CNY Dinner with the Phuahs

.. and Nanna too. Ah Ma had invited her over and she happily obliged. Especially since daddy's famous barbecue on the menu.

Here's the main course:

Steaks resting

The whole spread

Kids (all grown up and taller than us). 

Missing Annabelle who's in US and Abigail who's back in KL

The oldies' table

And of course, the finale was roasted marshmallows.

2026 Chinese New Year - Day 2

Day 2 is always a relaxed day. Lunch was a simple meal of leftovers.. we had too much popiah and dishes leftover.

Then Ashley Kor-kor, Yvonne Kor-kor, Martin and Chim Poh headed out to visit Chim Poh's brother. Since we had nothing to do, we headed to Etre for some desserts. The shop was crowded but we finally managed to get a seat for the 6 of us: Daddy, Mummy, Ko-ko, Mei-mei, Ah Ma and Uncle Dennis.

Even to order our cakes, drinks and pastries took a while. But as usual, the wait was worth it. Everything was beautiful and delicious.

Sweets and Savories

Coffee

When we reached home, Kor-kor were all back too. So they had a mahjong session. And like the years before, the stakes was alcohol. Not sure if it's better to be the winner or the loser!

Dinner was chicken rice with dishes.

And on top of that, Ko-ko went out with Daddy later to pick up pizza for supper. This time it's from Rossi Italian. Not bad. Daddy and I have not tried the food from here, even though they have a branch in Penang.

Of course, the night is not complete without more alcohol, chatter and laughter. 

2026 Chinese New Year - Day 1 Evening

Today's dinner was mainly cooked by Ashley Kor-kor, Chim Poh and daddy.  

 

The girls, Ah Mm and Kor-kor helped with the lou sang.

Then it was dinnertime. Tonight's dishes were a mix of bought (roast duck and roast goose, supplemented by Ah Kong and Ah Pek) and others cooked at home:

After dinner was done and cleaning up completed, it was time for fireworks again. The evening started with the kids playing with the varieties available. Daddy was around to make sure everyone played safely.

Then it was time to bring out the big guns. 

And then as usual we sat around chatting and drinking. The kiddies sat around playing cards and on the ipad. 

Horseh Chinese New Year 2026 - Day 1 morning

We all woke up a little earlier. I had kitchen duties and daddy had prep work before the lion dance came. Ate breakfast, then showered and dressed up.

Daddy putting up the firecrackers, and also had to put up the angpow with the lettuce

Tasked the girls to prep the setup of basket filled with pomelo and mandarines for the lion dance. They decided to write the word "Ma"馬. As the simplified writing wasn't to nice looking, you all attempted to write in traditional Chinese. Needed Ko-ko to help tweak the design for it to look nicer.

Not too bad!

Took some photos while waiting for the lion dance troupe to arrive. Look at the dark skies behind. Very strange CNY weather.

And then they arrived.. a little pass 11am. As always, the performance was very impressive. This year, they even relaxed in the living room, while another attempted to play the piano.

Getting ready to pick the ang pow and lettuce

Sayonara!

And this was what they had "re-designed":

Took a family photo before heading in and getting ready for lunch:

Master chef preparing the soup for our mee suah soup

Master and assistant (dunno who is what) preparing the fried eggs

And while we prepared the food, daddy and Ah Pek decided to pool some money on TnG to give to the kiddies. There was so much excitement as they scanned the QR code to see who gets the most:

Lunch is served:

Then it was time to give out the ang pows:

Phew.. and we could finally rest a little before the dinner prep.

CNY Eve

The morning started early as I needed to be around to keep an eye on the steamed chicken while Chim Poh and Kor Poh headed to the market to pick up stuff for cooking. 

After breakfast and a bit of rest, we started preparing the veggies to be cooked in the popiah. We had lunch and soon it was time to prepare dinner. Loads of stuff to stir fry separately and later combine. We're lucky to have so many helpers in the kitchen, especially since Kor Poh is not feeling well.. she has been down with a cough for many weeks. 

Ashley Kor-kor being supervised by Chim Poh

3 cooks taking turn to mix up the big big wok of veggies

And finally dinner is served. We sat at 2 tables (without the table top) to make it easier for everyone to reach for the ingredients.

And this is the results of our hardwork. Too bad the skin was a little dry and would crack easily. But still.. the most important thing is that we're dining together as a (very) large family. 

After dinner, daddy as usual had to "chaperone" the kiddies (teens) while they played with the fireworks. We have so much in the house.. new ones as well as from previous years!

There was so much, you girls even decided to join a few (more like a lot) together and let them go all together, instead of lighting them one at a time!

Then it was time for the big one.. 

After all was done, some of us headed in to shower and then sat together for drinks and chit chat:

And then it's time to call it a night.. what a busy day.

Going to Ipoh and Dinner in Tong Hoi

We planned to leave earlier, but in the end we left about 30 minutes later. We arrived at the Ipoh house at nearly 10am. Traffic heading south was good. As you can see.. our car was still packed to the brim:

We had brought back with us Char Kuey Tiau from Kg. Jawa and Hokkiem Mee from Padang. And we got Kai Si Hor Fun in exchange:

After lunch, we headed to Ipoh Parade to buy whatever necessities we needed for CNY: water, snacks, alcohol.. Soon it was time to start cutting up the veggies for tomorrow's popiah. Wasn't too much work. Got to rest a little before getting ready for dinner at Tong Hoi. 

We were first ushered to a table upstairs.. it was near the toilets! One of the more experienced waitress quickly moved us to another table (I heard her muttering.. 万太).

First dish is the lou sang:

We even had Ashley Kor-kor, Leanne Ah Mm and Yvonne Kor-kor saying good things as we tossed the yee sang.

Next up is the suckling pig:

Then the Beijing duck:

And the famous Kon Chien Har, which fell short this time per Chim Poh. I was happy with my prawn 😊

The left over duck was stir fried here. It was delicious:

We were so full.. but I could not resist the dessert:

Too bad that Evan, Ah Kong and Ah Ma could not make it to dinner as you all had to make the journey tomorrow after picking up the popiah skin. But they did make sure to put away prawns for Evan. Lucky kid!