The Canopy

CNY gathering 1 after another, a busy yet fruitful year. This time round we going to The Canopy at Bishan Park II. A nearest place to our home yet a difficult place to locate. Multiply smses kept coming in to ask where the exact location..'diao' I thot I already forwarded a map... hmm mayb the saying is right "man dun like to look into map, and lady dun know how to read a map" : D However, it's a blessing everyone managed to find the place & come on time.


1st thing to do..ofcoz snap & explore the place quickly. The Road leading to the Restn looks shabby..hope everything gonna be ok.

Nice cosy ambience , both internal & external. I actually would preferred to sit outside, but too bad they dun have a large table for us & the light outside gonna be very dim, might not see what we'r eating.
The 1st couple to reach again : )

Followed by Ms Low

The 'old couple' "} the twin sista ; p Good food must accompany with good wine, went inside their wine cellar to search for 1.

And settle with this bottle of France wine, 2003 Chateau that cost S$96. Well, it's a treat from Unke Keith & Ken-not, so why not :D Recommended Pork rack, tender & juicy meat, goes with the sauce wow.. yummy..

Grilled Dory fish for Ms Low, pathetic small portion but taste good, thumbs up too.

Tiramisu, wonderful but would be haven if they add alittle more alcohol New York Cheese cake, very smooth & not too sweet. I like it.

The Red Dates Pudding with ice-cream, only the ice-cream is edible. The pudding is super super sweet & got kinda weird taste. Thot was highly recommended in some food review, but actually it's the opposite..

Ken generously offered his cheese cake, but Ms Low seems to ignore coz she's happily enjoyed her haven tiramisu :D

The twin, sudden silent....coz they happily enjoying their mango cheese cakes too. Glad that we din bore the kids out.

oopps... I caught them fighting over a cake : D
Cheers to the 'old 1' :D

Wah!! Ken-not really cannot.. the pic he took all same like him ''blurr blurr''

Same colour tone for tonight

Ang Bao time ; ) thanks Unke Keith.

Poor guy .. another Iphone addictor..

We shifted to the table outside, coz it's gambling time.... dun want to make too much noise inside the cosy restn. It's really dark outside, very romantic heehee

The Green Room vegetarian restn just beside.

This yr Unke Keith no more double As & 777 liao hahaa.. work hard Unke Keith, dun go casino this yr, the luck is not at your side. Actually who is the big winner that night? All Kia kia quietly keep the $$ huh....

Unke Ken-not so sad until no eye see..he also a big loser :D

My mum's cuisines

From the eve to the 5th day of CNY, my mum has been cooking & cooking... She has to wake up early to prepare all the food for us. It's not easy for her to do all these herself, I have been helping her in the kitchen too so can understand how tired it is. She always the 1st to wake up & last to sleep.. so poor thing. Admire her endurance in the hot kitchen, she been standing and cooking whole day. Meals after meals just to make sure we have enough food & enjoyed family gathering. As our members multiples she has to cook even more.

I thot of taking family photos for this year, since we have not been taking it for years... But again I miss the opportunity, coz most of them came in different timing, mum busy cooking, I'm helping in kitchen...maybe we shld consider going out for dinner next year & give mum a break.

The most tiring day has come..An annual gathering on 5th Day of CNY. This is the day she will cook for 50-60ppl, and believe me the food can feed a small village lor : D. Since my aunties will be coming over to help her, hehee I got an excuse to skip out of kitchen and managed to take some pic of her signature dish. These dishes will always be on the top of list.

2 Large pots of Dark soya source Ti Kah. So sinful, but I can easily take 3-4pcs... hahha this weekend must work harder to burn away extra calories.

Deep fried pork lard, Bak You Pok ready for fried noodles later. Heard 1 of my cousin's wife took it as titbits.. eee... Here goes her Nonya style dried curry.

My power mum with her power curry. You have to keep stirring & stirring so that it won't get burned and at the same time make the gravy thick.
My 2 Aunts came to help out. The 3 power women, or power puff girls? :D
This is a typical Hokkien dish, if you're Hokkien you shld have tried this before. A dish passed down from generation to generation, from Granny to mum then came to our generation...hur hur..but I yet to learn.

Stir Fried sweet potato cake:
Step 1: cook the sweet potato flour in water.
Step 2: steam it for some time, (i think is 10mins)
Step 3: Once cooked, set it a side to cool. It will takes abt half a day.
Step 4: Once cool & set you can start to cut into small pcs

Step 5: Stir fried with chilly, spring onion & dried shrimps.

It's sound easy but the process is kinda tedious. The cutting part is the hardest part, quite similar to Korean fried Nian Gao, but I prefer this than Nian Gao.

CNY family gathering

This is an annual event, every year we will have an 'open house' for all relatives to 拜年 & it starts fr morning all the way to 2am..and abt 50 of them will turn up. Its tiring ofcoz but it's the only time we cousins, uncles & aunties can get together. All of them staying at west area, that's the reason y it's hard for us to meet up.

Mum has been waking up early since the eve of CNY, just to cook for us. Today no exceptions she has to get all things prepared before relatives arrives. She been staying inside the kitchen for the whole day cooking ....pity her but no choice coz she is the 'Appointed chef' coz all of them love her cookings. Me can't help much & my yearly role is to entertain the guest & replenished the drinks 顾水 : D

This was the main highlight for this yr menu, Dried Curry Kampong Chicken. All spices were manual pounces & stir fried til the fragance & chicken cooked. Only mum has the skill to do it.. : } she can cook good Peranakan food just like 'Yue Niang' haha.


Cousins's bb, she's sleeping soundly even though we were so noisy outside the room.