To my dearest family and Malaysian relatives,Happy Lunar New Year 2009!
I wish to give a big hug and word of thanks to my wonderful cousin, TK, who took most of the photographs that you see in this post and in the attached slide show at the bottom of this post, using my digital camera (as the womenfolk were busy in the kitchen at my maternal grandmother's home, cooking for the hungry men!). Thanks, dude!
Before we left for Malaysia, my family had a quick breakfast at the Haig Road hawker centre in Singapore. There is a stall at this hawker centre that sells vegetarian food. You can order a plate of vegetarian noodles or you can order the vegetarian ingredients on their own (in whole pieces).
My sister-in-law (MF) and Da decided to order a plate each of fried carrot cake instead. Whilst the fried carrot cake was delicious, it cannot compare (taste-wise) with the one sold near my maternal grandmother's home in Muar, Malaysia. Actually, the dish is made of white radish instead of carrots.
The irony of the matter is that it is easier to get to Muar, Malaysia from my mother's home in Singapore than it is to get to certain places within Singapore itself! Once you get onto the East Coast Parkway (ECP), drive straight in the direction of Tuas until you reach the Tuas customs checkpoint. After you have cleared the Tuas customs checkpoint, continue driving straight across the 2nd Link until you reach the Malaysian customs checkpoint. Once you have cleared the Malaysian customs checkpoint, simply drive straight along the North-South highway until you see the Ayer Hitam exit. When you turn at the exit and go pass the toll house, make a left turn and continue driving straight until you reach Batu Pahat. At Batu Pahat, turn right at the traffic junction where you see a huge mosque (you cannot miss it) and continue driving straight until you reach Parit Jawa. Make a left turn at the traffic light at Parit Jawa and continue driving until you reach the roundabout located just outside my maternal grandmother's home. See? Easy as A-B-C. How many of you have made more left turns and right turns in trying to get to certain locations within Singapore? (If you miss the left turn at the traffic light at Parit Jawa and drive straight instead, no worries because you will still end up near my grandmother's home except that you will arrive at the 2nd roundabout instead of the roundabout nearest her home. There are only 3 roundabouts in Muar town.)
My family decided to drive to Muar, Malaysia in 2 batches. My mother, my brother (LB), my sister-in-law (MF), Da and I went in the 1st batch in the morning. My brother (LG) and his girlfriend (ZT) would arrive later in the day as LG had to cook an early dinner first for his precious "boy-boy" (yes, the Jack Russell Terrier whose photographs appear everywhere in my blog!).At Ayer Hitam, we decided to take a coffee break. Da parked in front of a coffee shop and the five of us shared 2 gigantic steamed buns (commonly known as "big pau"). Inside the buns are braised chicken fillet and hard boiled egg.
This Chinese New Year is truly a season of abundance. There was endless food and plenty of laughter, fun and bonding. It is also a season of thanksgiving - UV and UR volunteered at the temple where my maternal grandmother's tablet is placed.As per past tradition, my grandmother's sisters (my 4th grandaunt, 6th grandaunt and 7th grandaunt) stayed over at my grandmother's home during Chinese New Year.
Muar is not a very big town. There are several roads in the main town area that have names but are often referred to by the locals as "First Street", "Second Street", etc. The Fourth Street is also known as "Glutton Street" because there are many coffee shops and road-side stalls located along this street. One of the specialities is that of the fish ball noodles. Unlike fish ball noodles sold in Singapore, the dry noodles are mixed with black sauce instead of tomato sauce. The chilli sauce (which is home-made) is served separately.
Tuayi had ordered "tan san" (which is a fried snack made from flour and preserved red beancurd) to make a vegetarian "yee sang". Traditionally, "yee sang" (fish salad) is a salad comprising shredded raw vegetables mixed with raw fish (eg. salmon), ground peanuts and plum sauce. However, as Tuayi is a vegetarian, she would usually make a vegetarian version of "yee sang" during Chinese New Year. In addition to adding ground peanuts, she will also add "tan san".
