Ramming into 2015: First Nom

After performing our religious duties (for the season, possibly year for me), we adjourned home for our first meal of the goat year.
Actually, is it goat, ram or sheep? Jonny and I discussed on them but couldn't come up to a proper conclusion except that ram is a female goat and sheep is all nice and fluffy. Either way, it doesn't really matter as both taste good ^_^

Steamboat is like the lazy family's meal plan. Buy the ingredients and cook it together when the time comes. It brings the family together and you are spared from cut throat restaurants looking to make a quick buck during the festive season.

Processed meat balls. These are the easiest, simplest since you can easily get them from the supermarket. Whether they are delicious or not, don't be so picky. Otherwise, you'll end up old, jaded and lonely like moi.

There's also fish maw which I am taking a liking for. Nothing beats the seafood tofu though.

Fresh squid and tofu. Apparently, Tesco sells decent frozen seafood and those may be fresher/better than the fresh ones (unfrozen) since the latter may have been fished, frozen and thawed before you buy them.

Both the squid and tofu were very good with chilli sauce. Of course, on its own, they may taste bland but my tongue can't tell much of a difference these days. Only the taste of caffeine lingers.

Pork belly and pork loin. My aunt both them as they looked not so fatty but the sneaky vendor actually hid the fatty slices underneath. But pork without fat is like women with A cup.
These were sliced not thin enough for shabu-shabu but  still didn't take long to cook.

To help our digestion system work better, there's the crunchy lettuce and deep fried bean curd skin. I love those skins crunchy but some people prefer to soak them until they are soft and mushy. Those are probably the same people who like soggy fries; something that I could never comprehend.

Any decent steamboat needs dipping sauce and our choices were sweet chilli sauce and oyster based chilli sauce. Both are potent in their own ways. I would want to learn the recipe from my aunt..... if  I cook enough to justify it.

Lunch is served. There were so much of food that the yee mee was untouched.
Homemade steamboats are always healthier since you know what exactly goes into the soup but that is probably the hardest thing: making the soup.

There is this satisfaction whenever I look at my pineapple tarts arranged so neatly in my cookie box. Come on, doesn't it look very professional? My parents wondered how I managed to make a cut in the middle of the tarts. They guessed it was using a pair of scissors.
Actually, it was a pause from pushing out the dough which caused those indents :"D Nobody could tell that I was using cake instead of plain flour either. Or how it tasted different/weird. Or maybe they all do but didn't have the heart to tell me. That would explain why my parents gave the tarts away left, right, center =(

Although lunch was relatively late at 2.30pm (ended about 4pm), we had dinner that night at 8.30pm. After weeks of dieting, that day of eating made me feel like a bitch beached whale.

Bishop's nose. A more polite term for chicken butt. If you've not tried it before, you should. Forget the fact that shit passed through them. The texture is soft like drumstick.  Do I endorse it? No, just happened to have tried the deep fried version before when my father conned me =_=
These were marinated with curry powder and fried. I know better now and gave it a pass.

The not-so-vegetarian vegetarian dish since my aunt recooked the original with chicken and spring onion. It baffles me why people like these green stalky thing.
My mother says this is real fatt choy and it did taste like it, not disintegrating easily.

My mother's homemade pork spring roll. She even went to the extent of making them using pork skin to wrap the filling. Sorry but I can't seem to google the proper way of doing it.
If memory serves me right (half the time, not really), she beat the pork skin until it's very thin and almost translucent. Wrap the meat filling of pork, carrot and anything else you want with the beat up skin then proceed to deep fry. It tastes more meaty than the usual spring roll version using either bean curd skin or popiah skin. Very good if you're on a protein diet.
Btw, have you heard about Indonesia's claim on popiah? Am I the only one amused and wondering what is the point of laying claim on spring rolls? Are they going to patent it and stop people from selling it without giving them some royalty?

Pig's innards and fish maw stir fried with pineapple and chilli. Pineapples aren't quite my thing but this Chinese new year saw me liking it more. It lends a nice sweetness to the meat and compliments the heat from the chilli.

The second batch of the roast pork which turned out not so nice as it was slightly burnt.

Lap mei or waxed meat. All I see are oil and fat and fat and oil.
Still, I tried some of them and I don't particularly like them. Duck, sausage, intestines. They make the rice aromatic when cooked together but the meats themselves are too pungent for my liking.

I managed to avoid rice during the celebrations by eating more protein. Not sure if that's a win or not.

A simple family dinner. Wonder if there'll ever be another.