Happy Chinese New Year!!

Its that time of the year again! Its money making time Chinese New Year! Happy Year of the Pig! As a kid, I loved CNY almost as much as I loved Christmas. Simply because, it was time for presents! And when its CNY , its money! Ever since I was a kid, I would save every single red packet I got (After checking who gave how much) and when all the festivities have ended, I slowly open each red packet and stack my money into little piles. I then calculate how much I made that year. I still do it! Its a great way to spend your afternoon by counting money! hehehe

Of course, there is more than that to CNY. Every year, as it gets closer to the big date, my mum we start our spring cleaning. And slowly, the red stuff comes out. The Fai Chun (Red sheets of paper with well wishes on it) gets taken down and new ones get put up. Red cushions come out and my parents head to the flower markets to purchase some red sword lillies a few days before CNY Eve so they would bloom on the day.

Then there is the food prep. For CNY, its not actually New Years day that is important, what is important is to be home for dinner on CNY eve. Every CNY eve, there is a massive family reunion dinner, called "Tuen Yuen Farn". Basically, all the family comes together for a massive feast. I'm free to go out CNY day, but I MUST be home for CNY eve dinner. And I wouldn't miss it for the world!

A good 2-3 days before the feast, my mum starts cooking. Slowly braising abalones at a low heat for a few days so they're absolutely mouth wateringly tender when its time to eat. She has to make the CNY cake, which is made from flour and loads and loads of Chinese brown sugar and then slowly steamed for a few hours. Then there are things like the sea cucumber, fish stomach, dried scallop etc etc which needs days and days of preparation. All this work for one meal. I'd better be home for that!

So CNY eve came around, and I woke up early in the morning to help with the final preparations. One of which was, make prawn chips to occupy the kids whilst they're waiting for the feast (Yes, give them food to distract them from wanting other food)

Then it was down to our industrial kitchen to help with the main dishes:

Frying up some pork

mMmm piggy....

So what are we making?

Salt and pepper pork

Fresh made "Jin Dui"

Slicing the abalone

Braised abalone on a bed of lettuce

Lettuce always plays a role in CNY as "Lettuce" is used to signify life.

Fat Choy, Oyster and Pork Hock

This dish is a must have every CNY as it signifies a lot. The Fat Choy (otherwise known as hair vegetable) and the Oyster, together makes "Fat Choy Ho Si". Which is striking fortune and good things if translated literally. The Pork Hock is for "Wan Choi Jow Sow", and thats also to mean making money easily.

Chicken

The chicken always makes an appearance on the dinner table, as it is used as an offering during the morning ceremony, which I don't understand too well. All I know is that the chicken must have a head in order for it to be used as an offering, and is therefore blessed.

My Mum's famous "Nam Yu" duck

Home made Roast Pork

Dried scallops, sea cucumber, oyster, fish stomach with Roast pork

Steamed fish - Nin Nin Yow Yu (don't ask me to translate)

Fried chicken fillets for....

The kids' favourite Honey Chicken

Dried radish and taro stew

Garlic Brocolli

Table view #1

Tradition has it that you need to have 9, 12 or 15 dishes. Since we went over the 9 dish mark, we had to make 12 dishes. The only problem was we ran outta room on the table for 12 dishes! There was a lot of reshuffling, and splitting some food into smaller plates for the kids to make room for.....

Ginger and shallot Lobster!

Table view #2

But wait! There's more! A dish that we always make is "Tong Yuen". Which is basically dumplings made from glutinous rice flour. This is then added to a pot of soup which has everything in it. Theres heaps of vegetables, meat, dried shrimp and countless other ingredients. This dish is only made once a year in our family. It is to signify a reunion, which is exactly what this is.

I went for a VERY small bowl to make room for the other dishes!

After making complete pigs of ourselves, it was time to get ready for the temple. Usually I never ever go to the temple with my parents. The last time I went would've been a good 10-15 years ago. When we were living in Glebe, the whole family will walk over to the local Sze Yup temple after the feast. But since we've moved, our siblings have slowly stopped going. I remember the last time I went, the smoke from the incense was so intense, I ended up crying as it was stinging my eyes so much. Then theres the falling hot ashes from the incense. Because it gets so crowded, everyone holds their bunch of incense high up in the air to avoid burning people. But then you can't avoid falling ashes. Nor can you avoid burning yourself with the ash because you don't know what you're doing! (I've got 2 welts on my fingers) But since we were going to head over earlier this year, I decided to tag along.

Sze Yup Temple

Stalls selling incense and charms

Lighting up a entire bunch of incense PER PERSON

Big fire outside to burn the remaining incense sticks

There is also multiple lion dancing performances throughout the night. We happened to see our friends performing in one of them, but by the time I pulled my camera out, show was over. So we hung around for the next show:

3 lions

The "Band"

Fire crackers!!