Nowadays, my relatives celebrate the reunion dinner (held on the Eve of Chinese New Year) by having a steamboat dinner. This year, AJ (the wife of UJ) demonstrated her labour of love by marinating chicken drumstick with curry powder. UJ had made a passing remark to AJ to the effect of "Is there only steamboat for reunion dinner this year?" and the dear lady decided to marinate and fry chicken drumstick to keep her darling happy.
AJ also demonstrated her cooking skills by preparing the ingredients for "shui gao" (a type of meat dumpling wrapped in wanton skin which can be deep fried or added to soup). She had learned how to make "shui gao" from AH (wife of UT).
The job of filling the wanton skin with the marinated ingredients fell to AJ's angels, PY and PW.
Knowing how hot and humid it can be during Chinese New Year, Tuayi cooked a lovely hot and sweet dessert comprising, inter alia, honey dates, dried longan, white fungus, ginko nuts, etc. It was very refreshing indeed!
I brought along a salad that I had prepared. I wanted to bring the salad dressing that Da had concocted using apple cider vinegar, olive oil, honey, freshly squeezed lemon juice, Italian herbs, sugar and freshly ground mixed peppercorn but we were concerned that the salad dressing would spill out during the car journey.
GPL had given me several rolls of home-made spring roll, so I brought some to share with my relatives. As there is no oven in Muar, Tuayi decided to deep fry the spring rolls instead. Delicious, as always! (Hi GPL, my Muar relatives remember you as the guy who asked for the "Three Elephant" brand of sauce.)
A big "thank you" to my maternal grandmother for sharing with me her recipe for "Zi Zhoh" (sweet potato kueh). As this recipe originates from people who came from China, it is not common to find "Zi Zhoh" sold commercially. While I remember seeing a stall at a hawker centre several years ago that sold something similar, the difference is that the commercially sold version of this kueh tends to contain a lot of flour, thereby making the kueh quite hard. Also, the stall holders tend to use the cheaper type of sweet potato which is not as sweet. Not only does my grandmother's recipe involve the use of glutinous rice flour (instead of plain flour), the proportion of flour to sweet potato is 5 part sweet potato to 1 part flour. This year, I bought 5 kg worth of sweet potato to make the "Zi Zhoh".
No Chinese New Year would be complete without Chinese New Year cookies! In addition to the cookies that my relative had brought to my grandmother's home, I had baked 6 types of cookies for my relatives to enjoy this year:-(a) very chocolatey chocolate chip cookies
(b) nestum and oat cookies
(c) chewy cheese cookies
(d) apricot cookies
(e) peanut butter cookies
(f) melting moments
I also baked a nutty brownie the night before we left for Muar and brought the brownie to Muar for everyone to share.
My mother brought a very dense fruit pudding which Tuayi steamed to perfection for one and all to enjoy.
UJ concocted his specialty - mixed dessert. It is a mixture of canned fruits. This year, we also added a multi-layered and multi-coloured agar-agar that MIL gave Da and me.
The highlight of the reunion dinner was, of course, the steamboat. This year, AJ made a soup base comprising chicken (with the bones) and turnip. It was an interesting combination and made the soup very sweet. A big thanks to my cousin (DL) for cooking the steamboat ingredients.
This year, the youngsters were delegated by UT to toss the "yee sang" on behalf of everyone.
In Malaysia, it is common to see firecrackers being lit during Chinese New Year.
"Tung hoon" (that is, glass noodles) is usually cooked in soup. However, Tuayi fried the "tung hoon" with tom yam paste and a lot of vegetables. It was so delicious that I could not resist a second helping of the noodles. The secret to a good tom yum dish is sugar. You need to add sugar to balance the sourish taste of tom yum.
It is a tradition amongst my relatives that "mee sua" (longevity noodles) will be eaten for breakfast on the first day of Chinese New Year. The soup base cooked using chicken bones. The "mee sua" is eaten with chicken meat (cooked in the soup) and hard boiled eggs.
