4.30pm
welcome back to part two and final part of my chinese new year blog. you know, during this festive season, its all about eating eating eating and nothing but eating, im not kidding. either its the main meals that we're having or just plain snacking coz there's alot of cookies in almost every chinese household.
i dont know about you guys or where you come from but in singapore or in malaysia, almost every household has heaps of food lying around as guests, friends or family members would visit each other's homes thru out the day (of course not middle of the night or early in the morning, well duh!). that's what generally happens during chinese new year. so much fun.
for years now, for our reunion dinner (eve of chinese new year), we'd have what we call steamboat or hot pot as some would like to call it (as per the pix above). theres lots of fishballs, meatballs, veggies, seafood and other ingredients that is all placed in the hot pot and its cooked at the dining table, so that everyone can just dig in and scoop up what they want. we always use charcoal as it brings out the flavor of the broth/soup but some people like to use the electric hot pot, hey whatever rocks their boat i say!
the above 2 photos is the "yee sang" dish. the cantonese call it "lo hei", which means prosperity toss dish. yee sang is considered a symbol of abundance, prosperity and vigor. every chinese home would have this dish (either homemade which is alot of work or like most of us, we buy it from shops or restaurants). usually, raw salmon will be the star of this dish but some would like to add or replace it with abalone. i love this dish and we can only have it only during chinese new year as its not sold through out the year unless of course you make it yourself which is soooo time consuming and just too much trouble especially when you dont have help. i just cant be bothered. would just have to wait another year for this awesome dish. but hey, if you have a chinatown in your country, just pop by during this festive period and try it out for yourself!
ah, nothing like some home cooked grub, soul food, made by my darling mother (back in kl). of course i helped out some. it was a sit down chinese dinner with the yee sang in the middle of the table so that everybody can do the prosperity toss together. its all about the togetherness.
skipping back to penang again. check out this breathtaking view of the ocean! i was coming from batu ferringhi (after lunch) on my way back to the city and this stretch of road is called tanjung bungah. what is batu ferringhi you ask? well batu ferringhi is actually one of the favourite hot spots for tourists coming to penang island because of its long stretch of soft white sandy beach, thats filled with tons of hotels, night life, hawker food and oh yes the famous night market, that closes pretty late at night.
night scene at gurney drive. another popular tourist destination where tourists come to eat hawker food. you'll be spoilt for choices. in the second photo (above) is the famous roundabout at gurney drive. i took that photo past midnight while hanging out with friends, i mean come on, who sleeps that early! the hubby and i will sneak back in to the house like thieves in the night..around 2-3am hehehee).
georgetown, the capital city of penang island, centre of town. i took my sis in law to get her passport renewed at 7.30am and i couldnt help myself but to capture these colonial buildings that was opposite of the immigration building. so pretty and all these structures have a history. hmmm...if only walls could talk, wonder what they would say.
a stroll at the marina after dinner at straits quay. straits quay is basically a seafront retail marina. there's shopping, cafes, bars and also apartments overlooking the sea.
penang has tons of new cafes sprouting out. its now cafe culture and its pretty big in penang. yes, people still do frequent starbucks or coffee bean but independant cafes like the one above called easy brew, just opened its doors not too long ago. our close buddy took a few of us there to try it out, which was located at the heritage row. this cafe offers i think about 20 over variety of coffee beans from around the world, as you can see for yourself. again, spoilt for choices! old old shoplots converted or renovated (with the original structure kept and preserved) into cafes is the norm. there's many cafes located at the heritage row, so do go and give it a try. as for easy brew cafe, its a pretty chilledout cafe.
even the coffee beans are packed in colorful sachets! how cute and not to mention cheap!
last but not least, my dear husband wanted to try the "kopi luwak" which refers to the coffee that includes part-digested coffee cherries eaten and defecated by the asian palm civets and it has been called one of the most expensive coffees in the world. 2 cups of the coffee is given, the small tiny cup is the first brew which is thick and pure and the 2nd bigger cup is with added hot water. a small certificate is given to the drinker of this coffee and its to say that its kopi luwak from sumatera/indonesia and its authentic. cost of this cuppa joe is RM40.00. i only had a sip i cant really tell the difference from arabica beans hahahahhaa...
and finally, we were given complimentary cake by the owner of this cafe, which was a victoria cake (fresh fruits in between the cake, topped up with a dollop of vanilla ice cream and light runny custard sauce i think). my god it was heavenly and its all homemade ok!
see i told you that this whole chinese new year was all about eating and hanging out with friends. i always have a jolly good time whenever im back in penang and in kuala lumpur. with the right people, there's never a dull time!
rightey ho people, i gotta make like a banana and split. until next time, take care, be kind to each other and peace be with you!
ttfn
5.34pm
p/s if you wanna know more about penang, just googleit!
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