A big party…

Every year I host a big meal for Chinese New Year meal for my side of the family. This year my mom gave me some money for take outs so that I don’t have to up cook up a storm (like what I did here). Well, I had planned the menu so that I can prep some, cook some and reheat some. It’s no joke cooking for 30 people, but glad everyone enjoyed the meal. I say this every year, not sure If I’m able to pull this one again next year.

And for dessert…homemade red bean dessert with black sesame tang yuan…

Here’s the menu, with auspicious names of each dish.

An open year dinner…

Our welcoming the Year of the Tiger meal which we often refer to as “Open Year” (開年飯). I usually like to beef it up and make it a little festive. This year of course, we got the Tiger theme going with bok choy, braised pork belly (to go with the buns), a pot of goodies (mushrooms, dried scallops, sea cucumbers, fish maw over radish and dried bean curd). Unfortunately, my picky eater didn’t appreciate the pot of goodies. More for us! (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡

Wish the Year of the Tiger bring health, prosper and peace to all of us. Happy Lunar New Year!

A reunion dinner…

Our reunion dinner this year is missing Dai Bee, but definitely not missing the good stuff! I purposely went to the office today so I can stop by Chinatown to buy the fresh fish and roast pork!

A Year of the Tiger…

I had a lot of fun making these lovely buns, filled with lotus paste. Some of my friends already request for them and willing to pay for them! Well, only if I don’t have to work I’d love to take orders! For now, they will have to enjoy them through the screen. Can’t wait to share it with everyone!

A lunch…

Trying my best to make some homemade food for Dai Bee while he’s back. He missed home meals so much he ate 3 bowls!

A batch of mooncakes…

I’m so thrilled how these turned out. Like I said, I bought these new molds last year and waited the entire year to finally used it. My oven isn’t working, so I was nervous using the Baking Mode from my air fryer. I baked 6 at a time. The first batch turned out darker so I adjust the temperature, time and rack placement. The 2nd batch turned out perfect! (^‿^)

I’ve been making these boxes to hold these (100g) mooncakes. They also turned out super cute!

A sweet dumpling…

Yesterday marks the 15th of the lunar Chinese new year. Normally we enjoy tang yuans. Since this year is the year of the Ox, I made some cute little cows to go with the theme.

Most of these are black sesame filling since that’s the most popular filling.

I gave some to my sisters and here’s the breakout of what’s what…

A happy moo year…

Happy Lunar New Year! If you haven’t guessed, this is the Year of the (meal) Ox. Since today is the 1st day of Lunar New Year, we normally enjoy a vegetarian meal throughout the day.

For lunch we had some vegetarian dumplings with noodles. The golden trinket is steamed buns (mantou=饅頭) dyed with turmeric powder.

For dinner, we had some steamed buns with pan fried tofu, bak choy and stir fry with black beaned sauce.

I’m happy how these cute steamed buns turned out. Believe it or not, it took me 4 attempts to get it right. I learned so much steaming buns. I’ve steamed the regular round ones before and never had any trouble. Apparently, shaping these require some learning. I’ve watched and rewatched from the masters and will pick up something new every time. The ingredients are simple, but the most work is the kneading part, proper proofing (and I mean this part has to be so precise), and tons of patience.

A reunion dinner…

Today is Lunar New Year’s Eve (除夕) where we celebrated with a feast as the last day of the year. One of the dishes I made was the money bag fried wontons using air fryer. It turned out so cute and tasted great.

A savory tanguan…

Today is winter solstice which means we get to enjoy these savory glutinous rice balls (tang yuan-湯圓). I was going to make more cute characters, but got side tracked. So I was only able to make a few this time. Oh well, didn’t have time for much cuteness, so this will have to do. After all, it’s the taste that matters.

元宵節快樂！