CNY: A Sweet treat for a Sweet Year

I can't believe I am still posting on CNY; so sorry for the slow updates...I desperately need to get my connection in place asap, I have missed updating my blog so much!:(

Alright, to avoid contradicting my sweetie post, I shall clear the miserable mood and set for the sweet treat for the tooth.

After a wonderful family meal, dessert time is definitely not excluded from the itinerary.
Having feasted on an auspicious meal full of literal meanings, the sweet treat after meal will not be left out in the part of playing host to another round of auspicious meanings.

Big and juicy longan in sweet syrup


Meaning of longans?
In Hokkien, they typically say that it spurs a good background (I think)

Anyway, literal or not, this sweet treat is good enough to signify a life of sweet and good treats :)

Mandarin oranges should be no stranger to most of us; since it is a must-have auspicious food/fruit for the Lunar New Year.

Its pronounciation in Chinese already means 'Kam' which is translated as Gold in English. That is why this is a must have; having an abundance of this fruit means abundance of wealth!
Not too hard to decipher, right?:)


This is the carrot cake which was part of my family's tradition since most of us liked the cake. It is an order for the family each year; for breakfast or snack during the Lunar New Year.

Carrot walnut cake; no particular meaning, just to fill the stomach in the morning!:)


I am sure most of you have the recipe; particularly those who are fond of baking *winks*

A Simmering pot of UNITY

The Lunar New Year celebration has ended for a good two weeks now; bringing us to an end of the first month of Spring.
We have had enjoyed a wonderful celebration with our families, relatives, friends and loved ones...not to mention a feastin' time.

It was also a time to enjoy the fun and joy with everyone; and at the same time, being respectful to the old-age traditional Chinese customs.
One of the most important of which to welcome the New Year is of course, the family reunion.
The Family is the core of everything and this concept has been emphasized by the great old teacher Confucius who have place great importance on respecting the elders and maintaining family unity.


Therefore, the most important part of Chinese New Year celebration is the Reunion Dinner (aka DA TUAN YUAN) on the eve itself where all the siblings, children and grandchildren arrive from different places and join in the family banter.
I definitely did not want to miss out and enjoyed the journey home too, to reunite with my belove family:)

What did we have for this year?
We decided to go for Steamboat; more variety and simmering heat of the pot while we enjoy our quick banter and share of laughs:P

The raw materials; let me try to decipher according to the Chinese words and homonyms.
As mentioned, Chinese are a superstitious lot and welcoming the new year also unveils all sorts of mystical customs and traditions to follow.
Food and all sorts of words used during this period is treated with high priority and importance to ensure prosperity and an abundance of great things throughout the year =)
Therefore, all the food and stuffs used are selected with extra care which carries the meaning through the way it is pronounced or the homonym itself:)

**Although I am not superstitious, but we also somehow ended up with some of the popular stuffs used during CNY too:)

I selected this; just simply because I love them?

Vege is a must; and I love cauliflower and broccoli....crunchy! YUMZ



Anyway, putting them into florets-like makes them look like the blossoming flowers of the new spring, right?
There, I am getting creative:)

Lettuce or Sang Choy - meaning: SANG SANG MANG MANG (Energetic and alert!)


Cabbage (Pau Choy in Chinese) - meaning: Guaranteed Luck



Hou Si Fish Cake - this is a special fish cake which is only available during CNY, as told by the seller to my mummy
HOU SI; typically means Good things



Scallops - Tai Chi; means Lots of Money and prosperity


Raw meat and fish



Marinate them with flour


These are usually luxury items; which are usually consumed for the CNY meals as well:)

Prawns - meaning HAPPINESS



Sai Tou Fish Balls, Squid Balls - their round shape signify unity



Tau Kua - meaning of Wisdom


Seafood tofu - nice yellow color which symbolises gold and also the tofu itself is also significant to the meaning of prosperity


Teochew Fishballs - this is a delicious fishball which was wrapped with fish meat and the wrapper itself was also made of fish meat.
I can't find this in Penang; most of those in Penang contain meat...those are Fuchow fishballs:(


White Fish Rolls


Sweet corn - golden color and enough of rice for the year


Condiments to go along with the food
Garlic oil



Spring Onions


Throw everything into the pot/cooker


Voila, it is all cooked!


