Yes that is the sound of Chinese New Year besides the very familiar “piang piang boom and bang” of fire crackers and fireworks. It had been a couple of years since all my children were all home together to celebrate this auspicious day. Our home was filled with joy and laughter and there were lots of catching up to do. The meals were long, yummy and chatty. This photo was taken on the first day of the Chinese New Year (10th Feb.) with all of us in red because it is a good colour. My Family ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden ) The fun actually starts on the eve of the new year and for lunch we had a simple meal of homemade tagliatelle bolognese. This is the first time I made pasta and it turn out well. Err…Yes I know it is Italian, we like Italian and we wanted something light and it was a good choice and easy to prepare. Homemade ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden ) For the reunion dinner, it is customary to have an animal each that represent the sky, earth and ocean. A fowl to represent the sky, pork for the earth and fish for the sea. Most people would have more than one dish of each like for example like a chicken and a duck dish, fish, prawns and sea cucumber and so on. My mum used to have no less than 8 dishes and sometimes after dinner she would remember that there was one or two more dishes that she forgot to take out! Becky prepared the Yee Sang, steamed white pomfret with garlic oil and the mixed veggies. Yee Sang is a dish that is only available in the restaurants during Chinese New Year. When Yee Sang is eaten, the ritual is to toss the ingredients high in the air with a shout of "Loh Hey" which literally means to ‘move upwards’. It is symbolic of the wish for our fortunes to rise and expand during the forthcoming year. It is a salad full of fun and delicious to eat! Yee Sang the fun salad!!! ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden ) let the tossing begin!!! ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden ) The pomfret is one of the most sought after fish by the Chinese because of its fine texture and very pleasant taste. The price usually doubled before the new year so we bought ours quite early and had them deep freezed. pomfret ... yummie!!! ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden ) The mixed veggies was very traditional, it consists of cabbage, carrots, dried day lilies, fungi, fried bean curd and glass noodles. It is basically a vegetarian dish. Mixed veggie ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden ) The first item I made was Cantonese roast duck because it took about 6 hours for the whole process, the active time is about 2 hours. Cantonese roast duck ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden ) Then it was the soy-braised whole pork hand with mushrooms and chestnuts. This took about 5 hours to prepare and active time is also about 2 hours Braised Pork Trotters ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden ) Even though they took a real long time to prepare it was well worth it and everything disappeared in one sitting. It was goooood!!! ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden ) Just before the stroke of mid-night, the whole neighbourhood sounded like a war zone with most households firing their fire crackers and fireworks trying to outdo each other. The first day of Chinese New Year, first thing in the morning is to pay respect to our elders and in return an “ang pow” or red packet with cash inside is received. In my case I’m the oldest in the house so I had to be Santa Claus!!! Ang Pow ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden ) In the past when I was a kid we used to put on our New Year clothes, pay respect to our elders and go relatives visiting with our parents. At the end of the day we would count our collection for the day. Normally it was not much but enough to get that comic book or toy which I had my eyes on then. Anyway this year we had a simple BBQ of chicken wings and pork ribs for the second day. It was nice enjoying the company of our kids, watching the fireworks bursting in the sky every now and then while stuffing our face at the same time. Just me! ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden ) It was nice and we all had a great time.
So great to virtually join your CNY celebrations KK. Just reading your descriptions of the food prepared made me too hungry to mention. Glad you were all able to celebrate it together!
KK--I wish I could give you 10 seeds for that post!!!! Thank you for giving us a taste of Chinese New Year! The idea of getting together with family and cooking & eating for hours sounds wonderful. It sounds a bit like what Americans do for Thanksgiving. And, I love the first photo of you & your family. "Loh Hey!" May your 'fortunes continue to rise & expand' during this new year.
I'm so glad your family were altogether for CNY and that you thoroughly enjoyed your celebrations in each others company. The food all looks so delicious and I have a feeling it didn't last long.
Well KK-- I was just astounded at this posting...so much delicious-looking food . It was great to see your family and to see you at "work" on the barbi. Having said all that I have to make just one comment about something in particular--the plate on which the duck was served. My bride and I saw right away that it was made to look like a banana leaf. We have eaten so much food there (and in other countries) which was served on a banana leaf. I almost had to sedate my bride because she just kept talking about that plate. It is lovely and it is clever to make a plate like that. Nice posting and great personal pics, mate. p.s. I would be remiss if I did not also comment on how nice and "villa-like" your home looks. Really a lovely accomodation.
Thanks so much for sharing your New Year's celebration with us and giving us some insight on your traditions. Sounds like a good time was had by all! The food looks so yummmy!!! And I really like the photo of your beautiful family. Very nice! And like Sjoerd commented about your home... I like what I saw too!
Wow it all looks so yummy and delicious. That was definitely a labor of love. I sure your family appreciated all the hard work you did in preparing that wonderful celebration meal.
Thank you all, I'm glad that you all enjoyed it too!!! Thanks Frank, next time you are in the neighbourhood we will enjoy a home cook meal ya! Thank you Cayuga Morning, it was really wonderful and I wished I had a bigger kitchen because we spend lots of time there. Thanks Eileen, you're right :-D Thank you Sjoerd, it is always fun to play on the barbi . I guess the banana leaf plate brought back lots of memories for your bride and you. We had those plates for a very long time now ... hmmm (a wondering though.) Thank you for your comments on our home too. You are most welcome Cherylad and thank you. Tooty2shoes thank you, I guess food cook in a happy enviroment always taste much better. :-D
KK, How awesome to see your CNY and all that food!?!?!?!?!?WOW! I would not be able to get to the garden if I ate dinner with you regularly, I think. I would be waddling if I was able to walk at all. It all looks amazing and yummy! How long does it take you to prepare all those dishes? do you prepare any of them ahead of the meal keep them in the freezer? Happy New Years to you and your family.
Cuatro-gatos thank you Thank you Carolyn, yes I did some preparation the day before like cleaning the duck after defrosting it and deboning the hock and kept them in the refrigerator overnight before actually cooking them. On the day itself I started at around 10:00am and finished at about 6:00pm and dinner was at 7:00pm. In between there were lots of breaks because of waiting time. I did walk funny after dinner!!!
KK, sorry it's a bit late (well, more than a bit, actually ), but here's wishing you a belated Gong Xi Fa Cai. Thanks so much for sharing your New Year's experience, it sure brought back happy memories of Chinese New Year in Malaysia. Many moons ago I had a Malaysian friend, and I spent Chinese New Year with his family in Penang a number of times. They are Hokkien, so we had the traditional altar outside with the sugar cane and the giant incense candle. And of course all the food offerings that we all ate afterwards (middle of the night, but that didn't stop anyone!). The roast suckling pig was the best, and I still remember how, in the afternoon, some little old man used to bring it to the house on the back of his scooter. Oh my, now I must stop reminiscing, it's making me hungry, just like your photo's, KK!
Thank you and welcome Gardenelf. We celebrate at much smaller scale and the roast suckling pig makes me hungry too!!!
