CNY Feasting

The feasting began with a Reunion Dinner for our staff at Ocean Green Restaurant. Mediocre food, long waits between courses, poor service and a too strong wind messing with our hair throughout the night made that a venue we'll never return to for future reunion dinners.

As usual the dining table was a real mess by the time we finished
with the tossing of the Yee Sang

We were very disappointed because the quality of the food there is usually very good. Normally it is also windy but we've never experienced such strong winds before. I think we have the 'pak hong' to blame for the blustery night.

As usual, the actual Reunion Dinner with the family was held on the Chinese New Year's Eve, which fell on Sunday, 25 January 2009, this year. I cooked two types of Prawn Fritters - one batch with the tails on and another batch in the prawn balls style - using the same batter.

I also cooked Sweet and Sour Fish Fillet which turned out too salty. Either I put in the salt twice or the frozen dory fillet was already salted. Everybody shunned the dish and so did I.

Since we had three heads of broccoli left from our trip to Camerons, I decided to cook an extra dish of Brocolli Stir-fry with Chicken Meat and Limpets. It was also a great opportunity for me to use up a can of limpets which someone gave us. We are not into exotic foods so I haven't the faintest idea on how to cook them.

The maid and I went for dinner smelling of prawn fritters and fried fish. Never again. Next year I shall cook something stir-fry that is cheap, fast and not so time consuming. Or maybe some dish using a slow cooker that does not need much last-minute attention. This means I had better start looking for a suitable recipe soon if I don't want to be caught unprepared again.

More feasting followed. On the First Day of CNY we were at Queensbay Mall to catch the movie "Red Cliff 2." Canton-i was closed so we went to the Golden Triangle for lunch. The Powdered Prawn which was the chef's specialty was superb and so was the crunchy Kailan. The Pandan Chicken was not bad but Pam and I found some slimy parts in the chicken pieces quite repulsive. We ordered Pulut Mango for dessert but our sweet ending for the meal was spoiled by the sour tinge of some of the mango pieces.

The gravy of the Powdered Prawn is simply delicious
and the prawns were so fresh and succulent

A simple Stir-Fried Kailan

The Pandan Chicken smelled heavenly

On Day Two, which was yesterday, we had Salted Egg Yolk Crabs for dinner at Red Bali, Farlim. We also ordered a Steamed Grouper, Fried Kailan and their Signature Taufu. The bill came to more than RM120. The two crabs alone cost RM72! A tasty but expensive meal.

After the indulgence of the past few days, today we kuai-kuai settled for hawker food. And after all the yummy high cholesterol dishes it's back to the treadmill for me.