BUFFET on Lunar New Year's Day - Part 2

Aw ni or Yam Paste - a desert which is something soft and mushy. To an extend, it might just taste like "glue". However, its sweet and pleasant. Its got cream coconut in it.

This tasted quite nice though! But not sure what is this but its like this sweet cake or something!






Kueh Lapis - famous desert or cake that is always around during festive season! However, it is sold on a daily basis at most reputable cake shops. 1kg would cost about S$45 but I could get home made lapis at S$36 for 800g from my office colleague and some colleagues said its not too sweet or too oily but just nice from this home made lapis.



Fruit Cake! I like fruit cakes. Its the usual but this taste nice. It has raisins and come cherries.

BUFFET on Lunar New Year's Day - Part 1

On Lunar New Year's Day (LNYD) it was raining heavily! Surprised! Surprised! It seldom happens because on the 1st day its always scotching hot and everyone is always sweating buckets! this might be due to the summer weather in winter season experienced by the US, particularly in Washington and New York... the weather is going mad! recently in the tropics, there's cold winds gushing and swirling occassionally with strong waves in the seas. in temperate areas, we see flowers blooming in winter...

this buffet lunch at my godma's was catered from a caterer. I did not take note of the caterer's name though... so just ate blindly...








1st dish - deep fried wonton

this deep fried wonton is my favourite. the ingredients inside usually consists of prawns, meat, mushrooms, spring onions, onions and condiments all mixed together. Using wonton skin made of flour to wrap the ingredients together and then deep fry it in a wok of hot boiling oil. however, this deep fried wonton that you are looking at now has a different ingredient inside. it was sotong flavoured meat. sotong (native language) aka squid.

Star rating for this caterer: *****5/10

Comments: the skin was not crispy! it was cold. i was late so its not tasty anymore but blame me for being late! my fault then! it would be nice if serve hot, anyways i have 2 servings...








2nd dish - ngor hiang

Ngor Hiang (pronounced as gor-hie-an-g) literally means 5 spices. it is mixure of meat, prawns, mushrooms, ngor hiang pounded dried spices, spring onions and condiments wrapped together in dried bean curd skin. the beancurd skin has to be wash so that the excess salt used for preserving the beancurd is lesser in content, so that it won't be too salty.

Star rating for this caterer: *****5/10

Comments: the skin was not too salty so its just nice. however, personally i think the flour in the mixture was a little thick, the meat should be more so that you won't taste that much flour with 5 spices.








3rd Dish - Fried Fish

as usual, this was like the fillet-o-fish style and its deep fried. remember to add some salad sauce when eating to remove the fishy smell but without it, it still taste quite nice.

Star rating for this caterer: *****5/10

Comments: thought the deep fried fish was cold the flavour of the fish was still there. it wasn't smelly. add some salad dressing like thousand island sauce and its taste nice. well, i had 2 servings! :)








4th Dish - Mussels fried with Chilli

Mussels fried with chilli isn't something you eat when its cold due to the fishy smell. I had it when its cold... hmmm... it would definitely taste nice when you eat it hot and with some beer to wash it down...

Star rating for this caterer: *****4/10

Comments: again, i had this cold! so it wasn't really nice. but the mussels were not tough. its still taste good despite it was cold. the fishy smell was something like an acquired taste because you must like seafood to enjoy this dish.

Disclaimer: The comments and star rating of the above dishes and/or food items are based purely on the author's discretion and personal taste. it is by no means harmful, critical, slander and/or defamation to any chefs' or any hawkers/food court/restaurants named, mentioned or described.

Lunar New Year's Eve Food - At Li Heng! Part 2

People like us here are lucky! We have enough food to eat, milk to drink and lots of fabulous food! We ought to thank God for what we have! in some parts of the world, people, both adults and children are starving, therefore we should not waste food. Always remember that...

I couldn't add more pictures in my first blog hence there is always a Part 2. here we go...


5th Dish - Fried Chicken in wine sauce and sprinkled with Tapioca Chips

it was deep fried and the sauce happened to be at the bottom? usually this dish is served with plum powder and prawn crackers if my memory served me well, but this dish was served differently with tapioca chips! very innovative! The deep fried chicken was tasty! but i couldn't say for the "wine" sauce! it just tasted bad! it was a popular item with the children. Master Sean finally ate! he went straight for the tapioca chips! Miss Melissa had her share too...so did Miss Rebekah and Master Lucas! Parents take note! its a must have when children are invited! eh... must have for me too! hee!

