2011 McDonald's Miniatures

Every year around Chinese New Year time, McDonald will come out with all kinds of special New Year collection such as Hello Kitty, Winnie the Pooh, Doraemon Lucky Charms and etc. And this year they have McDonald's Miniatures that comes with cute little food miniatures such as Fillet-O-Fish, Mc Cafe, Apple Pie, Big Mac, French Fries, Double Quarter Pounder starting on weekly basis from 13 January 2011 until while stocks last.

My boy loves McDonald's Happy Meal Nuggets and McChicken since toddler and when he spot the 1st week collection of "Double Quarter Pounder and French Fries" he was so thrilled about it. So from that week, every Thursday he would request McDonald meal for dinner in order to purchase the collection for that week.

You can purchase these miniatures at either S$2.50 per miniature or S$25.00 per box set with any purchase such as sides or drink which not necessarily to be the value meal.
[Array of Burgers]: Left(Big Mac), Fillet O Fish and Double Quarter Pounder.

[Week 2] By the 2nd week we are able to assemble our own set of value meal with drink(Mc Cafe), burger(Double Quarter Pounder)  and fries.

[Week 3] Finally we got hold of the "Apple Pie" launched on the 3rd week to complete our set meal with side dessert. But too bad there isn't any miniature on either Sundae or McFlurry which will be great.

After 3 weeks of eating and waiting for the miniatures to be on shelf, here are our complete set of "McDonald's Miniatures". Have you completed yours too? If not maybe you still stand a chance to grab hold of some left over stock at your nearest McDonald outlets.

[Monthly Gathering] CNY Steamboat Feast

Last Saturday we settled our usual monthly food gathering at Susan's house where we have a Steamboat feast since it still falls between the 15th days of Chinese Lunar New Year. Each and everyone of us was very excited and we all go with an empty stomach in order to enjoy all those delicious food that Susan had prepared for us.

[Chef At Work] Susan is very thoughtful that she purposely bought some fresh crabs for her husband to cook his signature "Chili Crabs" because she knows that most of us in the group loves crab.This dish is indeed very delicious and it makes us ladies all envy Susan who has a good husband that can cooks so well for the family.

Other than Chili Crab, Susan also asks her domestic helper to fry some "Bee Hoon" and cook Rice just in case we have "huge" appetite.

[Chicken Curry] This is what I hint Susan to prepare as we all love this delicious curry chicken since the last time we had it during our Christmas Potluck Party(read more HERE) over at my place.

[YuSheng(鱼生)] This is a must have appetiser before any Chinese New Year meal as it represent "good luck" for the new year where everyone toss the shredded ingredients into the air with chopsticks together by saying various "auspicious wishes". Here we have a medium yusheng from Sakae Sushi..........

[Steamboat Ingredients] Look at all these fresh seafood, marinated meat, fish and all sort of fishcakes, Abalone, Scallop, vegetables and etc.......

Everyone enjoys the companies of chatting, cooking and BBQ of those steamboat ingredients. Susan also specially prepares a pot of herbal chicken soup to act as the soup broth for our steamboat.

[Dessert 1] Susan's mum prepares her special Bobo Cha Cha which we all loves it. And this is my very 1st time seeing Pumpkin and Tapioca as one of the ingredients compare to the usual "Sweet Potato and Yam".

[Dessert 2] One of our friends, Rae also bought some homemade ice-cream which is specially made by her Aunt. As you can see from the photo the creamy texture of the “Durian” flavour ice-cream which is fragrant and full of durian bits is definitely something that you won’t want to miss out.

[Dessert 2] From top:- Durian, Milo and Rum and Raisin. If you would like to find out more about these homemade ice-cream, you can refer to their website HERE (http://www.jessdesserts.sg)

[Dessert 3] Extra Filling Extra Tall, Durian Cream Puffs from Durian King which Susan bought from North Point, basement. Everyone was shock to see those puffs with so much durian fillings in it.

[Dessert 4] Last dessert is what the kids are eagerly waiting for..... Yes!!!! It is "Chocolate Fondue" where Susan used 55% Valrhona Dark Chocolate to accompany the nature sweetness of the fruits.

