"HE HE HA HA"

Traditional dishes which symbolize good things must be eaten in the Cantonese family during the Lunar New Year.  It is a belief that good things in life such as health, wealth & happiness will come for the year.

Big prawns either steam or fry symbolizes happiness which represent laughter all year round.

TOSS ! TOSS ! TOSS !

First to consume is the Yue Sang, raw fish salad, the most important and traditional dish of the Lunar New Year.   This dish symbolizes all good things - happiness, health & wealth.  It is believed that the higher you toss the salad, the better luck you have.

SQUIDS

To prevent the squids from giving out too much water during cooking quick boil them in boiling water for 1/2 a min.  Squids are best cooked in sambal chillie though they are usually used to stir fry with vegetables.

Another way to prepare is to stuff the whole squid (small or medium size) with sambal mixture and bathe in sambal gravy.  The sensation of hotness explosion in your mouth is indescridable.

TARTS

The pineapple tarts baked out of recipe from Florence of blog "Do What I Like" is one of the best I tried so far.  As I find it a little on a dry side after baking I had added an extra 10gm of butter for 2nd bake.  The dough is easy to handle and the texture of the baked tarts is biscuit-like with lovely butter aroma.

You need :
340g plain flour
210g butter
2 tablespoons icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg yolk and
5 tablespoons ice water

Cut cold butter into small pieces and rub into flour mixture till crumpy
Add in egg yolk, vanilla extract and ice water
Mix till dough is formed

CHINATOWN

Busy! busy! busy!! Next Monday is Lunar New Year and there are many things still to be done.  Tarts and cookies already baked but still leave kueh lapis and radish cake to make.  How I wish there are more than 48 hours a day.   Despite the busyness managed to take a day leave to shop in Chinatown.

Things are cheap compare to last year due to poor economy and stalls are slashing prices to compete against each other.  Although retrenchment is in place after the Lunar New Year this did not temper the celebrating spirits.  It is quite crowded during the day and overwhelming as evening drawn.

BIRTHDAY DINNER

Celebrated a family birthday dinner on Saturday at Crystal Jade in Takashimaya - a favourite place for dim sum.  Best wishes for health and may achievements that you look forward will come true, with love and support from family.

A good start

The buns are soft and fluffy.  Filled with creamy lotus paste.

Meat platter with good selection of roast duck, char siew, suckling pig skins, soya-sauce chicken and jelly fish.

Deep fried nam-yu spareribs

Peking duck skin wrap

Fried beancurds with tenderly soft mushrooms and salted mustard leaves.

Stir fry duck meat with water chestnuts, pine nuts and crispy bee-hoon in lettuce wrap.  Crunchy and refreshing.

A must dish - longivity noodles perfectly cooked.   Chewy and springy.

Dessert to end the meal - mango mousse birthday cake.

MUSHROOM SALAD

Fresh porcini mushrooms fry with baby mushrooms and onions make a delicious side dish.  Fry onions and garlic over high heat till fragrant and add in tomatoes and mushrooms with seasoning & mirin sauce.

GRILLED CHICKEN WINGS

One of the favourite dishes - chicken wings marinated with soya sauce, ginger juice, oyster sauce, sugar, salt, pepper, sweet-plum sauce and honey.  Grill over high heat at 200 degree.  Glaze with honey when cooked and grill till wings are golden brown, pay careful attention so that it would not get burnt.

CHOCOLATE PUDDING

Warm chocolate pudding warm your heart especially during festive seasons.  You get to taste the warm sensuous flow of chocolate lava when it is eaten warm.  It pairs well with ice-cream and strawberry.

Put 250g butter and 250g chocolate (55% cocoa) into a double-boiler and cook over low heat until melt.   Stir well and set aside.

Beat 5 egg yolks, 4 eggs, 100g sugar, 1/2 tspn vanilla essence until fluffy.

Add melted chocolate, stir well and add 40g flour. Mix well.

Scoop chocolate batter into ramekins and bake for about 8 mins

Remove from tin and transfer to a serving plate and serve together with ice-cream

Best eaten warm.

The recipe is taken from the magazine "Se Xiang Wei" December issue, No.107 featuring Ms Irene Yip of Chef's Secret Cooking and Baking Centre

COFFEE CLUB

During the December school holiday I would usually take long leave and go shopping and feasting with the children.  One of the places that we visited was Coffee Club in Holland V.  The cafe is a 2-storey medium size shop house and it occupies both floor.

We were seated upstairs and started with refreshments

The green apple mint soda was refreshing and tangy.

The red berry tea was sourish and was served in a teapot.  It was refillable.

The black forest blend was delicious and alcohol content was quite high but infused with strong coffee aroma.  The drink was layered with black cherries.

The salmon pie was choked full of salmon and spinach.   It was accompanied by thick mushroom sauce and salad.  The pie was meltingly tasty.

The dory was fresh and tender.   It was lightly fried and top with crusted nuts and finely chopped vegetables.

The portion of each dish was large and left very little room for dessert.  We shared an apple crumble topped with ball of vanilla ice-cream and dark bitter chocolate.   The apples were soft and crumbs crispy.