Pandan Chiffron Cake

Recently I had this craze for baking. So far I tried jelly hearts, moist steamed chocolate cake, chocolate macadamia cookies and pineapple tarts. Today, I had a go at baking pandan chiffron cake. I used the recipe from baking mum's website. It was a success except I was quite impatient when removing the cake from the tin and hence the 'ugly' cake. My hubby said it was nice but I didn't trust him as his answers are always 'politically correct' answers. Maybe I will let my family members or colleagues try it out. They always give me truthful feedback. The next dish I'm going to try is either mango swiss roll or luncheon meat puff (i happen to buy one from breadtalk and it was nice, so decided to bake it myself).

CNY 2009

This year's CNY came and went fast and furious. Everyday (except working day) was fully packed with lunches, dinners and house visiting.

Chu Yi

We slept late on eve and woke up at 10am. The kids were very excited to wear their new clothes. Every year without fail we would visit mum first. The moment Xavier received his ang baos, he refused to part with it as I wanted to keep them for him. Then we had dim sum lunch at Ah Yat in Allson hotel with my in laws. Maybe due to the bad times, many restaurants were open on the first day of CNY as compared to last year. After lunch they came to mum house and start the black jack session and it lasted for 3 hours. Amazing! This year is really not a lucky year for me, lost everytime I gamble, even yp has better luck. Last stop for the day, dinner at godma's house. The kids were so happy to gather and have fun together with all the older gor gors and jie jies to entertain them. When we left at 11pm, we realised that the night was still young (only for CNY), we decided to have a mahjong session back at mum's place. Half way through the game, I was losing quite a bit and being 'kia su', I got YP to replace me. Luckily he managed to win a teeny bit at the end. My saviour!

Chu Er

Every year, mum would do the lunch on the 2nd day of CNY. Her house would be packed with goodies and people. This year I managed to order dim sum buffet for her. We had a great time chatting and eating. Next, we went to sis-in-law's house and they were entertaining my bro-in-law's colleagues. Did not spend much time there as we felt a bit out of place. We headed for cousin ah nee's house which is just nearby. Another gambling session after dinner. This time it is 'in-between' and all of 13 of us were so high during the game especially when the pool of money grew. Our voice were hoarse at the end of the game. Dad being a gambler only joined in when the pool of money grew beyond $50. Han Jie was considered the unluckiest when he had 'A's for all 3 cards. Ha ha what are the chances! Luckily the minimum bet was 50cents. It was a great game!

Chu San

My company shutted down on this day. With nothing to do, I invited my cousins over for lunch. After that, my sis and dad stayed behind for a mahjong session again. When YP came back from work, he couldn't resist and insisted I gave up the seat for him. I was winning lor!

CNY was always great fun even when I'm into the 36th year now! Really hope the year of Ox will be a good year and economy will improve!