Chinese New Year @ Chinatown

Every year during a few weeks before Chinese New Year, most of the people would love to hangout around "Chinatown - 牛车水" area. No matter which country you are from or going to visit, you will definitely see crowds of people gathering in Chinatown area in order to join in the Chinese New Year atmosphere or they will be there either buying or sourcing for New Years goodies and clothing.

Since this year, we are busying with the house renovation @ Pinnacle - Duxton, we have more chances to roam around Chinatown area which is within walking distance to the apartment upon taking MRT.

Along the Temple Street @ Chinatown area, you can see the Chinese New Year Flea Market which starts from 23 January 2010 to 13 February 2010 which is the Eve of Chinese New Year. The Flea Market starts around noon time till late evening where it is much cooling to enjoy the night lighting as well as stroll through those stalls along the stretch where you can sample most of the goodies before buying.

There are stalls selling all kinds of Chinese New Year goodies like:- Pineapple Tarts, Shrimp Rolls, Love Letters, Peanut Puffs, Kueh Balu, Bee Hives and etc. Whichever it is, this is the time where you can get to eat all sort of your favourite New Year goodies till your waist length expanded :p

Other than the above Chinese New Year goodies, here are some of the "Must" have in each household too.... "Mandarin Orange - 橘子/柑" which everyone who goes to house visiting/greetings will accompanied with a pair of this which is a traditional practice among the Chinese. It symbolises "Gold" and all the good wishes for the new year.

"Pomelo - 柚子" is also a common fruit that can be found during Chinese New Year and Mooncake Festival. The mandarin word "柚子" sounds like the word for "to have".

"Bak Kwa - 肉干" is usually minced pork with seasoning/spices that are made into thin square layer and BBQ over Charcoal fire. And the price of this can be higher during Chinese New Year season at around $50 or more per kg for brand like Lim Chee Guan that people will spend hours queuing for their Bak Kwa..

Cakes such as "Sticky Rice Cake - 年糕" have symbolic significance on many levels. Their sweetness symbolizes a rich, sweet life, while the layers symbolize rising abundance for the coming year and lastly the round shape signifies family reunion.

There are also a lot of Auspicious Chinese New Year vegetables that can being seem and found during this period of time. And out of these vegetable, Chinese Leek is the most common type that each household will grab and store at home. They believed that it sounds like "counting - 算" in Teochew dialect.

Sakae "荣" Yusheng

Finally after the long waiting time, my favourite Chinese New Year "Appetiser" finally appears at Sakae sushi. Guess what, Chinese New Year is just 3 days away from now...... And when I saw the Sakae "Rong" Yusheng Poster outside Sakae outlet, I quickly approached the Manager and ask when it is available........(p/s: CNY Sakae frog photo credit to Sakae Facebook link....)

"Yusheng - 鱼生" mainly consists of strips of raw fish (most commonly salmon) that is mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces and condiments. "Yusheng- 鱼生" is interpreted from the Mandarin word "余升" which means an increase in abundance and prosperity.

It is normally a raw fish salad appetiser that is consumed through out the 15 days of Chinese New Year but most commonly on the 7th day which is the "Ren Ri - 人日" meaning everyone's birthday.The ingredients are presented separately and are mixed together either by the waitress or diners and with it will accompany with auspicious greetings while adding each ingredient onto the plate.

When the ingredients are added, the diners will shout out “lo hei - 捞起" while standing around the dish to toss the ingredients as high as possible to symbolize rising prosperity. This action is usually accompanied by shouts of “huat- 发" which means prosperity.

This year Sakae "Rong" Yusheng comes in 3 sizes which is available for either dine-in or delivery. And for Sashimi lover, you can add S$2.50 to enjoy additional servings of Salmon Sashimi with every Yusheng purchased.

"荣" Yusheng available in 3 sizes:-
1. Small (1 - 2 pax) @ S$18.88++
2. Medium(3 - 5 pax) @ S$29.88++
3. Large (6 - 10 pax) @ S$46.88++

Promotion:-
~ For SAKAECard members, you will be able to enjoy S$2.00 off for the Medium/Large "Rong" Yusheng and CNY Party Tray.

~ For OCBC Cardmembers, you will be able to enjoy 10% off for the Medium/Large Yusheng & CNY Party Trays.

So without much delay we pop-in Sakae for lunch after Rey finished his kiddy class. Everyone were pretty excited when the "Yusheng - 鱼生" finally being served after about 10 minutes or so. Each of us are aiming at different ingredients of this appetiser, mum love the mixed shredded vegetables with the plum sauce while rey loves the crackers. Look at the generous cut of the Salmon Sashimi...... doesn't it add extra goodness to the Yusheng?

For your information, SAKAECard Members can top-up $2.00++ to enjoy additional servings of Salmon Sashimi with every "Rong" Yusheng purchased. And being a Sakae member, I won't missed out this opportunity of ordering extra boxes of "Rong" Yusheng to share with friends/relatives during Chinese New Year. And this year, the Yusheng box is "Red" in colour instead of the usual Sakae green....