Dragon dance

Gong Hei Fat Choi!

Gong Hei Fat Choi! May the year of the pig bring you luck, fortune, prosperity and love! And gimme my red packet damnit!

The Aunty that bakes

My sister doesn't like baking. She has no patience and constantly opens the oven door to check on whatever it is she is baking. This, obviously affects the result of the cake/cookies which in turn, makes her check her cake more often to see if its going wrong or not. Its a vicious circle.

My nephews aren't huge fans of cakes and cookies, simply because they didn't grow up with the smell of cakes and cookies wafting from the oven. I do try and bake for them occasionally, but as they grow older, they come over less since they're old enough to stay home by themselves. But every now and then, out of the blue, my nephews would ask me to bake for them. Even cutting cookie dough from a tube, they would prefer it if I made it. Somehow, my cookies and cakes always turn out better than my sisters.

I've been making a lot of cookies and friands for them, but I know they like chocolate. They're not fancy eaters, and would pick a good old fashion chocolate cake over something like creme brulee any day. So thats what I baked. A chocolate cake.

The chocolate sponge cake was very standard. Nothing special there. But what the kids really really liked, was the icing. Well, it was more like a rich chocolate ganache that I smothered all over the cake. I also sandwiched a big fat wad of that in between layers of sponge as well. The cake was quickly demolished! In fact, I don't even remember getting a slice of cake......I did get some crumbs though...

Easy Peasy Peanut Butter Cookies

Because of my Niece's intolerence to gluten, dairy and eggs, I've been obsessed with finding recipes that don't require 20 odd ingredients just to make something half decent and edible. I eventually stumbled across the world's easiest peanut butter cookies. Actually, easiest cookies ever. Unless you are cutting the dough from a tube.

Easy Peasy Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter (I like crunchy)
1 cup sugar
1 egg (Chicken or duck)

That's it. Mix all ingredients together. Roll or spoon onto a baking sheet. Using a fork where the prongs have been dipped into sugar, press onto the cookie dough in a cross format. The granulated sugar will stop the fork from sticking to the dough and also gives it a crunchy top.

Pop into a preheated oven for 12-15mins on 180 degrees. Cool on a rack and enjoy.

You can spice the cookies up by adding extra nuts for more crunch. I also put about 1/2 - 2/3 of the sugar as I don't like my cookies so sweet.

MMMmmm cookies...

Chinese new year parade

With Chinese New Year looming right ahead, we thought we would get into the spirit and head out to the city to watch the parade. This is the first time EVER that we've been out for parades like this. We usually go out to Chinatown, buy our stuff and leave. But since my parents were in the mood for a bit of festivities, we might as well go see what the fuss was all about.

Despite rocking up late, I managed to edge my way to the railing to get a front row seat (I always edge my way to the front hehehe)

Year of the pig!

Dragon dancing

Tiger Zodiac

Dragon Zodiac

Miss Australia (Chinese version)

There was so much colour and noise. Float after float of colourful costumes with glitters and fur. Drums and cymbals going off left right and centre. Me, I was just being my trigger happy self:

Until I looked closer, and who should I see but my two friends Vicky and Sonya! I've known these two girls since I was 5 years old! I had a feeling they would be participating, but I didn't expect to see them, or for them to hear me screaming their names in amongst the crowds!

Rooster Zodiac

Dance performances

Dog Zodiac

After the parade was over, we decided to head over to Spice I am for lunch instead of Chinatown to avoid the crowd. Luckily we got there before the crowd hit and managed to score a table near the fan.

Chicken Chilli Jam with Cashews

Cracked rice and thai sausage salad

Fermented vermicelli and fish curry

My parents really enjoyed the Chicken Chilli Jam, but was majorly disappointed by the vermicelli. There is actually no fish with the fish curry. They literally give you the fish curry sauce. Whilst last time when we ordered a version without fish, it actually came with fish. Like what the? The salad was really nice and didn't burn our tongue off since I asked for it to be mild ;)

After eating, we strolled back to Belmore Park where the crowds have picked up significantly since we arrived. The stalls were packed with people and the air was filled with wafts of deliciously grilled meats and other goodies:

Takoyaki

Satay Sticks

Small pot plants of Bok Choy for $6 each

We used to grow these "Good fortune trees" about 10 years ago. They used to cost an arm and a leg, but my parents always thought it was well worth the money as the seed of the plant looks like a nugget of gold in the olden days. Hence it was supposed to bring luck and fortune. Go figure. But they don't last long and usually die out after 1-2 years and you would need to buy another plant.

So now we count down to the real Chinese New Year. 7 days left and then......Hong Bao!! MUahAUAHaUa

Sumalee reborn

We've been waiting, and waiting since my 25th birthday, for Sumalee to reopen. (We didn't even think we would ever see them open after our near death experience.) Its been over a year before Bank hotel reopened, and another 2months+ for Sumalee to open. So when we saw the review in 9 to 5 magazine for Sumalee, an invite was sent out, time was set and booking was made.

