Chinese New Year (Part 3) - The Office

Music: John Legend - Sun Comes Up Mood: Hooot!

The lion dance troupe visits the company every year, which is a norm to most but to me it's an absolute first experience and I'm as excited as a kid on Christmas day.

Our very own Choi San Ye a.k.a Mister Potato~

The troupe will proceed to every floor to spread prosperity and good luck which started at 11.30 am and ended at 1.30pm, to each manager's room and any cubicle that places mandarin oranges on top. I'm lucky as the President's room is located at the same floor as I am, thus we are amongst the first to welcome the troupe before they lay flat of exhaustion.

The big shots must HUAT first. If they don't HUAT, we all no need to think of HUAT.

They were so nice to give me a red packet to put in between two of the oranges I placed on my cubicle, which is deemed as the 'correct' way. I got a fat black lion but I'm still as excited as I can be.

The Marketing people were so nice to invite HR over for a final round of Lou Sang session by the end of last Thursday, a freshly home made one somemore.

I swear I can only hear "Promotion ah!" and "Increment ah!" coming directly at our faces.

The Japanese Manager who joined us asked, "Ne, what's the meaning of doing this during Chinese New Year?"

..........................

I'm like the rest, bury my face to the paper plate and continue eating.

P.S.: There, I've Wiki it, go read how Yee Sang come about.

Chinese New Year (Part 2) - The Mexican Dinner

Music: Jim Noir - I Met You Mood: Sticky

The Aunt from US is back for CNY celebration and volunteered to cook an 'unusual' CNY meal - a Mexican Dinner!

Women at work in their territory. You mess with them you don't get to eat.

They are baking gurus at home but totally clueless on how to melt the cheese using this microwave.

A table full of western goodies! Mashed potatoes, asparagus with mayo and anchovies, marshmallows, rasberry jam, crackers... sounds like a mixture of tea party and dinner.

The turkey to go with rasberry jam - I think the aunt brought it from US.

Tortillas with Salsa - I think she brought 70% of the ingredients from US as it cost so much lesser there. Imagine how much would a bag of taco chips that's equivalent to the size of a big bag of 2 kg dog food would cost here??

Fruit salad with loootsa greens. Mum said this is my ideal kind of dinner. Heh.

She taught us the correct sequence of savouring the 'unusual' meal: "we eat this every year during Thanksgiving, first you put in the asparagus, then the mashed potatoes, then the sauce that goes on top..." must STRICTLY follow the sequence!

"But...but... where's the meat??" Uncle whined after she plopped it into his hand. "You can have the meat after finishing this!" She commanded.

"No meat is just as good as not having dinner!" He scurried away with few big pieces of turkey after aunty turned to the kitchen.

This is Chloe! My cutest ever niece who called me "Aunty" (which by the way is being convinced by a group of evil brothers) until I buy her over by camwhoring with her.

Meet my mum's side's relatives from Johor!

Not forgetting a picture with the imported chef, the rosy cheek aunt who made us warm apple cider and cold apple pie in this hot weather ^.^

Chinese New Year (Part 1) - The Reunion

Music: The Postal Service - Such Great Heights Mood: Rainy & hot at the same time

I once dug out an old local comic book, duly signed by the famous cartoonist himself, Lat to my dad. The cartoonist illustrated families would chase chickens all over the kampung for a sumptuous Chinese New Year feast; children used to stand on tables close to the pendaflour lights to guess their ang pow collections while the adults mah-jong away; young and old kids playing home made firecrackers as huge as lemang after dinner; everyone would stay up to anticipate firecrackers that will go off altogether at 12am.

Gone were the good old days. How to play firecrackers when you couldn't find it around pasar malam anymore unless you get them the illegal way? How to throw mandarin oranges into lakes when the government thought that this is mere pollution? How to let off sky lanterns (孔明灯) when the same group of loonies thought they are dangerous to aircrafts?

Bannings aside, how many posted and hand written new year cards have you received lately? It has been conveniently replaced by forwarded SMSes- Next time, count your friends by counting the SMSes you received that year. How many of us have decided to go travelling instead of troublesome visitations all over the country? I'll meekly put my hand up, mine started 3 years ago.

We used to drive up North to Parit Buntar on CNY Eve, stayed for two nights then back to KL, then drive down South to Muar for another one night. There used to be a merry number of us celebrating with grandparents. As all of them were deceased, families moved over to KL and gatherings seemed more and more like a mission impossible. From then on, our family celebrated CNY by going for short local getaways. We have promised the relatives up South for a visit this year, I think dad slacked off and I thought he even felt glad that he wasn't feeling too well to escape driving back in this hot spell.

Since most relatives down South have shifted to KL, we decided to host a reunion dinner this time.

It has to be the best way to test whether your cooking skills have excel or fallen backwards since our relatives were a brutally honest lot. They loved the black pepper chicken but pointed out the half cooked deep fried meat rolls (肉羹). The maid who cooks everyday made the former whereas mum who reduced cooking lately made the latter. Anyway she's able to find excuse by complaining she wanted to stuff the rolls with as much meat as possible but the skin was too thick and bla bla bla she went...

I love the CNY reunions, always amazed by how much the cousins have grown over the years. From cry-babies to matured working young adults.

First Day Of Chinese New Year

The usual on-the-road traffic can only be found at popular temples like Tien Hou Temple.

Parents pushing terrified kids to the lions.

The places to spend money without thinking: on candles and drawing lots.

