Reunion Dinner

I am just too lazy to read. The mind doesnt seem to settle down after the long holidays. I guess, I will need sometime to bring my heart and soul back to Singapore. The first thing I got when I set my foot onto this foreign land (Singapore) is the phone call from Peace *_* asking me for a movie. But I was too tired for movie since I have not been sleeping well for the one whole week. Kor tot na ka~

Every year I celebrated the Chinese New Year as my last. Therefore, each year there is always something new. I was appointed as chef again this year though I didnt cook all the dishes but 1/3 was done by me. This year was the first time where I did the partial ingredients purchasing. The night before, daddy, mommy, didi and me went for some ingredients purchasing at carrefour and wet market. Carrefour was packed with people regardless the race. That's the benefits living in multiracial country. You get discounts all year round for each festive season. Hahaha. It was 11pm and it was getting crowded. However, unable to get the ingredients there cos most of it was taken. So lesson learnt is never go to the market when the festive season is drawing very near...

Therefore, we changed our destination to another wet market near the old Perintis bookstore (this is where I got most of my reference books) Miss those times. Got some ingredients from here and it's already 12am when we are about to depart. Still unable to get all the ingredients needed for the reunion dinner. So mommy asked me to get them the next morning. Aiks it's tiring. Slept at 2am. Yawn~~ ^o^

Woke up at 6plus in the morning to get the rest of the ingredients. Hmm.. looks quite at the place where we got our pork from our old pork seller. We have been patroning him since I was bout 7 or 8 years old. While daddy is chatting I snap a few photos of the MUST HAVE things during Chinese New Year. First in the pic is the "Year cake" literally translated from "Nian gao" in mandarin. It's a must have because Chinese believed that when you eat this cake, children will grow tall each year cos "gao" has the same pronounciation as tall. Whereas for those adult who has stepped into working world, this is to bring good luck and gets promotion each year.

Then, you will have "Fa gao" (some sort of cake-not sure what that called in English) wrapped in plastic bags. Another MUST HAVE cos they will bring you wealth and richness in your family. Cant remember the meaning of pomelo (green) though. Hmmm....not sure what it signifies. Must go back and ask again. Sometimes they will have yellow pumpkin at home during chinese new year to represent gold (wrapped in pink). Gold is also represented by the mandarin oranges (in cantonese, mandarin oranges is known as "kam" which has the same pronounciation as gold) that you eat during chinese new year. So eating mandarin oranges means eating gold.
Of course must have the 7 colours flowers. Some people offered them to the deities. Not sure why. But all I know is 7 colours flowers washes away the bad luck when bath with them =D. I did this during the first day of chinese new year. Pray that better is to come for this coming year. Yooosh!! Way to go girl!!

It was still dark when daddy drove me to another small market. It was located somewhere in Taman Batu Pahat, I think. To get the rest of the ingredients. See how crowded the market is.

Going to the biggest wet market in Batu Pahat. The sun is out when we are departing towards the next destination.

Just see how crowded this place is. It was only 8am and the market (pasar in Malay) is soo crowded). Gosh...

Here, we get our final ingredients from this market. It was leeks, which it was nowhere to be found in other small markets. "Pasar pagi" means morning market in Malay. The vegetables sellers are nice people. When they are not selling a particular type of vegetables, they will direct you to other stalls to get. People in small towns are still nice people. YOu can touch even tough you are not buying it. No harm asking things that you dont know. I feel so much bless that I was brought up in a small town and in a below middle income family. I learnt to appreciate things more. Thanks again Mommy and Daddy! Muacks!!

Got home at about 10am together with the breakfast and the ingredients. Feel so great! Enjoy the pasar trip as I learnt a lot. Not only in buying vegetables but asking for discounts as well. Hahahaha becoming more and more like aunty (for middle age full time housewife). *fainted*

OK this year, instead of making sushi like last year, I will be making my favourite food which is Chinese Dumplings. First I have to knead the flour. See acting cute before I start my dough making. Hehehe.

The dough was made from flour. I added hot water little by little into the flour so that it will be completely mixed. Knead it for about 30-40minutes to get it done. I used a glass bottle to make the dumpling skin. This dumpling is made from a mixture of meat, water chestnuts, leeks (all are finely chopped). Easiet way is to use blender to blend meat and water chestnuts so that they are properly minced. For the seasoning, just added soya sauce, salt and sesame oil to taste. Wrapped the mixture and make any designs as you like. Sadly, I only know one design. Hehehehe...

Tada~~ here goes the dumplings and other dishes. Other 5 dishes includes 2 green vegetables, one sea cucumber, one pork liver and one japanese curry (I made them too...yay!! That's why I said 1/3 is contributed by me)... Feel so proud of myself!! Hehehe... Daddy said the dumpling taste not too bad. But didi said the dumpling skin are too think. Will do improvement next time!!! Yay... finally able to make dumpling. Yes!!

This is the feast that we had. We had our reunion dinner at about 4-5pm. Feel so full. Unable to finish the dishes. So mommy said it's a waste of food. Next year no more reunion dinner at home. We will eat out. However, I enjoyed this home-cooking reunion dinner ^_^ cos it really enhances the family bond. Just by making them together. Love it!! I wonder how the reunion dinner looks like when I am able to get married later. Hmm... I really wonder..