A few months it has been since the birthday passed, and although Christmas has also passed but 15 days, the joy of having had a celebration at home remains.
We are a Family that appreciates the little things in life.
Sure, we can do big and extravagant, but we like to lean towards the comfortable- and we do comfortable no matter how big or small we choose it to be.
It was a lovely, home-cooked, home-prepared meal for the celebration this year, and can I say that I am so thankful for it? I have, and always will be of the opinion, that a lovely meal does not need to be overly dramatic nor gastronomic, but it has to be with wonderful company and better yet, bring warmth to the heart. Nothing delights me as much as being able to sit around the dining table at home with loved ones and share a meal.
That's what families do.
That's what we do.
Whether it be bowls of red bean and peanut tang yuan for the Winter Solistice, whether it be zichar that The Parent went downstairs to tapao up, whether it be the char siew paus that we bought frozen from the supermarket and threw into the rice cooker, and whether it be pancakes that we whisked the battar ourselves and then afterward cooked in the frying pan.
That's a meal.
And so today there was a tiffin of prawn soup noodles prepared the way I love it (I have a particular method of preparation) with cuttlefish balls and lettuce and fish balls and fish cake and a bit of sausage. And in true Chinese tradition, the entire tiffin was entirely for me .
There were little plates of some sort of stewed clams, more cuttlefish balls, cherry tomatoes, fruit, eggs, meat patties and siew mais, which are also another favorite of mine and therefore appear on the table at nearly every celebratory meal.
No one wanted cream cakes or mousse cakes or anything too rich this year, so it was a whole coffee sponge cake that we bought and then decided to self-decorate with some kind of saved gold foil for the sake of the camera. I have to admit it was pretty good an idea!
And of course, being the attitude of The Parents ever since a couple of years ago, they granted me a most adorable gift.
Chupa Chups Lollipops.
Because they'd been seeing me stressed up and tired out and troubled and thought pretty, vibrant colors, plus a bit of sugar, would help me get through the days.
We are a Family that appreciates the little things in life.
Sure, we can do big and extravagant, but we like to lean towards the comfortable- and we do comfortable no matter how big or small we choose it to be.
It was a lovely, home-cooked, home-prepared meal for the celebration this year, and can I say that I am so thankful for it? I have, and always will be of the opinion, that a lovely meal does not need to be overly dramatic nor gastronomic, but it has to be with wonderful company and better yet, bring warmth to the heart. Nothing delights me as much as being able to sit around the dining table at home with loved ones and share a meal.
That's what families do.
That's what we do.
Whether it be bowls of red bean and peanut tang yuan for the Winter Solistice, whether it be zichar that The Parent went downstairs to tapao up, whether it be the char siew paus that we bought frozen from the supermarket and threw into the rice cooker, and whether it be pancakes that we whisked the battar ourselves and then afterward cooked in the frying pan.
That's a meal.
And so today there was a tiffin of prawn soup noodles prepared the way I love it (I have a particular method of preparation) with cuttlefish balls and lettuce and fish balls and fish cake and a bit of sausage. And in true Chinese tradition, the entire tiffin was entirely for me .
There were little plates of some sort of stewed clams, more cuttlefish balls, cherry tomatoes, fruit, eggs, meat patties and siew mais, which are also another favorite of mine and therefore appear on the table at nearly every celebratory meal.
No one wanted cream cakes or mousse cakes or anything too rich this year, so it was a whole coffee sponge cake that we bought and then decided to self-decorate with some kind of saved gold foil for the sake of the camera. I have to admit it was pretty good an idea!
And of course, being the attitude of The Parents ever since a couple of years ago, they granted me a most adorable gift.
Chupa Chups Lollipops.
Because they'd been seeing me stressed up and tired out and troubled and thought pretty, vibrant colors, plus a bit of sugar, would help me get through the days.