Star rating for this at Li Heng: *****5/10

Comments: i was quite impressed that tapioca chips was served instead of the usual prawn crackers though! Miss Eunice passed me a piece with a big piece of the deep-fried skin! Thank you! Thank you! the chicken meat happened to be not too dry and quite juicy! the skin was good! however, i did not get to eat the tapioca chips! ratz! just missed it!

6th Dish - Steamed Fish in dark sauce or soy sauce

we had complaints on the fish! the adults table was the first to complain that it was not cooked. the children's table attempted to eat it... Miss Eunice was our guinea pig! she was Brave! she dug a piece of the fish, placed on her plate and started to eat... then...(drum row...) there was a huge uncooked portion! she told the server, "eh... are you attempting to serve us sashimi?" the server sheepishly said, "no. i will bring back to the kitchen to have it re-cooked." you know what they say... whenever you return food to the kitchen... there's a high possibility that the chef might spit on it, when guests complaint about the food... may be i watched too many Stephen Chow's movies...hahahah!!!

the fish came back cooked! there was NO spit! we ate the fish! its was ok!

Star rating for this at Li Heng: ****4/10

Comments: Not a popular item with the children. Personally, it was a disappointment that parts of the fish was uncooked the first time. otherwise, it would have been nice! When you re-cook fish twice, the meat tends to get a little tough and that was what happened. Guess this fish just had a little more muscle than expected! :)

7th Dish - Prawns stir-fry with pepper sauce

tasty large prawns stir-fry with pepper sauce, garnished with spring onions, parsley, chillies and lettuce. Nice dish! even the children ate! i thought i saw skinny Master Lucas chomping down a few large prawns! good for you Master Lucas! You need to eat more!

This was the dish that was a consolation to the fish that was half cooked! everyone ate so we couldn't complaint!

Star rating for this at Li Heng: ******6/10

Comments: tasty prawns! i had 3 pieces! so i couldn't complaint after the episode of half cooked fish... so i forgot about the fish. however, i thought the meat was a little tough but then again, its a great consolation!

Fried noodles was the last dish but i forgot to take a picture of it. most of us were quite full by then. all had to be brave to pick a small portion of it and help out to finish the food! i thought there was a huge portion left but it might have been "doggied-bag" and so everyone played their part to eat a small portion.

then a bowl of longans snowed under ice-cubes arrived! it was with compliments of the restaurant for giving us half cooked fish! Master Lucas and Master Sean were the servers at our table. How gracious of them! imagine boys helping out! so where were Miss Melissa and Miss Rebekah? Playing with the dog - donnie or dawnnie... i need to check with Miss Eunice on the dog's actual name later... kinda confuse though... (scratched head)

<=== donnie or dawnnie?

Last but not least! Uncle Peter's DESSERT!

it was brownie with swirled cream cheese! it was a charmer! everyone ate! especially the children! I saw them having seconds! it was riched with lots of cream cheese swirled into the brownie hence the brownie was not too drying and hard. more starchy ice-cream with full flavoured of cheese and chocolates! i had a "doggied-bag"of this dessert to bring home... hmmm... my sister chomped down 2 pieces too! :p

Star rating for this courtesy from Uncle Peter: ******** 8/10

Comments: Excellent item to close the night! everyone was asking where did this nice piece of brownie came from, which cake shop etc... you know as they say, chocolates tend to send a signal to your brain to tell your pituitary glands to produce peptides aka endorphins! Like my sister calls it - Happy Food! ;p

Overall rating for Li Heng: ****** 6/10
Overall rating for company at dinner: ********** 10/10

We had lots of fun and laughter starting from tossing and flipping raw fish - Yu Sheng, drinking the dark crabs meat soup, chomping down the slimey sea cucumbers with black mushrooms, being impressed with the innovative fried chicken garnished with tapioca chips, commenting about the half cooked fish and was very consoled with the stir-fried pepper prawns. lastly the fantastic brownie swirled with cream cheese! It was definitely something to remember... that is what we call food for thought! hee! :)

Disclaimer: The comments and star rating of the above dishes and/or food items are based purely on the author's discretion and personal taste. it is by no means harmful, critical, slander and/or defamation to any chefs' or any hawkers/food court/restaurants named, mentioned or described.