[Celebration] On that day we also celebrates Susan's daughters birthday which is just a day before Valentine's Day. Since Chinese New Year, Birthday and Valentine's Day are all in connection, I decide to settle for these two lovely heart shaped cakes from "Four Leaves" for a little extra surprise for the girls..

Here we are, a lovely group photo that captures the wonderful moments where everyone puts on a "HAPPY SMILE". Happy New Year!!!!!!! Thanks everyone (Maureen, Rae、Kai、Derrick、Yan Cai、Lobsterpaints、Alvin、and Amanda) who attends and makes this gathering happen and also Susan and her family for their warm hospitality.

Look forward for our next foodies outing soon........ :)

CNY Dinner At 3rd Uncle House

Chinese Lunar New Year is coming to an end follow by the celebration of "Yuan Xiao Jie(元宵节)" or "Chap Goh Mei(十五暝)" on tomorrow which is the 15th day of the Chinese New Year festivities. And often during this long festive season most of us will indulge ourselves with all those feast and goodies from house to house visits, company or gathering functions.

As my mum comes from a big family with 7 siblings, every year during Chinese New Year(CNY) there are always a lot of family gathering from 1st uncle house all the way to the 7th uncle. And each of the household will prepare their very own signature dishes to cater for almost 30 people during different days of the house visit. Although now our beloved 3rd uncle is no long around, Aunt Lai Choo(3rd uncle's wife) still practice the custom of inviting everyone to her house during CNY where she will prepared a lot of delicious home cooked food for us.

This big plate of Hotdog, Sotong Ball and Nuggets are specially prepared for the kids and most importantly these are not deep-fried as they are grilled using the oven toaster. (healthy)

For starter, we have this "Marinated Jellyfish(海蜇) with Century Eggs" where aunty Lai Choo prepares and marinated the jellyfish using her very own recipe. Upon serving everyone agrees that this is a very appetising dish and it is gone in less than 20 minutes even before the rest arrives.

It has being a long long time since I last had this "Fish Maw Soup(鱼鳔汤)". I remember my late dad used to cook this similar soup with ingredients such as Chinese cabbage, minced meatballs, and fish maw. But still the most unforgettable taste of this soup is from my great-grandmother where she cooks really yummy fish maw soups that makes you go for even 3rd bowl in a row.

Mixed Vegetables Curry with Longtong Rice.

"Teochew Style Steamed Chicken with Garlic Cloves and Ginger" is something different from the usual Hainanese Style where they cooked the chicken in boiling water then dipped it in ice water to produce a jelly-like skin finishing. Although steamed chicken won't be as tender as Hainanese style but it definitely taste much fragrant and sweeter as steaming method often locks the flavour of the ingredients.

I love this simple and yet delicious "Stir-fry Prawn and Squid with Tomato Sauce". Aunty Lai Choo is still very thoughtful that she actually removed off all the prawn shells leaving just the tail portion.

Lastly despite of those delicious homecooked dishes above, there are also some Agar Agar and Cheng Teng that are available for after meal desserts. So from what I always think, home cooked food is always the best food that unite everyone in the family together and nothing weighs as valuable as all family members  get together and enjoy the heart warming atmosphere of "family time".

[Featured @] Foodbuzz ~ Today's Top 9

Hi friends and readers from Foodbuzz, thanks for your all your "BUZZ" that makes "[Valentine's Dessert] Melt Your Heart ~ Strawberries Yoghurt Cubes" and "Orange Cinnamon Sorbet" being featured on Foodbuzz Top 9 on 12 February 2011 and 26 February 2011 respectively! And out of the 4,163 posts from the Foodbuzz Community, this Strawberries Yoghurt Cubes has make it way up to Top #3 as choosen by the Foodbuzz editors and users.

You can also take a look at the rest of the 8 entries from this link HERE. Once again thanks for all the supports as it's all your BUZZ that makes this happen.

"Orange Cinnamon Sorbet" being featured on Foodbuzz Top 9 on 26 February 2011.