High Schoolmates Reunion Party

Date:  Mar 24, 2013

Let's "decode" the steam fish.

As usual, underneath the fish is two main ingredient that makes the steam fish soup/sauce base "sweet" and "a bit tasty oily".

1.  The clams (or la la).  Throw 6-8 of it and lie flat below the fish.  Smell each clams to make sure the la la is fresh not smelly.

2.  Thin slices of pork meat with fat.  三层肉.  Cut a few slices and place it below.

3.  This time, I also scope in quite some fish paste.  I don't know what you call it, but it is the paste before it becomes fish ball.  (Those white color slices on top of the fish.)

4.  Old ginger slices.

5.  Tomatoes slices.

6.  Tofu cubes.

7.  Chinese wine, sesame oil, soya sauce, and some water.

8.  Some green onions leafs.

That's it, sent it to the steamer.  Steam for 12-15 minutes (big fish).  :)  I think the fish is nice.  As I saw Jek Fang sit in front of the steam fish dish and keep scooping the soup.  hahaha

Early birds get to eat the sausages.  (and I forgot about the bones marrows)

So, I place some mustard and lime mayo aside.  It was nice!

My wife already prepared the Chicken Curry.

Before every one show up, I cook myself a pork chop.  And now I know to cook a nice pork chop is not easy.  So, the browning and appearance is nice.  But because we need the pork chop to be fully cooked, so, I did not have time to marinate the meat.  So, the outside looks good, but the inside is a bit tasteless.  Will spent time to think about his to make it good inside.

So, I cooked two pieces of extra raw steak for headmaster Shy Ching.  :)

I used this garlic oil.  So that the pork chop got a bit of garlic hint.

Lesson learned.  These pork chop is great for BBQ.  It was too "thick" for pan grill.

The exterior taste was nice… with Nutmeg.

Salty powder from Taiwan.

Spicy chilli taste.

MAke sure the herbs is there...

Pan Grill it for 10-15 minutes.  Making sure it is fully cooked.

Except for the clams, not so fresh.  I am glad they like the food.   These are friends from the Foon Yew high school.

Early bird also gets to eat nice water melons.

Delicious among the kids… the pan heated squids...

As the guests have to drive all the way back from JB and they got stuck at the customs jam.  So, we got time for three person Mahjong.  

We also make sure the kids are enjoying the XBox and Wii.

She is the first timer to my party.  阿花 brought along her twins.   Its been around 25 years that I have not met her.  And now she is 品酒专家 （not 拼酒 like Jek Fang)…  阿花 was my table mate or desk mate while we study in 初一(3). 

Don't be fooled by the photos.  Rest assure that that glass is actually Ribena.  And when Daniel arrived, Shy Ching bottoms up his Ribena too with Daniel drinking the real red wine.  HaHaHaHa… It was a popular drink that night… The kids love it, and Shy Ching loves it.  Let's call it "Ribena in a wine glass".  Celine drank the "Ribena" … hahaha

The sister is not so lucky.  Celeste took the glass and drink.

That was a real thing.  See the different red ruby colours.  And she loves it.

And she love the 2007 Don Melchor. hahaha

This "Super Tuscany" alike wine is a bit disappointing.  But it could be because it does not fits into today's dinner dishes.

The Pouilly-Fume can't go wrong.  

My son is helping to bake the chocolate lava cake.

But the Pessac Leognan is also quite disappointing.  Not so sweet.  Should have open the Sauternes.

We did not drink a lot yesterday, as some of them need to drive back to JB.  Thanks for coming!

When you are > 40's … you tends to have lots of such parties.  People who we did not met for 20+ years all come back into your life.  And the jokes and the funny memories all flashed out.  It was indeed a fun gathering yesterday.

LWPS Christmas Party at My Place & 盆菜 Cooking

Date:  Dec 22, 2012

Today was really a happy day for Jay Jay.  19 of his classmates and siblings is coming to our home to celebrate Christmas.  It is also a major re-union event for the kids since K2 graduations.  Well, together with their parents, and including us, there will be 46 people in this apartment.  It shall be the biggest party that I have ever hosted in this apartment.

Our kids Christmas party is somewhat very "Cina".  It is a potluck event, but we have Acar, Penang Laksa, Sour Veggie Soup, and the host is cooking Pen Cai (盆菜).  HaHaHa

 

The even shoot live video on how to make the 盆菜.  HaHaHa….  That's me, the wok and my ingredient.

For those who is interested, this is the FULL list of the ingredient I used. 

And here is the ORDER of how I place the ingredients into the big wok.

1.  White radish.  (白萝卜).  You can get it from anywhere.  Cut into cubes.

2.  Carrots (红萝卜).  Cut into cubes.

3.  Pumpkins (金瓜).  Cut into cubes.

4.  Chinese Ham (火腿).  You can buy this from China town, or from Tiong Bahru market, there is this shop that sell Chinese sausages, 腊肠.