Glutinous Red Date With Osmanthus Syrup

There are all kinds of Chinese New Year after meal desserts and the most common few are:- Yam Paste With Gingko Nuts, Red Bean Puree With Lotus Seeds, Tang Yuan, Chng Teng and etc...... But what I am going to share with you today is something really simple and yet it will impressed your guest with it's "Golden Outlook". I have named it "桂花元宝" in Mandarin which mean Osmanthus Ingots.

This recipe required 3 main ingredients which are Red Dates(preferably those HUGE one so that it will be easier to do the stuffing), Glutinous Rice Flour(the filling) and the most important ingredient "Osmanthus Flower - 桂花" which will brings out the floral fragrance of this dessert. And in order to sweeten this dish and enhance the flavour of the stuffing, I will make a syrup using "Rock sugar - 冰糖" and "Candice winter melon - 冬瓜糖".

In order to slit open the Red Dates and remove the seed easily, it's best that you soaked it in warm water for about 5 - 10 minutes as to soften it. But if you wan to save the trouble of removing the seed, you can purchase those that is without seeds. I saw this HUGE red dates from one of the groceries stall near my area and it cost only $0.80 per 100g. With these detail photo above, I am sure it will give you a better ideas on how to prepare this Chinese New Year dessert.

Ingredients For Ingots:
16 - 18 Huge Red Dates, removed seeds
50g Glutinous Rice Flour
30ml or more Water

Method:
1. Rinse and clean away the soil/dirt on the outer skin of the red dates.
2. Soaked them in a bowl of warm water to soften it so that it will be easier to cut open and remove the seed in it.
3. Place the glutinous rice flour in a medium bowl, slowly add in the water and stir till it form a dough. (you might required more water)
4. Pinch about a marble size portion of the dough and stuffed it in each Red Dates.
5. Arrange the stuffed dates on a plate and steam it in a pot of boiling water on Medium heat for about 5 minutes.
6. When done, removed the dates from the pot, set aside to cool while preparing the Osmanthus Syrup.

Note:
~ For the procedure of the stuffing and steaming you can refer to the above photo for clearly explanation.

Ingredients For Osmanthus Syrup:
1/2 Tablespoon Of Osmanthus Flower
10g Rock Sugar
2 Strips of Candice Winter Melon, finely chopped
80ml Water
Extra Osmanthus Flower for topping

Method:
1. Bring water to boil in a small sauce, add in rock sugar and stir till the sugar melted.
2. Lower the heat, add in chopped winter melon and Osmanthus Flower and let it boiled for about 15 seconds.
3. Add in the cooked glutinous red dates and stir it through the sugar syrup and simmer till the syrup became a bit sticky.
4. Off the heat, removed the red dates and served it in small serving cups, drizzle with some osmanthus syrup & chopped winter melon then sprinkler some extra osmanthus flower to enhance the fragrant and outlook.

You can prepared all the ingredients and steps up to the steaming of the red dates and cooked the Osmanthus Syrup just before serving. Or alternatively, you can prepared everything and stored this dessert in the fridge and served it as a cold dessert. So no matter which method you prefer, I am sure this will make a great dessert for your guests this coming Chinese New Year.

A Day At The Cathay Shopping Mall

Recently I received an email from Nuffnang regarding this "The Cathay Blogging Contest" which starts from 02 February 2010 – 14 February 2010. And the main purpose of this contest is to blog about how you plan/spend a day at Cathay shopping mall. Since mum and I was on the way around Somerset area to run some errands, we decided to head our way up to Cathay Mall and have a look. So far, I have not being to the new Cathay building ever since the closures of the old building in 2000.

We took the MRT from Somerset station and arrived at Dhoby Guat. From there, you can take "Exit A" which will brings you to The Cathay, Wesley Methodist Church, Singapore Management University, Hotel Rendezvous and etc. And at the entrance of the MRT station along the main road, you are able to see "Cathay Shopping Mall" just right across the road near the traffic junction.

While walking towards the Cathay Mall, mum started to share with me some of her childhood stories and those days when she was helping her uncle to sell peanuts outside the building during her teenage days. So imagine she had seen so much changes of this building from her era till now.......

Since we reached about 10.30am, most of the shops are still not opening. In this case, we decided to explore the basement area which seems to be like a food paradise....... (Being a food blogger, it's very nature for me to hunt for "FOOD" stores in the mall as my 1st propriety). As usual, mum can't do without her morning coffee time at her favourite hangout, "Ya Kun" which located at #B1-23 that is in between the traditional handmade noodles store called "Mian Mian Ju Dao - 面面俱到 " and "New York Pizza".

At a glance, there are about 10 different Food stalls located at the basement area which provides wide varieties of choices from Asian, Western to Japanese cuisine or even light meal for those who wants to cut down on calories. While looking around, I saw the menu from "The Indulge" which known for it's fusion of Asian spices/herbs together with western ingredients and flavours. And from the menu, those photos of the dishes look really good and appealing. Maybe one of these day, I shall bring my foodie friends along to give it a try.......

