My Favourite time of the year - CNY

Last year, somehow, I mistook Chinese New Year for being a day later. While 'facebooking', all my friends were posting about the famous reunion dinners with the amazing dishes and I realised something was amiss. Then to my horror, I discovered that CNY was the next day and I was running helter-skelter to clean up the house the night before and didn't even cook dinner!

To make matters worst, our car got ransaked that night and we lost plenty of stuff...almost $2-3k worth...So, the year didn't start off on a good note....As I didn't want to relive last year, I took extra precaution this year to ensure I get everything right...So V and I undertook a MASSIVE cleaning the weekend before...Thank Swami (God) it was the Australia Day holiday!

V and I started from the ceilings, to the floors to the balcony to the walls and windows and we scrubbed down every surface of the house and decluttered like crazy... This took more than a day..Doesn't help that we both a have little OCD...At the end of it all, we both stood tall, proud of our work...:D

Then, my cousin and her hubby said they would like to come over with little Joseph and their newborn, Daniel...A long overdue visit I should have made...but it worked out well at the end...

And lo and behold, I told V, this is the best opportunity for me to cook something up for a simple family reunion dinner. V said I was ambitious. But its CNY! It's all about the dishes that echo prosperity, longevity, vitality and whatever else good anyone can think of.

And here's the menu.....*drumroll********

Clockwise: Stir-fried Fish Fillets with Black Bean sauce, kangkung belacan, blanched bok choy, sesame oil chicken, steamed silken tofu  and asam prawns...

Click on the links to get the recipes...

We had a blast!!! Gorging, watching peppa pig, running around, counting buses, watering plants and waving at passers by...hahahhahhahaa..Thanks Sze Wen and Andy for coming over!