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 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 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！

A homemade moon cake…

I made a handful of moon cakes to share this year. Work has been taking a big toll so I don’t have time to experiment with them much. My boys are a big fan of moon cakes, so I still manage to squeeze some time to make them since it’s only once a year. Yes, yes – I know I can always buy them, but I just can’t stand how expensive they are.

A happy 4th…

Happy 4th – celebrating with some homemade food – pizza and salad, with some fruits.

A vegetarian Mid-Autumn Festival feast…

Those who follow this blog know that in my home, we like to have a fancy feast during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Because it lands on the 15th of the 8th lunar month, it will always be a vegetarian day for me. Well, tomorrow is the actual day, and I plan to make a feast for my family. So instead we are having our vegetarian meal today.  This was our mid-autumn festival dinner last year.

An annual tradition…

It’s that time of year again! Fat ourselves up with these mooncakes. I stopped buying these a few years ago. Normally I don’t even buy them for us, if I do, it’s mostly as gifts. As we get older, we stopped purchasing them because the ones receiving the mooncakes also got older (not a healthy snack). I started making about a dozen every year, just to pass them around, not to mention homemade ones cost a fraction of the commercially prepared ones (at least there are no preservatives).

This year I folded my own mooncake boxes because I couldn’t find any. I made them fit perfectly for the size of the mooncakes! I printed the images (found online) on clear labels and slapped them on the boxes.

A reunion dinner…

The feasting continues with my side of the family. Mostly take outs because 1) it’s raining, 2) Super Bowl day, so nobody feels like cooking or 3) errands to run. I decided to make a few items (or just an excuse to hang out with my mom since I made the dishes in her kitchen). It was nice just to spend some alone time with her.

Yes, plenty of leftovers!

A Thanksgiving feast…

Made these two dishes for Mr. Piggy’s family (top) and mine (bottom) for Thanksgiving.  Both sides already have the main attraction (turkey from inlaws and whole suckling pig from our side), so I just need to prepare “side dishes.”

Beef flank over tomato corn salsa for the inlaws.Since we didn’t have the ‘real’ turkey,  I made up one! My contribution to the table full of scrumptious homemade food. 

p.s. I love it when Thanksgiving comes earlier which gives me a good breathing room between the two holidays.

A Chinese holiday…

This Thursday is Chong Yang Festival (重陽節 or Double Ninth Festival), so today many families gather to stop by at the cemetery to pay respect to ancestors. This is the first time where there were lion dances at the cemetery. Not sure if they were privately owned or the association organized this? They hop from families to families with firecrackers. We tipped them at the end, but just thought it was a nice gesture.

We normally bring chicken and roast pork, along with oranges, flowers, buns as ‘grave goods.’ My mom always takes the roast pork because that’s what she loves, and I took the chicken home. I shredded and used the bones for the broth. It was delicious and great for a lazy evening when I don’t have to hover around the stove for too much.