CNY: Chinese New Year 2011!

Happiness, health, and success are the common requests during the Chinese New Year celebration, some also ask for a life partner and what not.  But this Chinese New Year, the wants were simple, nothing to spill but it was simple.  The Lee family as usual, was kept busy regardless of whether they were in  Malaysia, Singapore or Australia.  Mom was up early on most days to prepare food. Going vegetarian on the CNY day itself left with me with running tummy thrice! Insane much really.  And then because we were too hungry, mom, dad and I woke up at 3 in the morning looking for food! LOL?!  

 

Fast forwarding the events to last night, the Lee family finished the celebration with a dinner at Pantai Seafood.  All the food that night (with the exception of the vegetable) was delicious but  it costed an arm and a leg due to the price hike which is a norm during this period of festivity.  I must thank my Aunt Chris and Sei Sook for the food that night!  And for all the other yummy meals, my mom, dad and Yee Koo!

The Yee Sang is a common dish where diners use their chopsticks to toss an interesting mixture of crisps, ginger, salmon, jelly fish and vegetables.  While tossing the mixture, they wish others well for the new year!

 

Steamed crabs :)!  The best way to describe the crab meat is delicious sweetness with a hint of alcohol aroma!

 

Crispy chicken!!  Ohh those red crackers!  Definitely love those.  Its a must have at pretty much every Chinese dinner.  Pantai Seafood does it well!  Every bite was tender unlike some other restaurants that over fries the chicken until it becomes so dry!!!

 

Delicacy cruelty! This was the suckling pig!   Very good and very sinful.  Crispy skin with yummy layers of fat and meat!  Dip the vege into the sweet sauce and take savour the beautiful chemistry of flavours ;-)! The front bits are the pigs head chopped into four bits ahah. 

 

For the night, we had a fish, pork, chicken, crab, vegetable, glutinous rice, yee sang, lala and a dessert.  And we only had 10 people =X!  I believe we had enough food for at least 12-13 people that night! Because I was filled to brim even before the fish came out, I decided to take photos of people! Its CNY man, its nothing without family and friends isn’t it?

My Sam Suk!  Believe it or not, he makes killer roast pork! His roast pork on CNY eve was legendaryyy!!!! :D!

 

My cousin Cyrus and his mom, Aunt Chris!

 

Cyrus and my Yee Ku!  Thanks too all the aunty and uncles for all the large ang paus this year HAHAHA!

 

My cousin Prodip and his dad Uncle Dipak!  Prodip is a kick ass taekwondo pro man!

 

My dad and mom :)!  Thanks for everything parents!!!

 

Family photo for this one! And shits man! 22 years still smile fail.  Why have I never wished that I had the perfect smile?  Maybe because it doesn’t matter so long as I am happy!  Appreciate what you have and not what you want ma!! Haiyoooo! :P!

 

One of the main highlights of the night was the karaoke session.  We had the dinner in a karaoke room.  I think it was complementary because my aunt frequents this place for dinner on busy working days!

The father son connection ;-)!  Next time if you cannot tell who’s the father and the son.  Pay attention to their posture.  OMG.  Even their fingers seem bent in the same manner @.@! 

 

ABBA anyone?  It was oldies all night long man! RWARRRRRR

 

My uncle singing for his wife in Canberra! “… I WANNA HOLD YOUR HANDDDD!, I WANNA HOLD YOUR HANDDDDDDD!!!”

My dad looks like a kid in this picture ahah. So funny xD! He’s hitting the big 60 this year and woa! He only looks like he’s in his later forties!

Every bit of the night was enjoyable as it should be! The jolly company, the good karaoke session and the nice food!  Happy that I was back here for the holidays! Meeting up with the family was good fun.  I somewhat don’t feel isolated anymore when they talk old people stuff.  I used to wonder about the weird topics they spoke of when I was a little kid man!  So complicated, but growing older doesn’t make it any better!! Maybe I was better off being left young and lost! :P! Soon after the dinner, I met up with Justin a.k.a my homie! Twice in three months is disappointing but better some than none! 

 

WenY

Cari Makan:Nagomi @ KL

Been slacking around.  Watched the Green Hornet yesterday before having my face placed in the hall of shame for flunking my IELTS.  Nonetheless, it is time to move on. Still plenty of chances, so I though yeah, whatever.  8.5 8.5 7.5 6.5 and life goes on.  Feeling a bit down yesterday, darling and I treated ourselves to some yummy Thai food @ Good Evening Bangkok at 1Utama after the movie.  Their chicken and coconut mushroom soup was the bomb with their red curry chicken faring well too.  And this morning, *BOOM* went the toilet ahah.  And for lunch today, my parents brought me to Menara Hap Seng to pick up my birth certificate before having lunch there.  We decided to go for a Japanese meal at Nagomi which is situated in Menara Hap Seng itself.  Mom has been here once before and the food here is not bad, so she thought that we’d give it a try.

