Gong Xi Fa Cai

 

Happy Chinese New Year! May the year of the water dragon bring us all luck, prosperity and good health! This year we are at our new home celebrating chinese new year for the first time here. I havent even finished blogging about Christmas and what do you know, it is already Chinese New Year! A couple of days after Christmas I had the tree put away and a sprinkling of red replaces the decoration in our house for the month of January.

The house has lately also been smelling of baked new year's goods and other treats. I haven't done baking for new year's for the longest time, and this year I am starting again with hubby's request, starting with some pineapple tarts. I even attempted homemade nian gao and braised shiitake mushrooms! We live in a very multicultural street and we have been so lucky to have had all sorts of treats given to us "for chinese new year!". Some interesting items included sweet indian dumplings( I forgot what they were called), deep fried and then soaked in a sweet sugar syrup. Just before we sat down for our reunion dinner, yet another knock on our door opens up to the sight of freshly steamed giant buns with red dates slotted into them, check that out!

We were away last year and the rest of the family here had an almost non existent chinese new year celebration (they had fish and chips for their reunion dinner! And leftovers for the first day haha!). So this year, we had everyone over our place and placed a feast in front of them. It is tradition back in Singapore to have steamboat for reunion dinner at my parents' house, so I do the same at mine. If we can have a steaming hot pot in Singapore's tropical weather, we can most certainly do the same in 34 degree heat in melbourne!

I can certainly no chef, I have never cooked the traditional dishes for the festive occasion before attempting the braised shiitake mushrooms, so hooray for the steamboat because all I had to do was buy the ingredients and away we feast! But the very aspiring and competent chef of my father in law, made a magnificent Lou Hei (a traditional Singaporean chinese new year salad -very apt!). It was so yummy! Third day into the new year we've already done it twice! Kayden got right into the tossing! He had his little spoon instead of chopsticks and was also flicking the salad into the air! He even stood on the table so he can do it higher than everyone else hah! We clinked our glasses and swished the meats into the simmering pot, sweating the night away! But hey it was a great dinner!

As the new year begins, we reflect on how much things and people have changed, Especially how much our little man has grown and really starting to develop his own personality. He now understands almost everything we say and sound his own opinions even when eavesdropping on the adults! A year ago, at new year's he was only still a babbling baby, scooting around on all fours! Now, on the first day of new year, with his hands clasped together, he tells us "Gong Xi Gong Xi!". But, only if you have a red packet in your hand ready to hand it to him! The cheeky little thing! He already knows the value of money! (He knows it gets him strawberries at the supermarket - "Pay! Eat!").

I hope you are all having a great start to the year so far!

Summer pickings

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My son LOVES strawberries. Or in his words, woberries. Late morning one day, the skies cleared up and it was warm and sunny. So we made a very impromptu trip to a strawberry farm!

Kayden has never known strawberries to come in any other form other than the plastic boxes they come in at the supermarkets. So on the way there, we said to him "We are going to pick some strawberries!". And I don't have a doubt that in his little head, he thought we were driving to the supermarket to get some. Usually, when its time to do a grocery shop at the supermarket, he will say Woberry?

So we collected a punnet at the door and lead him to the rows and rows of sweet smelling strawberry plants. "Loooook Kayden! What's that?" I said. He come closer to where I was pointing at near the ground, and then his eyes grew bigger and bigger in wonder. And he exclaimed, "WO-BERRY!!!!!".

A good little fruit picker he was. I told him not to pull on the white ones. And to turn them around to check if they were red all around. I was surprised he actually managed to pick some good ones! (Just only a little squished by the time he brought them to me). `


By the end of the afternoon, our bellies were full of strawberries and other sweets. YUM YUM!

Colours of Christmas

I had unintentionally bought fruits in red and greens, even my fruit bowl was looking Christmasy!

Up till Christmas we were still watering the lawns. Looking nice and green. We love going onto it barefoot, so soft and spongy.

Summer usually also means my green thumb is back. And at the moment, my lettuce leaves are thriving.