5.  Dark Liver sausages (鸭肠).  From the same store @ Tiong Bahru, you buy this.

6.  Fatt Choy (发菜).  From the same store @ Tiong Bahru, you buy this.  Usually you cannot get it from the major Chinese herb stores.  It is a regulated item.

7.  Dried Oysters (蚝干).  From the same store @ Tiong Bahru.  Ask for Japanese one, it is bigger and better.  Soak for 30 minutes.

8.  Dried Scallop (干贝).  I got this from Japan Hokkaido.  Which is fresh and cheap.  Soak for 30 minutes.

9.  Cabbage (白菜).  Those long long one (not like a ball type).  Cut into smaller pieces.  (like the photo above).

10.  腐竹皮 (Tofu Skin).  From Tofu stall.

11.  Leeks.  Cut into small chunk.

12.  Tou Gua (白豆腐干).  Cut into small cubes.  From Tofu stall.

13.  Dou Pok (Friend Tofu skin).  From Tofu stall.

14.  Fish maw.  I buy from the Yong Tau Fu stall in the market.  I replace it with 猪脚筋.  Usually fish maw need to soak for half a day.

15.  Sea Cucumber.  Bought from Yong Tau Fu stall.  They already soak it for you.

16.  史云生 Chicken Stocks.  Get this from any Supermarket.  It is in a can.  But you only uses about 3-4 spoonful of stocks.  

17.  Golden Mushroom (金针菇). 

18.  Dried Mushroom.  Buy those Japanese one.  Soak for a while.

19.  Siu-bak/Siu-Yok (烧肉).

20.  Roasted Duck leg (烧鸭脚).  

21.  Century eggs (皮蛋).

22.  Braised Abalone (红烧鲍鱼 in a can).

22.  Normal Abalone (鲍鱼 in a can).  Those soak in water one.

23.  Big sea prawns.  I usually buy from stall 123 @ Tiong Bahru.

24.  Abalone or Oyster sauces.

25.  Wolfberries.  枸橘子.

This is the basic list of ingredients.  So, if you want to add any ingredients, by all means.  Such as 鸭舌，鹅掌, etc.

So, layer by layer, you stuff the ingredients in order into the wok.  And then, you start a small fire on the stove, and slowly cook and simmer it for 1 hour. IMPORTANT.  I am using a wok I recently bought from Amway, called iCook.  This is a special work with technology that I could not explain how it works.  But the result of the cooking is greatly improved.  And I love the technology.  At the moment, only using this wok for me, then, the bottom will not burn.  I am sure there are similar technology out there.

To learn more about iCook.  Here is the link.  http://www.amway2u.com/miniweb/icook/index_en_US.jsp

So, what you do, is just stuff nicely all the ingredients into the wok.  And that's it!  Cover it, cook with slow fire for 1 hour.  That's simple.

One hour later, you open the wok cover, you have yourself a cooked nice tasty Pen Cai (盆菜).  And yes, my son's friends parents become the Guinea pig to taste this pot of 盆菜.  And the result is really good, the taste is good.  So, I have decided to cook this same dish today in my Christmas Party with my high school classmates and schoolmates.  Because it is easy to cook and won't make a mess in the kitchen.

Every parents spent a lot of time preparing for the party.  We got Acar.

We got Sour Veggie Soup.

We got rendang.

Roasted Pork.  One spicy and one non.  It taste like Siu-Bak.

We got two different types of pasta.

Early bird comes can take steam clams.

by 7PM, the turkey is almost ready.

I serve some Fried Chicken Backside and Steam some lady fingers too.

We also have already made rending, potato salads.

Satey, Chicken Wings, Pastas, etc.

Not to forget the healthy chicken nuggets using Air Fryer.

The Christmas log cake, looks like a melted trees.

And tonight, we drank all these wines and Sake and some beers.

For the kids, there are goodie bags prepared by one of the parents.

The host also prepare the "Goodie House".

And the Christmas tree is ready too.  So, let's bring in the guests.

Lovely flowers...

All the 21 children happily sit on the kids corner eating their nuggets and pasta.

Some kids playing in the playroom.

The iPad corners.

It is amazing that we fit 46 people here.  hahaha

Parents corner.

Parents eating the delicious food prepared by each other.

This is ice cream corner.

Some watching Soccer on the TV.  Singapore won in overall scores.

What?  Thailand 1 - Singapore 0.  How can Singapore won?

Because Singapore won the last game in Singapore 3-1.

Jay Jay and his classmates will remember this day, where all of them having lots of fun in this place.  We also have more chats with other parents now we are planning for next few gathering for the kids.  We even talking about Club Meds now, where we put the kids there, and we play golf and do massage.  hahaha

Merry Christmas!