Em.... Just a minor reminder, in order to avoid disappointment, most of the food stores there opens from around 10.30 or 11.00am onwards unless you wants to pop-by Ya Kun for breakfast which they opens around 10.00am.

After morning tea, we went up to level 1 of the mall which gives us a very refreshing outlook compare to the old building that is still vivid in our memories. Since Chinese New Year is around the corner, the mall is also decorated with special Chinese New Year decoration in order to bring out the atmosphere.

Cathay mall consists of 7 level of food, retails and entertainments outlets and on level 1 you can find some boutiques, optical shop, information counter, ATM machine and etc.

From a far corner, I was attracted to the interior display of this shop due to a high flying shark which is hanging down from the ceiling. I was amazed by the so called "Hollywood" design which I think will interest my boy if I will to bring him along. Mum also thought that this might be a souvenir outlet or so until we saw the special logo on the name above the door-way showing.... "Billy Bombers" which is a American style restaurant @ #01-11/12.

My last impression of Billy Bombers was about more than 8 years back before my boy was born. And the Bright Red Leather Cushion Seat is still vivid in my memories. Now when I look at this newly decorated outlet it really brings back a lot of my dine-in memories with Billy Bombers......

Around the mall, you will be able to pick up "The Cathay Restaurant" pamphlet on Chinese New Year promotion which consists of a few set of menu for your selection. According to Mum, Cathay Restaurant can be consider at one of the best Chinese Restaurant in Singapore during her era. It is located at #02-01 and the dinning hours are from 11.30am to 11:00pm but the restaurant will close for lunch break/preparation of dinner between 3:00 - 6:00pm. Mum was suggesting perhaps, next round we can come and sample their lunch/dinner menu.

There is another interesting place to hang around on level 2 which is "The Cathay Gallery" that is located at #02-16. Here it showcases the history of the Loke family and their various business interests in Malaysia and Singapore from the mid 1800's till now. The Cathay Gallery is open to the public from Mondays to Saturdays, 12:00pm to 8:00pm, and is closed on Sundays & Public Holidays. Admission is Free, so it will be great to bring along kids to show them the founder and history of the Cathay organisation as well as showing them those olden days cinema seats and tickets. I am sure this will bring back a lot of wonderful memories for the older generation(ie. like me and my mum) or a new experience for the younger one like my boy.

Next while scanning through Level 3, I found this interesting shop known as "Three3Three" which occupy 4 units spaces from #03-04 all the way up to #03-07. Guess it is a trend to use "3" as either shop/building name :) And since, mum was looking for a table lamp for her new house, we decided to explore around the shop. You can find all sort of latest design items available in the store, and mum was keen to come back again with my brother to seek for his opinion on other items that look suitable for the living room.....

And along the same lane, mum's attention was being attracted by a unique display around the corner of the shop called "Forest & Tree" which located at #03-02. At her first glance she still thought it might be a shop that sells kiddy stuffs because of that cute "girl in lamb outfit". But when we went near to the store, we realise that it is actually a lifestyle concept shop that features a nail salon and retails merchandise. After browsing through the store, we both agreed that it's a great place for pampering our nails as well as grabbing some interesting gifts for special occasions.

Out of all the stores in level 3, mum and I was interested in Inahamani @ #03-08/09/10 which provides wellness and beauty from within. This store give us a very peaceful and relax feeling that make us very curious of the services they provided such as hydraulic gym and oxygenated lounge. Mum told me that she will be delighted to book an appointment with them if I were to win the Cathay Blogging Contest :p (have to cross my finger on this)

Level 4 are suitable for kids, Teens and Young Adults where they can spend hours of time in E2Max@The Cathay located from #04-18/19/20 on the latest games and accessories. Or if you need to have some extra workout to burn those accumulated fats during Chinese New Year season, perhaps you can take up a lesson or so at Fitness First @ #04-05 to keep fit.

Em... for young ladies who wants to doll up yourself with pretty dresses, maybe you will be fascinated by this store @ #04-09 known as "Black Alice" which is a Lolita fashion store specializing in selling Gothic and Lolita dresses, clothing, accessories and merchandise.

After exploring around the mall from Basement to Level 4, it's time for us to sit down and have a quick bite. Since we don't really take heavy lunch, we decided to stop by Starbucks @#01-05A for some drinks and cakes. While chatting, I told mum that today I am so happy and honour to have her to do this blog post together with me. And I knew that she is also very excited about it.......

There are still so many stores that we didn't really explore but I am sure Cathay Mall is place that has something prepared for everyone. Do do drop by one of this days with your friends, or family to experience the new Cathay Shopping Mall...... Or perhaps, you might want to join "The Cathay" Facebook page (www.facebook.com/thecathay) to get updated with latest promotions, events, contests & giveaways!