There was a bit of break from our usual traditions this year.
It wasn't that we didn't have a good meal.
It wasn't that we didn't celebrate.
Just that there were some things that we somehow didn't have a chance to do even though it's been a pattern of ours to do it every year.
Do I regret it?
A little.
I don't like missing out on traditions that hold significance to me.
But life be such that we don't always get to do what we used to do in years past, and I can hope there'll be new experiences and new traditions together in years to come.
That being said, it won't be possible for us to do the annual thing of having Wife Biscuit and Char Siew Sou at the Malaysian Food Court in RWS Sentosa anymore.
They've closed it down.
A part of me wishes that we could have had time to go there this year.
A part of me, however, is glad that we began the festive season with a lovely McDonalds meal at Bedok Reservoir Road.
Having the Prosperity Burger meal at start of season is something which I, for the longest time, have always wanted to have, and so this evening- having found ourselves in the area- we ordered the beef burger, an additional order of chicken nuggets (with honey mustard sauce) and for dessert, the festive pineapple pie.
Let's just say that the beef patty had such a generous amount of black pepper sauce ladled over it that there was more than enough to go with the Twister fries.
But the sauce wasn't the only thing I dipped the fries in.
There was still the honey mustard.
And then there was the pineapple pie, which, may I say that whilst some people might think of the pie as fake tasting and artificial, I actually quite liked the little pineapple bits swirling around in the thick, sweet filling reminiscent of pineapple custard.
What's more, the custard went quite well with the fries.
My standards are a tad different when it comes to pineapple tarts, however.
I like the filling of my tarts to be moist, smooth, and not so sweet.
Better yet if the crust is soft, crumbly, slightly firm, and buttery all at the same time.
People tell me it's difficult to find the perfect pineapple tart, and to that, I agree. What with the many opinions and preferences, all of us tend to prefer one tart over another, one brand over another.
Me, I don't have that much of an expectation- generally I eat everything- but I love it when the tarts have a crust that's thick enough for a firm bite, soft enough that makes the bite an easy one, and fragrant enough that makes each mouthful a delectable, delightful one.
Honestly I don't know where the places are that serve up such pineapple tarts- there must be a few around the island- but the bakery opposite Hong Lim Food Center in Chinatown is one.
Poh Guan Bakery has become our go-to place for pineapple tarts every year.
He loves it, I love it, we both love it.
So much so that it's become a sort of pilgrimage to come down and get the tarts.
Some years we just buy the tarts.
Other years we buy the tarts plus suji cookies because they do theirs really good as well.
It takes a heck lot of discipline to not finish all these pineapple tarts at one go.
It also takes a heck lot of discipline to not buy two of these jars and have them last as long as possible through Easter and over.
Maybe next year I'll see if I can get two jars, one big one small.
For the fun of it, if not nothing more.
My Chinese New Year this year was quiet, restful yet fun.
On Chinese New Year Eve we happened to be somewhere downtown, and although I was pretty happy to go for Fast Food Round 2 at Subway Sandwich or Burger King, we discovered that Tsui Wah was open and so headed there for a quick (but) satisfying meal.
The menu of Tsui Wah is quite extensive.
They've got rice, noodles, soup noodles, small bites, the works.
Today however we wanted to have some of the traditional favorites, so on the table there was a plate of (fatty) char siew- skillfully roasted with the perfect amount of sweetness- a plate of fried rice with pork cutlet, and because my friend thought it good to have a bit of Sichuan spice, a bowl of mala dumplings too.
There were no favorites in this special reunion meal.
Every dish was good.
Whether it was the fried rice that tasted incredibly smooth and soft, whether it was the pork cutlet that was tender, or the char siew that (to my surprise) had sufficient fat and meat in each slice, I loved them all.
Every dish was well balanced.
Even the mala dumplings, where at another place there might have been an overwhelming dose of chili oil, here they were constrained at first serve, then gladly gave you when you asked for more.
The dumplings themselves were great too.
There was the chew of the skin, and then the lovely warm ball of meat wrapped snug inside it.
It was great enough to have three mains, but I wasn't going to forgo my CNY Eve meal without having some kind of sweet, so as a last order (the staff were closing) we got ourselves a glass of iced Hong Kong Milk Tea and a serving of their signature condensed milk toast.
Looking at these pictures now, I wish I had had the time to savor the meal slowly.
I would have loved to savor the sweet of the condensed milk without having to finish the toast so quickly.
I would have loved to nibble on the char siew as slow as I could.
Honestly, it is the fat of the pork that gets to me.
Yes, it isn't healthy.
That I know.
But I don't get to eat it often.
In the same way I don't have Mookata often too.
There might have been a time where I had it maybe once a month or twice a month.
These days however I stagger it out so it's just once in a couple of months, and also on special occasions like birthdays- and Chinese New Year.
We had ours at Siam Mookata.
Second day of the holidays.
And, guess what, I don't know how it was, but out of all the outlets they have, we somehow ended up at the one in Clarke Quay two doors down from the Tsui Wah which we had just a few days before.
Not complaining, of course.
It's a totally different experience having Thai-style BBQ and hotpot by the river, I tell you.
Maybe because of the wind.
Or maybe because one gets to see the gently rippling waters.
It was lovely watching the beef slices, the pork belly slices and all the different cuts of beef get slowly cooked over the hot grill.
It was lovely alternating between cooking and eating and cooking and eating.
We had an extra order of cheese dip for the meats.
And a happy girl I was that in the selections there were some of my favorite hotpot dishes, like the cuttlefish balls, cheese tofu, and a big basket of lettuce that we cooked in the soup moat.