Double Reunion & Happy New Year!

I am very lucky that I still get to have reunion dinner with my parents every year, and still make it with my in-laws. My parents usually start early whereas my in-law has a big clan and it usually takes awhile to start and to finish. So, each year I will steal the opportunity to have double reunion, start with an early dinner with my parents and then adjourn to my in-laws.

As usual, lots of food, lots of chit chatting, and the kids had fun time of their own. My father bought them a whole big box of "pop pop", I think there was 50boxes inside and 4 kids finished it all in 1 night. They were also very creative in playing it, not just throw and popped it but they had a strategy. The boys built a "castle" with the empty boxes and they fight to hit the castle to blow it down. My girl, at 5+ years old was not very far behind the game. She was quite a "samseng" as well, catch her in action here...

My mother is usually nowhere to be seen. It is rather difficult to have her to sit down, she is always too busy with the cooking and serving. My dad will be joining the kids, monitoring them as they play. In the end it was the 3 of us and our spouse sitting by the dinning table and making noises as we chit chat, joke and sharing funny moments (hehe).

I had no picture taken at the in-law house (oops), usually there were too many "photographers" and too many cameras...so I just keep my and concentrate eating (haha).

After the 2nd round of reunion dinner, the adults at my in-laws usually gathered and play card games while the kids were warming up and waiting for the fireworks moment. We stayed there until almost midnight and get back to my house and get ready for this...

We moved Simba to the next junction before the clock hits 12.



and then it was action! Sorry, bad angle picture because I was scared myself (haha)

So that was it! Officially welcomed the year of Rabbit!

Eve of The Eve

The Lee clan actually celebrated the eve of the eve this year and we headed for a festival feast at the Spice Market Cafe Rasa Sayang, catching the buy 1 get 1 free deal.

As usual Charlotte had lots and lots of fun with her cousin brothers around, especially Abraham...or should I say she is close to anyone who has iPhone, iPad, Wii, PS and etc. See how she monopolized the iPad from her cousin brother...

Meal time was long, or intentionally long. We spent a lot of time chit chatting and enjoying the reunion. My brothers, Pat and myself have a lot in common to talk about, like career, family, investment, hobby and my parents are usually listening, observing and laughing at some of our crazy moments. 

Overall, we had a great time at the early reunion and it is always a must to capture a family photo...I was at 32 weeks!



年年有鱼(余)!

It's the year of Rabbit and Gong Xi Fa Chai everyone!! This year I didn't bake any of the Chinese New Year cookies because physically I just couldn't cope with the chores. However, I still did something, something easy but interesting --- Jelly. I bought several fish molds and with simple coloring I made Japenese Koi Fish Jelly, symbolizing 年年有余. My initial attempt only yielded half of the portion. The control of the coloring wasn't good, and the mold was a little too difficult to handle. But the result was very nice. So I decided to do it again, and I had 100% yield the 3rd time, at last. I gave this auspicious symbolic jelly away to my parents, brothers and in-laws. They all loved it!

I also had several demand of cakes that I used to bake, like the Orange Cranberry Buttercake and Cheesecake. I had my brother to buy back a big pack of dried Cranberries from the States and it was just in time for CNY baking. The biggest hit this year was a new Cheesecake recipe that I found. I tried it a couple of weeks before CNY, and I baked it for my parents on new year's eve and then I baked it again for another gathering with my in-law. It has great smooth and silky texture, not too sweet, not too heavy. I am definitely adding this to my recipe collection!