 A brightly coloured poinsettia sits on my table. Isn't it pretty!

Summer food (and work)

Keep going my boy, there's a whole TWO cubic meters of mulch to scoop!

Last week was pure summer bliss! We were out on day trips and where we are not out, we were back home working on the garden.  By the way, I don't remember giving K ice cream on a cone like this much before. But he now attempts to make playdoh ice cream in that shape! Must be an instinctual thing? I've ever only given him home made ice blocks (made out of smoothies or diluted juice) prior.

These photos are gold! Definitely ordering large prints on these!

2011 Melbourne Hail Storm

Seasons in Australia is the complete opposite of most other parts of the world. Where it is snowing in Europe, we are experiencing sweltering heatwaves here in Australia. Elsewhere, where people may be all rugged up in their winter wear making snow angels, most of us here are dressed in our lightest summer wear, slathering on the SPF and feeling the sand between our toes at the beach.

On Christmas Day morning, we slept in and I woke up to a beautiful sunny day. I love summer so I don't complain when its a hot 32 degree day. In fact I love it. Christmas dinner was to be at a cousin's who lives just a short distance away.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, I noticed the skies had suddenly turned a dark grey. And so I stepped out to take closer look. It was like a scene out of Charmed. What I wasn't expecting to see were dark swirling clouds, tumbling over themselves as they rolled above me in the sky. WTH!? Barely half an hour ago it was a sunny hot 32 degree heat.

 We were already running late for dinner (isn't it strange how the ones who lives the closest are very often the ones who turn up late!), so we packed ourselves into our car and pulled out of the driveway. Just in time to avoid a light feathery drizzle on ourselves.

But what was to be just a short 10 minute drive turned into an experience of a lifetime.

That light drizzle turned into a frenzied thunderstorm. The kind that had our windscreen wipers on our at its maximum speed and still we couldn't see ahead of us. We felt the car being pushed by the wine. We later learned it was 100km/h winds.

Then it hailed. Which isn't a first in Melbourne, but it hailed so hard ,we had to pull over onto the side of the road. And we waited for it to pass.

But it didn't! In fact, it hailed even harder. It was pretty scary in fact. And the noise that it made! We were fully expecting the windscreen to shatter right in front of us. I was worried. So I plucked some Christmas pressies from our backseat and I was shielding our faces with them.. just in case. Kayden was terrified.Sitting all alone in the backseat, his eyes blinked at the sound of every loud clatter the hail stones were making. His shoulders were up under his ears and he was shell shocked. At first he was saying "rain!". But soon he was going "Oh NO! Oh no!" with a very worried expression on his face.

We must have only stopped for about 5 minutes. But with the ferocity of the hail outside, we felt like we were trapped in a thin metal box with 6 glass windows which were about to shatter anytime. We knew it was a possibility the car was going to be a write off. But we are just thankful we weren't cut by shattered windows!

When the calm came, we turned around to check on the house. We were just only 2 minutes away, but I think it took a good 15 minutes because huge branches laid across the roads and several points were flooded and we had to take a detour to get back home.

By the time we stepped out of our car back home most of the hail have already melted. (It was 32 degrees outside just before after all). And these were some of the things we saw as we drove back home.

It was an incredible sight. We received hail some the size of golf balls. I have a friend who showed me a photo of their lawn, completely covered in a blanket of white hailstones. My plants in our garden beds are badly shredded as you can see. Also in my backyard, garden pots have been blown meters away, but miraculously none broken. We walked around the house inspecting it, but heaved a sigh of relief that we had no damage.

Our car is a different story though. Our brave black warrior that protected us from the hail now has battle scars. Dents on every single panel of the car. We counted over a hundred on the bonnet alone.

I don't like the snow, and have never wished for a white Christmas! But I suppose quite a few other people must have said that out loud because we sure had a white Christmas 2011! What an experience!

Our Christmas week in photos

First off, Happy New Year to all! I hope everyone's had a lovely festive season!

