Happy Birthday, Ah Ma

We celebrated Ah Ma's big 70th Birthday in Starview. As it was still close to Chinese New Year, we had to pick a seating and Ah Ma picked the second seating which was supposed to start at 8pm. While the original booking could not get us a room, we were lucky and given a room for our 2 tables. Chek Kong, Chim Poh, Tiger Chim Poh and Kor-Poh came up from Ipoh to join in the dinner. 

Evelyn posing with the decorations

We were served food off a fixed menu as it was CNY. After dinner, it was cake time. 

Evelyn as usual getting all excited over the cake 

Kids (and Ah Kong) with the birthday "Girl" 

Everyone helping to cut the cake

The both of you gave the birthday card which you had made for Ah Ma. Here are your amazing creations:

From Evelyn 

From Evan

Happy Birthday, Ah Ma.

Yuen Ting's Messy Birthday

Fortunately it was school holidays and still an offday for me. We received an invitation to join in your best friend from school, Yuen Ting's birthday party. We were initially not sure on when we would be back from Ipoh, but we decided to head back the day before to make it for her birthday. 

Well, it was in the afternoon and I reckon you had an amazing time playing. There was a quick craft session before you all headed to the park to play with the flour mixture and water balloons. 

After that, all kids were rinsed off and changed into fresh clothes. Then it was lunch time followed by finishing off with the craft you all had done at the start of the party.

 Soon it was time to sing the birthday song and to have cake.

Everyone left happy with a party pack. A nice party with many kids to play with.

Chinese New Year - Evening Events

Preparation for dinner had to start early. We have so many people to feed and as Chim Poh had mentioned before Ah Tai had reminded her before that there has to be 10 dishes served for dinner on Chinese New Year.

Mummy helped out to prepare the Chu Yoke Yuen.. it sure is a lot of work!

We also helped to prepare the lou sang ingredients. We cut up all the fruits and veggies and tried to make it into a mouse:

 This is the steamed fish prepared by Kor-Poh.

 And of course the Kon Chin Har:

 And our feast:

 Everyone took part in mixing up the Lou Sang:

As usual we had more fireworks and it was followed by drinking (and snacking sessions) before calling it a night. 

Happy Mousey Chinese New Year

Woke up in and had breakfast before getting ready and waiting for the lion dance troupe to arrive. 

Fruit basket

As we still had time, we spent the time to take pictures. Here are our two precious:

All smiles

One with silly faces 

Our little China Doll 

And the next generation (missing Emma and Tessa) 

Our family picture

 Then it turned out that the troupe would be late. It was so hot outside so everyone went back in to enjoy the cool air-conditioned living room.

My two boys

At last the troupe arrived. The two lions were brought in for us to take photographs with before the performance began. 

The drums were very loud 

Lighting the firecrackers

Then it was time for ang pows:

Mei-mei wishing daddy 

 Then it was Ko-ko's turn:

And finally it was lunchtime. Our usual Mee Suah:

Chinese New Year Eve

The men were cleaning up the porch and brought in the shoes. The number of shoes is indicative of how many people we have in the house!!

As would be the tradition, dinner was popiah. This dish certainly takes days of advanced preparation. Kor Poh had already cooked and peeled the crabs and fried the shallots before we even arrived in Ipoh. Chim Poh and Kor Poh were lucky to have strong Uncle Ollie this year to help carry the vegetables from the market. The day before and this morning was spent cutting and preparing the vegetables for dinner.
And it's finally time to enjoy the fruits of our labour. Dinnertime. Oh and the kids (except Ko-ko) were treated to Ah Ma's yummy fish and chips.

Our dinner spread 

My popiah 

Ta-da... all rolled up 

That evening, we prepared to welcome the new year with our usual firework display (Round 1).

And then they decided to crack open Ah Tai Kong's antique brandy which has been sitting on the bar for MANY, MANY years. As expected, the cork was all brittle and daddy managed to remove the cork by using some toothpicks.

Cheers! Gong Xi Fa Cai!!

Eve of Eve of Chinese New Year

We spent the day preparing for the reunion dinner. There was over 30 people having dinner in the house. We cut the ingredients for the popiah and also prepared the Seung Wan Yuen ingredients as well as to make them into the ball shapes. 

Mixing up the seung wan yuen ingredients

Dinner that night was a few dishes which Kor Poh had cooked. As usual, it was delicious.

Off to Ipoh

We received an invitation from Chek Kong to have dinner today as this Chinese New Year we had additional family back for the celebration: Natalie Kor-kor and Uncle Ollie as well as Jack Hou Chek-chek and family. 

So today, we picked the both of you up from school and after everyone was showered, we packed the car and headed to Ipoh. 

While daddy was worried that we'd be late to arrive at the house and hence be late for dinner, it turned out that by the time we arrived, not everyone was ready yet! So we sat around while waiting for everyone and then it was time to head to Tong Hoi for dinner. 

Oops.. not photos of our delicious dinner. 

Happy New Year 2020

The plan was to have a cheese and cold cut platter while waiting to usher in the new year. But we had a head-start instead. By 11 p.m., our platter was all ready and we were already feasting!!

Baking with Evelyn

You asked to bake something today. With the limited ingredients we have at home, I finally found a simple chocolate chip cupcake we could whip up. 

First you needed to line the cupcake molds. So this was the pattern you created:

Then we measured out all the ingredients we needed and put them all in my mixing bowl. To slowly add the flour, I had you sit on the floor.. so reduce the risk of spilling them all over. 

The final step is to pour the batter into the cupcake liners. I first poured the batter into a measuring cup so that it is easier for you to pour it into the liners: 

 Oh and the most important step of all.. clean-up *grin*

Licking the bowl and spatula clean

Ta-da.. our cupcakes are ready. As there was a party at Annabelle Che-che's house that night, you brought a couple of cupcakes for Audrey.

School Christmas

Received these photos from your Homeroom teacher last night through the school app.