Cheers to all and GONG HEI FATT CHOY!



**A little belated, but still a wonderful wish for the whole year to you and your family so that you will enjoy UNITY and HAPPINESS, not to mention good health and wealth for the entire year!!**

CNY: Pink Fluffy Cakes

With the CNY mood still in the air, I guess I am one of the very last blogger to update on her CNY fare?:)

During CNY, due to the start of a new spring to welcome the new Lunar year, the Chinese community take pride and effort in spring cleaning the whole house (that's where the term spring cleaning was concocted from) and decorating the whole house.
The auspicious colors for the New Year are all selected from bright and cheerful colors; starting from the MUST-have RED and any relation to red, yellow, gold, orange, pink, etc.

It is no wonder that most of the cakes are also dyed in red for the worship purpose.
I am a fan of these fluffy cakes, I presume it is pretty simple to make? That's what my maternal grandma used to tell me:)


Lovely, aren't they?
They were selling it on the eve of CNY; it is a usual practice to find these adorable cakes on the eve of the 1st and 15th of every month anyway; only the color is not in such a bright pink..LOL!


Do not confuse the earlier version with this highly popular and auspicious cake; known as HUAT Koey in Hokkien and Fatt Gou in Cantonese.

From the name itself, I bet you can already guess the reason behind its popularity and how it finds its way to the altar tables on every month; needless to say, one of the MUST-have items during the welcoming of the NEW YEAR:)

This is a slightly more sticky version of the former described and I favor the former to this one as I find it a little too sticky for me:)


Anyway, these adorable cakes are not just meant for worship, although most of them do that, but they can also be eaten.
However, a word of warning though, do check with the seller before you think it's safe for consumption as I was told once that some were meant for pure worship and they overloaded on the dye to make it look cosmetically more appealing when placed on the worship altar.
Only some are suitable for consumption...and safe:)


So, be sure to check before you roll these inside your mouth....we don't want anymore 'melamine' kind of cases, do we?:)

CHOI!! Not an auspicious thing to say:p

Stay tune for more CNY delicacies and my feast for CNY...

Sorry for the lack of updates

Dear fellow blogger friends,
I must apologize for the lack of updates; I know I have been lagging and kinda MIA from my blog lately.
Well, I recently have difficulty with my Internet access due to my current residence and I am trying my best to update whenever I can.
Workload has been piling up as well and with the inavailability of Internet at home at the moment, I had to bear with whatever I can do at the moment.
I still have tons of pictures to upload and lots of stories to tell....and I know I haven't update on the CNY food stuffs yet:p

Please bear with me at the moment, I promise to get everything sorted immediately and be back on track ASAP!

Thanks for visiting often and to all of you who have been dropping my notes and emails to ask me, thanks so much for the concern!:)

Stay tune, I will be BACK!:)

~ PickyEater @ Christy ~

Double Shades of Ribs

Soon Heong restaurant is no stranger to most of the residents in Kepong/Menjalara.
Serving delectable dishes in a nice restaurant dining environment, it is pretty crowded during weekends.

One of their specialty dishes is the Double Ribs served in two different styles; of the hot and cold combination.

The cold would of course, be the mayo-laden pork ribs while the other is served with sour spicy sauce.
The meat was earlier marinated before pouring the sauce over it; to ensure a smooth and delightful taste.


Another must-try is the Assam Fish; usually Talapia Fish (RM12)

Spicy and sourish in taste, this is an appetizing start to any meal and goes well with your bowl of white rice.


For some greens, they offer a wide variety for your selection.
We ordered the Yau Mak; which is juicy in its stalks for our meal (RM8)

Crunchy and containing 90% of water in its stalks, this is a great choice to go with the hot and cold combination we had above.


To end it off with a sweet note, the restaurant will always serve you desserts (homemade jelly) on the house!:)


A place suitable for family dinners; whenever mum doesn't feel like cooking!~