Happy Birthday, Ah Ma

We left the Ipoh house after lunch. Today's drivers are daddy (in the BMW) and Ko-kor (in the Mazda). We took a slow drive, with daddy up ahead and Ko-ko behind (very close.. too close for comfort at times). 

After unpacking when we arrived home, we had time to relax before getting ready to head out to Kirishima.  

The restaurant was packed! Daddy ordered the food and we also drank the sake which was parked from our last visit.

Cheers! Many happy returns

Enjoying the meal

We also got the waiter to help take a family photo:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AH MA! 🎂

Second Day of CNY

The second day of Chinese New Year is always a relaxing one. We don't need to wake up too early, breakfast is eaten leisurely and with dinner to be eaten in Toong Hoi, it means no need to have any preparation for dinner. 

Covered the seung wan yuen in flour for Chim Poh to bring along with her when she goes to visit her brother. 

Putting on the red dots

Kor Poh cooked our usual lunch, which is chicken porridge. Of course, this is no simple chicken porridge. It's filled with lots of goodies such as abalone and dried scallops.

Then since we had nothing to do and we needed to pick up Ah Ma's birthday cake which I had pre-ordered last week, we headed out to Etre bringing along with us Ariesse and Vianna. 

Pretty girls

I ordered some cakes and savories and we tried them all. Daddy also ordered more.. so we had quite a lot to eat!

Before heading home, we went around to Ferment Boulangerie to pick up some break to bring home to Penang. 

Shortly after we arrived home, it was time to head out to dinner as our reservation was 6pm. Had a quick change and off we went to Toong Hoi. We thought that we had arrived early, but there were already other tables with patrons enjoying their meal. As with last year, the seating was rather tight, although we were put along a walkway, giving us a little more space than it would have been with other seats. We had 2 tables for us. 

Food was served quickly:

Lou sang

Everyone stirring it up

Next came the fish. Unfortunately, it was undercooked so we had to send it back to the kitchen. The same happened for the other table. The fish was quickly replaced with a fresh one. 

We had the suckling pig too (George's new favourite. He enjoyed it the week before when they ate here):

There was this roast chicken:

The usual dry fried prawn (kon cheen har):

Tofu in pumpkin sauce:

Fried vegetables. I liked this dish:

Broccoli with sea cucumber:

Noodles.. this was yummy, but our tummies were bursting by then:

This cheeky boy was daddy's best friend as he was waiting and waiting for the roast suckling pig and his table's portion was delayed while we had ours. So daddy gave him some off our plate, along with a whole sauce to himself. He even for a leg from daddy!

The food was certainly below what we're used to eating here. The food came out much faster than we're able to finish up, that they keep having to change to smaller plates to make space on the lazy Suzan. 

But one thing I'm thankful for (and thanks to Natalie Kor-kor for the treat) is that we get to rest in the afternoon, instead of slaving in the kitchen. Especially Kor Poh and Chim Poh who are the chefs in the kitchen and who need to prepare everything weeks leading to CNY and even go to the market early in the morning of CNY. 

We then went back and then brought out the cake we had picked in the afternoon for Ah Ma's birthday (tomorrow).

We took it out earlier as Kok Beng Chek Chek and family had to hit the road and head home soon. 

Ah Ma blowing out the candle

With Ah Kong

With the youngest generation in the family

I'm glad that everyone enjoyed the cake. Then it was time for "drinks". One last round before everyone heads home tomorrow.

Happy Chinese New Year of the Ssssnakeeee 🐍

This year isn't a mad rush to get ready as the lion dance was to arrive at 11am. So we all got up, ate breakfast then got ready and dressed up.

Daddy in the meantime had his usual "job" to set up the firecrackers and the angpow with the lettuce. 

Hanging the firecrackers

Typing up both the lettuce and ang pow together

Hanging them up

I had also prepared the basket with oranges last night and got the help of the kids to set up the cloth and "gold nuggets":

And all too soon the lion dance arrived (before 11am!!):

Along with the "percussion":

Everyone loves the performance. Including this little one:

Took a photo of the "men" of the family while the lions were inside the house:

Neither George nor Alfred seemed afraid of the lion:

After the performance ended, we took a family photo:

And when they'd left, we also took many photos:

Then it was time to head to the kitchen to prepare lunch. Everyone had their role to do for the meal. This year's self-declared egg chef Evan, went MIA. So his "assistant" had to fry the eggs:

My job is to cook the mee suah (just the noodles).

And this is the amazing soup for the mee suah. And the chilies which has lime juice and soy sauce:

This is what the meal looks like:

We finally had the time to give ang pow to our babies:

And then everyone took more family photos:

And later in the afternoon, we found the time to blend up the ingredients for the seung wan yuen (peanut balls), then shape them:

While some cooked outside in the wet kitchen, the rest, including the kids helped to peel and cut up all the fruits for our lou sang. 

And then come up with idea to make the "snake" too. Can you see the snake's head along with the tongue and eyes? Ko-ko came up with the idea to use the apple seeds for the eyes.. good idea!

This "runway chef" from lunch also helped to fry up some stuff and later cut up the lobak (taxing some along the way too!):

And finally dinner is served after we have prayed to the ancestors. 

Our dinner spread

Everyone stirring up the lou sang

This time after cleaning up, the kids (and adults) went out to play with the fireworks. 

And to usher in the new year, we had TWO sets of fireworks. One was a smaller one, and another was a big and very impressive one:

Daddy setting up the fireworks

This is the larger fireworks:

After that, we all went in to have the "longan-lychee" dessert. Just nice after sitting in the heat outside. 

The evening (in true Ban tradition) ended with the usual evening alcohol session in the living room, with everyone chatting, drinking and snacking.