On a typical Cheh Ji, we would be bringing ah mah (Batu Feringghi one) to visit relatives from dad's side. This is sort of the 'non-typical' tradition since the first day is suppose to be visiting relatives from dad's side but it had worked out this way for us err....as long as Ping can remember, it has always been this way. There aren't as many relatives as mum's side and it is slightly more boring than mum's side as none of our cousins from dad's side are around ahdik and Ping's age. So we would just have to entertain ourselves and enjoy the angpaus. Kekeke...
Here in Michigan, the idea of CNY is so foreign that a chinese passing by another chinese is not met with a "Gong Xi Fa Chai" but with a "hei, what's up?" or "hei, how's it going?" instead. But Ping has colleagues who are aware of it so that was nice. Ping even dressed for the occasion! Other than that, it is just a regular day. Oh wait...it is actually more than just a regular day. Guess what...Ping nailed the Big Gorilla!!! A new beginning has just started! Repeated the experiment 5 times and all 5 times Ping got a recovery of 95% and above!!! Don't understand? Never mind. Just know that it is a good thing. Now Ping can finally ask - is there a difference? instead of "why am I doing this?" Before, Ping can't even get the Big Gorilla to cooperate! Yippee!!
Came home and decided to whip up something from stuff that Ping has. Yi Mai Fu Chok! Ping's favorite dessert. Still remember one evening while we were still staying at Sunway, Ping wanted one but we couldn't find it anywhere!! The best one Ping had is the one by the road side next to Lot 10 (or somewhere there...lost sense of direction when Ping is around that area).
Ping found the recipe from 5xMom. Ping first boiled the barley while soaking the fu chok in water. After boiling the barley for about an hour, Ping added the fu chok and rock sugar and let it simmer all night. Unfortunately, the fu chok didn't seem to disintegrate. Was Ping suppose to smash it up before adding it? It is still 'jun jun'. Almost like when eating "tang hoon char tau pui" kind of 'jun'. It is also much thicker than the regular one. If Ping dilutes it with water, then it become sweetless. So how do they actually make it dilute? Must add tau chui ar? Hmmm...
As for the "pek kuih", Ping could only find canned ones here. It is not sweet at all. Just doesn't taste right. "Pek kuih" (白果) is called "Ginkgo". But some company who produce this canned pek kuih decided to do a literal translation on it and call it "White nuts". Took Ping quite a while to figure it out. Overall, Ping would call this an unsuccessful attempt.
After the 2nd day of CNY, the rest are just regular days. Kids are still having school holidays. We usually lepak at ahmah's house or sit in front of the tv and "sae kin". Hmm...what else did we do ar? Haha...collect ang paus at any opportunity. Oh yeah, although Ping is not back home, Ping got ang pau from tua ee and ah yong!! Via paypal!!! Hi-tech leh...hehe. Tua ee and ah yong, Chin kam sia. Ping also got more on cheh it but can only see, cannot touch. Hehee..Off to bed (no Mei, it's not 10pm!! It's PAST 10pm). Goooooooood night!
1 comment:
Happy Chinese New Year to you Ping.
Maybe you need to put in the fu chok along with the barley :)
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