Joaquin on grass

Javier on grass

Second day of the CNY

As always, Mamu is the only one awake and driving after lunch.

Gong Xi Fa Cai, Happy Year of the Rabbit!

Just like Joaquin at his first Chinese New Year, Javier can do the Gongxi Gongxi gesture.

Crying to the New Year

Javier has been crying for almost an hour. He is taking his bad sleeping habits to the new year. When can he sleep overnight? My beauty sleep is long overdue and it's really affecting my temperament and energy levels.

Happy Rabbit Year Dinner!

First time I have ever prepared for the Chinese New Year Dinner.  Jonathan and Kinty joined us from Hong Kong this year.  It's our first proper CNY dinner for a long time. I started preparing for the menu last week and was shopping around for the last few days.  Today we (me and our helper, Irma) started cooking at 10am this morning.  We were so busy that we didn't prepare anything for lunch.  Dadu went downstairs to see if he could buy something for us but everything was closed.  He had to make us Costco ravioli for lunch (which was good with fresh tomato and corn).  I guess that makes everyone more ready for the big dinner. hehe...
The dinner has five dishes and one soup: 清燉獅子頭，紅燒栗子雞，筍乾滷肉，紅酒番茄燉牛肉，乾煎鯧魚，清炒茼蒿.  Everything turned out well!   We ate so much and finished the great bottle of wine brought by Jon and Kinty.  Even Javier was able to enjoy the chicken bone and fish!  
Javier and Joaquin got their red pockets from Jon/Kinty and Mamu/Dadu.  They will sleep with them under their pillow tonight for good luck and good health in the year to come!

 Dinner is served!

 Joaquin adding another flavor to the table

 年年有餘！

Goodbye Tiger, Hello Rabbit!

非港非台蘿蔔糕 Law Bock Gaw

It's been twenty years since I last spent a real Chinese New Year in Taiwan.  Last year, I was too pregnant to do anything for the New Year.  This year, my brother and his wife are coming back to Taipei and we are spending the new year at home eating the dinner together.  I decided to make our own turnip cake (Law Bock Gaw), partly inspired by my sister-in-law and partly as a way to remember my grandma (who used to make it for CNY).  

Taiwanese turnip cake is quite different from the Cantonese kind.  It calls for only turnip and salt, making it sweeter than the Cantonese kind.  Cantonese kind has a lot more seasoning which makes it a lot more flavorful.  Having lived in Hong Kong for the last 12 years, I opted to make mine a bit mixed.  I added Lap Cheong (Chinese Sausage) but didn't add dried mushrooms or shrimps.  Not sure how it would turn out but it looks not bad!  I was able to get Joaquin to bed by telling him that he needs to sleep first before he can eat it!  :)

 White radish ready to be boiled

Minced Lap Cheong

 Boiling white radish

 Mixing the rice flour into boiled radish (need to do it really fast before the flour curdles)

 Joaquin likes it (even pre-steamed)!

He still likes it after steamed!