CNY Eve

I had 2 rounds of reunion dinner for Chinese New Year as I also went to my cousin's place for dinner. This year it was slightly different. We are definitely moving away from the roasted duck, roasted chicken and roasted pork and the various cooked dishes. Usually there will be a mixture of those with steamboat.

However, it was steamboat and BBQ (we have an indoor hotplate for grilling/bbqing). And we didn't even have the usual bee hoon/noodles to cook. So there were abalone, scallops, prawns, chicken breast, beef slices, pork slices, fish slices, veggies, mushrooms (enoki and another Japanese mushroom which is smaller than a portobello) and sausages. We can't totally do away with the cooked stuff as my dad and uncle like that, so there was a dish of sea cucumber with pork and chicken curry. For dessert, there is home made dumplings with black sesame or peanuts stuffing cooked in peanut soup. The black sesame is much better as the peanut stuffing dumpling is too thick.

I didn't really eat much as my cousin and I were the designated grillers for the family. We were too busy cooking for the rest to really eat. Oh, and the soup is so tasty this year. Instead of the usual pork ribs/bones soup base, we used ikan bilis (anchovies) and fish bones to make the soup. The end result is so sweet and delicious.

I went over to my other cousin's place for the reunion dinner after the session at home. I am not sure when I started this, but I think it was after I came back from Canada, and I could finally drive. Reason for going over is cos they are like my family since I grew up with them and we considered each other more like brothers and sisters rather than cousins.

So onto round 2. My niece waited for me to start round 2 with her too. In the end, the boys also joined in, plus some of my other cousins. It was steamboat too. I just had a bowl of soup with mee tai mak (mouse tails) and some slices of fish, beef, fishball, crabmeat and veggies. Besides that, I also shared a slice of butter cake with fresh cream with my niece and had some of the new year goodies (e.g. pineapple tart, loveletter, sugee cookie...) The ultimate dessert was this chocolate fudge caramel chocolate shortcake. It is just so sweet and sticky and chewy. Absolutely sinful. Took a lot of willpower to say no to take some back. Hehe.

And now I am wearing my new Victoria's Secret chemise, all ready for bed. This is really comfy and feels so girly. Maybe it is because of the cotton material. Feeling so full and sleepy.

And it is 12midnight now, so Happy Lunar New Year to one and all. May the year of the Doggie bring lots of good fortune and prosperity and all good things.