Sitting in the restaurant I saw this.  Can you see the similarity between these buildings.  All white in colour with a fairly identical curvy corner design.

Decided to snap a shot of mom and dad!

Smile parents! Thanks for the lunch ;-)!  The place had a fairly nice interior.  Surprisingly, there wasn’t too many people there for lunch.  The price was not cheap but not killer either.

After studying the menu, I realise that I did not have too many choices.  There was lots of sashimi and fish dishes everywhere! Not really my kind of stuff.  In the end, I settled for the spider roll!

It felt quite a lot despite the small size of each sushi.  But the plate was huge though @@! But I think the best dish was the salmon teriyaki that mom ordered.  Really delicious. There were heaps of ginger in there for sure and it diminished my concern for foul smelling seafood!  Dad had the chicken katsu which was below mediocre.  Not the way I liked anyways ahah.  Not to mention, it felt as if it was under-fried and drenched in oil @@!

I enjoyed the meal at Nagomi, good stuff.  Nice ambience,as it was really quiet!  The fish that mom ordered was definitely a standout!  On a different note, CNY is soon and not clothes at the moment @@! Fred Perry? The hype is killing, so is the price tag.  Maybe I will get just one because I like the colour a lot!! Ok then, over and out!

WenY

Cari Makan: Fat Spoon @ Damansara Uptown.

For the last four years, I have been spending pretty much all my time in Australia.  Never did I have much exposure to the new eateries that KL had to offer.  My parents being inclined the restaurants we frequent are usually clueless about the newer places in town.  Fortunately, Yobi and his sister has tried plenty of places.  After some chat yesterday, another good place that is in his good books is Fat Spoon @ Damansara Uptown next to Hon Kee Porridge. Not much convincing was needed as Yobi’s girl Josephine acknowledges that place as a good eating house!  When we went in I felt comfortable immediately causatively by the decor which bears a strong resemblance in motive to the decor at the Moon cafe in Perth.  Random furniture composed like lyrical nodes to create that perfect atmosphere.  But this place took it further by only using furniture which has a strong Asian influence.

Be the judge, the culinary tools.  And more importantly, they used very same style of storage cupboard which my grandmother uses back in Taiping.  Classic huh?  There is a lot more to the decor to this place than what I have taken but it was pretty crowded then, so I did not go around nosing my camera at every detail that this place offered.

When we went there, we were handed these kid storybook (pic above) which have been converted to a menu.  But that was only after a several moments of neck twisting action from trying to read the menu off the blackboard.  Hesitating on what to order and what not to order, we finally settled for three rice dishes.  Truth be said, we were not even hungry because of the sandwiches at O’Brien but had to eat in order to catch the Reds in action.  Good ending for Liverpool at least :)!

After awhile, our food came.  After being promptly offered extra plates for sharing, we happily tucked into our food.

  Nasi Goreng Sambal served with Pappadam.  The chicken was well fried and the pickled vegetables were every bit as delicious as it should be in a dish like one.  The fried rice was tasty the chicken was yummy and the pickles tasted fresh with all the heavier offerings on the plate.

Similar chicken and pickled vegetables might deceive but this fried rice was on an entirely different level from the other.  Cooked with finely chopped vegetables such  as lemon grass,  the Nasi Goreng Ulam had a hint of tom yam in it.  It was quite nice but one has to get used to the strong flavour.

Last up was the Nasi Kampung.

The Nasi Kampung comes with Fat Spoon’s specialty Nonya Curry, Salted Egg, Stir fried beans and tamarind prawns.  My whole family thought it was pretty good although mom and dad preferred the other two.  I think the specialty curry did not stand out well enough.  However, the salted egg complimented the curry nicely.  My dad first told me about this combination a couple of years ago and ever since, I have found it to be very delicious!

The offerings of this Rm14.90 meal was pretty decent.  Some prawns, chicken, vegetables and egg.  Pretty good value if compared to the 30 dollar Nasi Lemak at Madam Kwan’s.  A bit small but still, it was a whole lot of variety!

Lastly, when I saw this on the menu, I just had to try it.  Crème Caramel.

Lol at Rm3.90 it was a steal.  But it tasted no different from the ones in the supermarket back in Oz.  So next time if I don't stay in Oz and start missing the diet crème caramel from the supermarkets, I’ll drop by again :P!

Liked this place, but I think coming here with friends might be more appropriate than with family.  Noisy bunch of teenagers make this place not so ideal for families.  I saw another family of three.  They look pretty out of place ahah.  Nonetheless, enjoyable!  Maybe noodles in my next visit!  Oh, I must not forget the super nice Iced Lemon Tea which was full of lemon taste.  This give me a reason to believe that their Rm9 hot chocolate will not be a rip off!

WenY