I was supposed to stay back at work on Friday to finish my Performance Appraisal, but Sumalee was calling and I was out of the office 5:15pm on the dot. (I'll do my appraisal on the weekend! hehehe)

So what can I say? I was disappointed by the new Sumalee. More specifically, the ambiance is all wrong. What I loved about the old Sumalee was the fact that you would think you were in Thailand, with the rustic furniture and decorations, thatched roofs offering shade, lanterns and fairy lights giving a warmth to the place. Yes the floor was uneven, sometimes the table slopes, it got cramped when it was busy, but you would not think that you were in Newtown, you would almost believe that you were in Thailand. (Well, after 2 Long Island Teas, 3 Caprioskas and a Ultra Violet, you will think you were in Thailand).

The new Sumalee is modern, chic and....sterile. Too hygienic funnily enough.

Sitting in Bank Hotel's Courtyard

Beware of falling ashes from the people sitting above

The decorations are more simplistic

Alot more spacious than the old Sumalee

This photo is for you Gus

The new Sumalee also provide laminated menus for each table. Whilst this is great in deciding what to order, I miss the MASSIVE blackboard that used to hang by the register with the hand written specials (that rarely ever changed hehehe). The prices are similar to what they used to be, and looking at the other tables, the servings were still huge. So for 6 people, we decided to go with 5 dishes.

One thing to note, the rice is no longer per person. Its per serve. The old Sumalee, you pay $2 per person, and eat rice until you're so bloated you can't move. When we asked for a refill, they bought me a small plate of rice after they took away my gold fish bowl. I asked for the bowl back and they tried to charge me $12 for rice as they assumed we wanted ANOTHER 6 serves of rice. Like OMG, I know we eat a lot, but not THAT much. Look at the size of the bowl!!

Jasmine rice - $2 per serve

Spicy roast duck salad with fresh ginger and cashew nuts - $19

We used to absolutely crave for Sumalee's duck salad, but maybe its the new chef, but I found it was a bit of ginger overload, not enough herbs (I lurrrrrve herbs) and not enough dressing. We always looked forward to scraping every last bit of dressing from the bottom of the plate to enjoy over the steaming hot rice. By the time we go to the bottom of this plate, it was dry as a bone. It was nice, but not the same as the old Sumalee

Chicken breast fillets with Chilli Jam and Cashew Nuts
- $20 for entree, $27 for main

Chicken Chilli Jam was one of the best dishes in Sumalee. Infact, it was the one dish we all knew we wanted to order. And we knew we were going to be fighting over it since Gus the Bus insisted on getting a plate all to himself. So we ordered 2 serves. He still wasn't allowed to have a whole plate to himself!! This was almost as good as it used to be. Some complained it was a bit too sweet, I actually thought it wasn't as sweet as it used to be. We still polished it off anyway. Both plates that is.

"Tom Sab" - Hot and Spicy Pork Rib Hot Pot with Tamarind and Thai Herbs - $22

This was a new dish for us. We usually get Tom Yum Gung, but thought we'd try this one out. The pork ribs were meltingly tender, but the broth lacked the kick that comes with Tom Yum. It was still spicy, but was missing the really nice sour taste and the nam prik pao that makes the Tom Yum Gung special. There was plenty of lemon grass, kaffir lime leaf and galangal, but not enough mushrooms and tomatoes. I think this was partly to do with all the rich meaty dishes we were ordering. We were desperately craving for some veggies!

Sumalee Special - Roast duck red curry with sweet potatoes

Another one of our favourite dishes that has resurfaced at the new Sumalee. This curry was much much thicker than we're used to, and there was a obvious film of oil floating on top of the curry. The sweet potatoes were tender and the curry was rich and satisfying. I would prefer it to be thinner though so we could eat more. After a few spoonfuls of this, I was feeling like a stuffed turkey.

So overall? The food was good, but it wasn't the old Sumalee good. Maybe they're still trying to get back into the swing of things. We'll be going back, but not as frequent as we used to. I actually prefer the food at Chedi more than Sumalee. But if Bank Hotel brings back their half price cocktails, which they have hinted that they would eventually, we'll be back to Sumalee before you can say happy hour!

After eating until we were sick, we decided to take a stroll from Sumalee back to the footbridge theatre by cutting through Sydney Uni. This brought back lots of memories. We usually drive into Usyd and park outside Madsen which was our old hangout, but this time we were walking through the back of the campus, past lecture theaters we've been to but can't remember the name or the subject. It was great reminiscing about old times......except that its a sign of old age!!

As for the photos, these are also for Gus. Yes Gus, they're blog worthy! And I said I'll put them up didn't I??

Some building

View of Parramatta Road from the footbridge