There was a sudden commotion in the kitchen (which is located at the back of the house) in the morning of the first day of Chinese New Year. While my brother (LB) was washing the dishes, he saw a huge creature (see photograph below) slowly crawling past the back of my grandmother's home without a care in the world. According to ASN (I could not use "AJ" as her acronym as it would be the same as "AJ", the wife of UJ... *grin*), it is common to see such creatures (and even snakes) crawling at the back of the house.
My cousin (PY) demonstrated her "pineapple eye removal skills" for the benefit of my digital camera.
On saturday, 24 January 2009, my mother had requested that Da and I buy the rich fruit cake from Don's pie to bring to Muar, Malaysia as she knows that it is a favourite of my cousin (HL).
How does one pass the time during Chinese New Year? Play mahjong, of course! All my mother's relatives are experts at playing mahjong. I have to admit that Da's and my mahjong skills are the worst of the lot. During Chinese New Year, my relatives will usually play mahjong overnight.
There are many versions of achar (pickled vegetables). One of my favourites is Tuayi's version, which comprises cucumber, pineapple, chilli padi, freshly squeezed lime juice and brown sugar. AJ's version is similar but includes big yellow onions. Another version that I like is AH's version (may I have the recipe, please, AH?).
If there is one thing that you can be sure when you are at my grandmother's home in Muar during Chinese New Year, it is that you will never go hungry. The supply of food seems to be endless! Actually, the eating is also non-stop!
Tuayi and my cousin (HL) demonstrated their liking for Japanese food by making a batter for tempura and frying mushroom tempura. The batter comprises plain flour, corn flour, water and Italian herbs (of your choice). (Did I miss out any ingredient, girl?) It is important that the enough water is added to give the batter a soft flowing consistency.
Other than the sound of mahjong, the other thing that you tend to hear all day is the sound of text messages being received on the mobile phone. As each of us carries a mobile phone and it is traditional to send greetings via text messages during Chinese New Year, you can imagine the "music" that is heard every now and then as text messages are sent and received.
It is also common to have a meal at one of the few Chinese restaurants in Muar. One of my relatives' favourite is "Chuan Tin Restaurant", located near my grandmother's home. This year, the deep fried yam ring was topped with big prawns instead of vegetables.
Another Muar specialty is that of the fried "mee sua".
Some of us prefer the fried "lor mee", which tastes similar to that of the "Kuala Lumpur hokkien mee".
The sierviettes supplied by the restaurant came in hand for my cousin (PW) to demonstrate her origami-making skills.
In the old days, the shops tend to be closed during Chinese New Year as this is the only time of rest for the shop owners. Nowadays, some shops and most of the food outlets are open for business during Chinese New Year. In more recent years, it has become a yearly tradition for AJ, PY, PW, Da and I ("the Gang of Five") to go the "Glutton Street" for breakfast on the second day of Chinese New Year. This year, we decided to be more healthy and order porridge.
One should end a meal on a sweet note, so we shared some chicken Seremban siew pau that I bought.
Another tradition that the Gang of Five has developed in recent years is to patronise Fung Seng Confectionery on the second day of Chinese New Year.
Most people would do their shopping for new clothes and new shoes before Chinese New Year. However, the Gang of Five would patronise the Hoover Shoe Store on the second day of Chinese New Year.
This year, we came across a new shoe shop where I bought a pair of black slip-on PU leather shoes for work. The shop owner was confident that when I have worn the shoes, I will be so pleased with the quality of his shoes that I will patronise his shop again.
Another popular destination for tourists in Muar is that of Yong Sheng confectionery. All throughout the year, one can see bus-loads of tourists making a stopover at Yong Sheng to buy local goodies, etc.
When the Gang of Five went back to Glutton Street for a cool drink of chrysanthemum with herbal tea, we spied a road side stall selling "muah chee". We have not eaten this snack for years and could not resist buying 2 boxes of muah chee. Each box cost RM2.
Throughout the town of Muar, one can pass by big mansions. There are quite a number of renowned personalities in Singapore and Malaysia who hail from Muar.
All in all, a total of almost 700 photographs were taken during Chinese New Year this year. Here is a sampling of some of the photographs in slideshow format. Enjoy!Get ready to receive miracles, overabounding blessings and a year of victory!
Love to one and all,
Pebbles
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