We had so much going on, you have no idea. Lots of Christmas entries to come. I have so much to share! Warning! Photo heavy entry.


K and I both came down with a yucky viral infection that left us both covered in bright red spots a week before Christmas. Thank god we both recovered in time to soak in the Christmas festivities!

Just before Christmas Eve dinner, we went to catch our local fire brigade Santa Christmas parade!

It's faster if you pedal K!

We came back after and had some frozen watermelon trees!

Photos with the little man were almost all blurry because he wouldn't keep still (hence the playdoh in his hand) or he refueses to look at the camera!

Christmas Eve was just us. Our little family of 3. I made a really simple chicken roast, scalloped potatoes and some organic greens. Here he is, waving to us to hurry up! It's chow time!

 Christmas for us is a huge extended family affair. Most of my mother-in-law's family lives here in Melbourne. And she ranks number 15 in her family. She has 14 other siblings! FOURTEEN. The little ones running around, the teenagers (where by rank, I am, urgh. Their grand aunty, due to the huge age gap between the senior members of the family) all slouched on the couches and carpet (on their gadgets of course), the parentals all gathered around the long dinner table sipping on their wines and gossiping, and us toddler moms sharing our latest parenting woes while trying to make sure our minis aren't scoffing down too much junk food! I love it!

Oh the food! We have some restaurateurs and chefs in the family, so we really do get spoilt at family occasions.  I always forget to take photos because I get too excited wowing at the food, calling out "Who made THIS yummy!?", pleading for recipes and piling my plate high. So I only remember my camera towards the end (where I jump up from my chair, leave my empty plate in its place to take photos of the food. So these were the sweets they were just only just starting to serve towards the end of the evening. No photos of my plate. I was too busy keeping little fingers picking marshmallows off reindeer cookies from me.

 

By the way, this is my yearly contribution. I'm the one that brings the finger lickin good (if I could even say so myself!) sticky date pudding. Short of putting a decorative bunch of mint leaves and strawberries on top, I have resigned to just leaving it look all boring and brown. So long it tastes yum I say!

My father-in-law's homemade silky smooth beancurd dessert - gone in minutes! So good!

Looks plain, but these were worth a mention because there were made by our 13 year old niece. They were so surprisingly soft, fluffy and fragrant! I see she gave up icing them, she made hundreds of mini ones!

Haha, I'm beginning to see a trend here. Plain again, but so melt in your mouth goodness! Fruit parcels these ones.

By 9pm, the little ones were getting feral, tired and grouchy. For some, it was a long drive home. It was an indication it was time for pressies!  The army of kids and teenagers gathered in the large family room and the sound of paper ripping was followed by squeals of excitement that followed.

He opens his first present. His favourite one of all!

Looks like it was no secret that K is addicted to the app =) You should have heard him laugh when he saw it!

He kept getting distracted, soon he was engulfed by his own presents. 

The boys checking out each other's presents. By the way, we got that Thomas book as part of a present for K's cousin, but because he picked it out for little D, he kept stealing it back thinking it was his!

It

It was a very big night for Kayden, we got home at midnight. He was all stimulated and sleep was not an option!  The very next day was Boxing day. After a light lunch, it was presents again. Round 2! K doesn't really get the significance of presents at Christmas yet. He now thinks all presents wrapped up belong to him and he has to open them all! We had dinner that night at his grandparents. And of course, it was Round 3 after dinner. He's abit of a Thomas (& Cars. Not just the movie, but especially the movie) fan. There were trains and more trains, cars and more cars!

This wasn't a present, a hand me down from someone but he couldn't get enough of it!

Mommy and Daddy got some goodies too! I have since put away some of his Christmas pressies. I'm rationing them out throughout the year.

 In short, we had a great Christmas. The little man got spoilt! And so did we. Surrounded by the ones we treasure near and far at this time of the year. Sharing the laughter and smiles. I took lots of mental snapshots too. There is NO dieting to be had. With Chinese New Year coming up in a few weeks, what diet!? Easter choccies have already made their appearance on the supermarket shelves!