Lunar New Year's Eve Food - At Li Heng! Part 1

I had Lunar New Year's Food at Li Heng on 16 Febrary 2007 with my extended family. Li Heng is situated at a HDB Market somewhere in the south of this little island I lived. My godma reserved 2 tables at this restaurant... as usual, guess what... I was the last to arrive while everyone waited for me... guess I had better kicked my habit of being late... so much of me... Let's start by introducing the dishes I had...

First Dish - Yu sheng!

tossing and flipping raw fish in the air with shredded raw vegetables; carrots, chillies, radishes, seseme oil, spices, crackers and sour plum sauces with oil...etc...

its a tradition to toss and flip raw fish in the air. it symbolises good luck and good fortune for the year to come. while tossing and flipping all these food, you must say things like good fortune to come, more luck, more bonus, shorter working hours - for adults; for children, its study well and get good grades! its acquired taste! took me a while to get use to it... hate it when i was young, only ate the crackers...

Star rating for this at Li Heng: *****5/10

Comments: no funny smell or taste, hence that's quite good! downside is that, as usual, there will be bacteria and/or germs flying around and attaching to the uncooked food while you happily toss and flip the mixed items together singing good luck phrases loudly... however, a MUST eat item at least once during the 15 days of celebration of Lunar New Year.


2nd Dish - Crab meat/mushroom/Fish Maw (aka fake shark fins)

i will be honest with you... I had 5 bowls! 1. i liked the crab meat; 2. i liked fish maw - its not mushy but very chewable; 3. there was no shark fins in it (no killing of endangered species of sharks) ; and 4. its really nice to mix with white rice!

children seated at my table like Master Sean, Miss Melissa, Miss Rebekah and Master Lucas wouldn't eat it... because its dark and they couldn't see clearly what was mixed in it... when they heard fish maw, they asked, "what's that?", the reply was, "something like sea cucumber but not too soft." eh... not the answer they wanted to hear...

Star rating for this at Li Heng: *******7/10

Comments: ok, i had 5 bowls! :)

3rd Dish - Yam paste deep fried with cashew nuts and cube vegetables and garnish is deep-fried vermicilli.

Yam paste deep-fried formed into a pail-liked shape, just like your sand castle that you build on the beach with cashew nuts and cube vegetables surrounding the yam paste and sprinkled with deep-fried vermicilli as garnish.

i had a little. the yam paste is particularly thick! its kinda oily though. the children ate this, i think they could see clearly what was on the plate... haha! the deep-fried vermicilli was crispy despite me eating this like 15mins later so its quite lasting...

Star rating for this at Li Heng: ****4/10

Comments: it was oily and maybe i ate it a bit too late while i was busy eating something else. i regretted not eating it earlier... must eat it when it's hot then its fun!

4th Dish - Sea Cucumber stewed with black and button mushrooms and snow peas...

Sea cucumbers are echinoderms. They are considered as an expensive delicacy to the Chinese people in the World and indeed, they are truly expensive! Prices for sea cucumbers fresh or dried usually increase just a week before the Lunar New Year. During festive season, there is always 1 dish on the table that has sea cucumbers. In most cases, it is stewed with 3-tier pork and black mushrooms as the black mushrooms tend to bring out the flavour of the sea cucumbers.

this is one other "black" dish the children i supposed didn't eat. as a child, i did not dare to eat sea cucumbers as its soft because i tend to associate this with fat. I only ate the black mushroom... i guess i am still a child. i still avoided this dish...

Star rating for this at Li Heng: no rating

Comments: i am a child. i did not eat the sea cucumber. i only ate the mushroom. hence, no rating for this dish to be fair to the sea cucumbers... ;p People who eat this will like this so... acquired taste!

Disclaimer: The comments and star rating of the above dishes and/or food items are based purely on the author's discretion and personal taste. it is by no means harmful, critical, slander and/or defamation to any chefs' or any hawkers/food court/restaurants named, mentioned or described.