinese.

cny at the ming room

The Ming Room Restaurant in Bangsar Shopping Centre offers its exclusive gourmet sets this CNY. As part of the Oriental Group of Restaurants, i was confident they wouldn't fail to impress.

Our lunch course started off with the customary Yee Sang topped with Soft-Shelled Crab - which i have no picture of, due to everyone's eagerness of tossing the Yee Sang once it was served.
Anyway, not one of the best Yee Sangs i've tasted...wished there was more pomelo bits, but since i'm a sucker for soft-shelled crab, all was not lost. ^^

Next was the Braised Shark's Fin Soup with Assorted Seafood in Coconut. Very authentic but a bit too much for my liking as i was stuffed after finishing the entire coconut-ful of soup!

BBQ Whole Suckling Pig with Butterfly Buns...
Here, we were only allowed to eat the skin as the meat will be used to prepare the Deep Fried Piglet Meat with Salt and Pepper, a dish that would be served later on. Looking at this picture, what can i say but poor lil piggy....the skin on its own wasn't remarkably tasty, wished there were a little meat/ fat stuck to the skin.

This is Braised Whole Abalone with mushroom and beancurd - aweeeeesome!! (took the abalone too!) haha

Yin Yang Pomfret - didn't managed to see how the whole fish looked like, before it was served onto individual plates.

Last but not least, Braised Ee-fu Noodles with Tiger Prawns - very good noodle dish with plumpy fresh prawns.

Dessert was Double-boiled Honey Dew with White Fungus, but wait a minute, where was the honey dew? hmmm...other than that, just a typical chinese sweet dessert.

This was accompanied by a sweet pairing of Chilled Osmanthus Jelly and Sesame Glutinous Ball, both the perfect ending to a sumptuous CNY meal!

For a refreshing change, we got a complimentary fresh fruit platter as well!

Festivity menus like this leave you with a full belly, but they always cost a bomb, don't they?
The one you just saw was priced at RM 1,188++/table!
And sure, of course it was sponsored!


Since i'm no millionaire, for now, a RM 33 Yee Sang for 10 pax will have to do.

Happy Chinese New Year to you and your loved ones.....HUAAATT arrrr...!