The 'Fate changing' windmills.

See? It's easy to earn women's money. Just show them something that could bling like gold or diamond.

Chinese New Year Dinner @ Toh Yuen Restaurant, PJ Hilton

Music: Swing- 让左脚先行一步 Mood: Relaxed

When all 11 heads decided not to go lunch and to save their appetites for the scrumptious dinner, then only I found out not everyone can do the ‘Kit Feat’.

Rule number 1 of ‘Kit Feat’: NEVER cry hunger. This was broken at 4 pm- people started rummaging for food, counting down the hours till dinner and not forgetting to complain how the hell did they got tugged in to do the ‘Kit Feat’.

“Can you serve at 6.30 pm?”
“Aiyo why you call so late? The chefs already got their orders ready la.”
“Just accommodate for one table laa, we are rushing, SERIOUSLY.”
“I’ll ask them whether can serve at 6.45 pm la,”
“OK better than nothing, please remember to serve at least 3 dishes at once!”
“OK OK, you want all to serve at once also can.”

Obviously, my negotiation skills were lousy yet enough to keep them busy earlier (They blocked the other patrons who came early but booked at 7 pm). The kitchen should have not been opened before 7 pm, they must have been trying to please the ‘very hungry like hungry ghost crew’ a.k.a us, therefore allowing us to sit ourselves before 7 pm. Nonetheless, 50% of the negotiation went down the drain, they still serve us after 7 pm and dishes came one by one until can zzzzz….

Salmon Yee Sang

Lou ah! Lou ah! Lou until everyone huat and no need to work ah!!

Happiness Shark’s Fin with Eight Treasure in Brown Sauce
The soup represents the ‘soul’ of the dinner, having good shark fin’s soup symbolizes good wealth- This is thick but not starchy, absolutely boneless and odourless.

Crispy Spring Chicken Served with Plum Sauce
The honey + sour plum powder were placed separately in two small bowls, it was completely overlooked until boss remarked why the chicken don’t have the slightest hint of plum taste. Well that happened when everyone almost finished their shares. Heh.

How do you enjoy good chicken in a posh restaurant?

Posh or not posh, use hand lah!

Home Style Steamed Cod Fish
Portuguese are long known for their love for cod fish, there is an exaggerated saying that they have a codfish recipe for every day of the year. The most famous ways to cook it are none other than bolinhos de bacalhau (salt cod fritters) and also the steaming method. This cod fish is thoroughly enjoyed by all- it was perfectly steamed where its meat flakes easily but not broken apart when served, whereas the light marinated sauce have brought out its mild taste.

Stir-fried Prawn in ‘Kam Heong Style’
At this point, I despised my prawn phobia. This dish smells terrific, Jess walloped the last few prawns, I think she scraped clean the dish too.

Braised Broccoli with Abalone Mushroom
I thought these were abalone at first, then only found out they are hugeass oyster mushrooms. It taste subtle, well done with the soft broccoli; I still think it will excel if they pair the mushrooms with scallops or meat.

Fried Noodle with Seafood
Luckily I didn’t ordered glutinous rice as I’m stuffed up till my throat already. The noodles were not oily and springy but I only had one spoonful. Kudos to the rest who are not wasteful like me!

Deep Fried New Year Cake
Looks like pisang goreng (Deep Fried Banana), they are corn flour with sticky new year cakes and sweet potatoes fillings.

Sweetened Sesame Dumpling Soup with Ginger
Ugh, should have requested them to drop the ‘sweetened’ part, the dumplings were quite rubbery too.

The bill came up to RM1212++, quite standard for a meal in a hotel restaurant. Lesson learned: NON-HALAL restaurants still win hands down, no wonder I think a CNY dinner is incomplete without any lap cheong (Chinese waxed sausages) or the secret ingredient- the lard which creates the smoky nutty taste.

Location: Toh Yuen Chinese Restaurant, PJ Hilton, No. 2, Jalan Barat, 46200 Petaling Jaya Selangor
Opening Hours:
12am – 10.30pm (Mon- Sat)
11am- 10.30pm (Sun)
Contact no.: 03-7955 9122 Ext 4073/4074
Map:

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The Omen

Music: None Mood: full

Last evening, there was this weird looking uncle who approached me all of a sudden in a hall. I guess he must be pretty drunk as he is flushed all over, from face to clothes. As he stood before me, he handed me a cookie and said, “Have a cookie and eat it,” then walked off to somewhere else towards another victim.

I have never accepted food from a total stranger and worst still, eat it too. I must have not been in my right mind that day; I tore opened the wrapper in a jiffy and obediently popped half the cookie into my mouth. The uncle did the same to the rest of his victim and surprisingly, they repeated what I just did moments ago as if they were being hypnotized.

As if this was not weird enough, two lions pounced out of nowhere all of a sudden and began attacking citizens in the hall. I was one of the unlucky people there; they brushed past me twice and bit me all over each time, the rest would look on without lending a helping hand.

Coming back to the weird uncle. Fortunately, I managed to snap a photo of him before he got away. Take a look at him and remember this highly Wanted face:




















His attempt to choke me with a hidden paper in his cookie was unsuccessful too.

You think I so easy to die ar? He must have wanted me to dissolve it without knowing the killer message.

The man is out on a prowl now. If you see him, please catch and hide him in your home before he run amok again. He will work for you, will do OT everyday; kindly be duly warned about the sign that is about to follow you all year round, like this $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.................