CNY Fest Melbourne CBD 2014

The CNY festivities in Chinatown were held on Sunday 2nd February. There were stalls along Russell Street selling products like birds nest, phone card and of course property developers selling properties in inner city suburbs or in the CBD.

There were lion dances at shops in Chinatown, I caught around 5 performances on the day. This must be the biggest earning day in a lion dance troupe's business because not only do they receive fees for performing at the shop but they might also receive money from the crowd. This is especially true when they perform for restaurants.

Although there were around 2 or 3 lions performing simultaneously on Russell Street, the most anticipated performance is the big dragon Dai Loong parade at 12pm on Little Bourke Street.

We were all waiting patiently for Dai Loong to make its appearance on Little Bourke Street. The crowd lined both sides of the street. Kids perched on top of their dad's shoulders were eager to catch a glimpse of the mythical dragon which makes it's appearance only once a year, and only on Chinese New Year.

Many had heavy, professional photographic equipment. The rest were ready with their mobile phones for taking the perfect photo. Everyone, young and old were excitedly waiting for the start of the parade.

When the firecrackers started, and the distant sound of clanging cymbals, and pounding drums reached our ears, the crowd started with a renewed enthusiasm. Even the piercing heat could not sap away our energy.

When Dai Loong slowly made its way down the street, many reached out to touch the head of the dragon and take photos. One of the mothers next to me carried her child to touch the dragon head, and doing so interrupted what must have been a picture perfect moment for the photographer next to me. He complained crossly, but she cleverly answered - 'It's a long dragon, it'll be coming for a while!'

Surely it is better to experience the moment rather than placing too much focus on capturing the moment?

Melbourne Government House Open Day

The Government House is usually open to public tours throughout the year for a fee. However once a year, on Australia Day it is open to the public for free. There were many others who took advantage of the opportunity to tour the place for free. When I arrived at the opening time, the queue was 1 hour long.

Only some parts of the house were open - such as the Morning Room, formal dining area, billiard room, the study. No bedrooms and toilets were open. The Governor and his wife does live in the house, so they must have some privacy. No sneaking into their rooms to see what books they read before bedtime!

Inside, the furnishing makes it look like just another residence:

Until you see who their friends are:

And how many friends they have over for a Sunday roast lunch:

But then again, it's OK because they have helpers... buzz, buzz... 'Calling kitchen. Get out here and wash the dishes!'

Paella, Chinese Style

When we were in Spain, I wanted to buy a paella pan. It would have been handy for moments when I decide to make paella and actually proceeded with making it. Perhaps then I would have achieved the all important socarrat (crust)!

I have wanted to make paella for a long time, but just didn't get around to buying one of the vital ingredients - saffron. Saffron is one of the most expensive herbs in the world, it is even more expensive than gold!

I did not have saffron for my paella, so I suppose I only made a very loose version of the true blue Spanish paella. While I didn't have saffron, I did have a great stock. It was leftover stock from braising dried shitake mushrooms, dried oysters and dried scallops.

By frying sliced chorizo sausage and adding smoked paprika, it provided the rice with the Spanishness it needed. The braising liquid made the dish really rich with seafood flavour. The result is a fresh seafood paella ala Chinese style!

Pineapple Tarts

Have you ever dreamt a dream feeling emotions so strong it jolts you awake? This morning I dreamt of my mom, and I woke up with a terrible sad feeling. I believe the whole Chinese New Year festive season, and being away from home and unable to celebrate the festivities with my family for many years now had something to do with it.

My mom was no cook when we were young. She had a career, and our Auntie helped out with the cooking and other domestic chores so she did not have to do too much cooking at home. That said, she did have some awesome dishes she made sometimes.

Now that she is retired and has more time to cook, she has been telling me over the phone what kind of restaurant type dishes she has been learning, or has cooked. It always makes me want to go home and try them out. And it always makes me want to ask her why didn't she cook those restaurant dishes more often for me when I was younger. Of course, I understand she has to work to give us a good life and I would not make her change her choice. I just wished we could have eaten more 'naughty' dishes instead of healthy (read: bland) home food!

During Chinese New Year, my mom would always buy cookies for when we have guests who visit. She had no time to make these cookies herself. She would always buy my favourite - arrowroot chips. I love them and would eat them by the tubful.

Another staple is the pineapple tart, bought not because we liked to eat them, but because of it's good meaning. In the Hokkien dialect, pineapple is called 'ong lai'. 'Ong' sounds like wealth, and 'lai' sounds like come. So if you have pineapple in your house during Chinese New Year, the wealth will always flow in!!

So this year, I knew I had to make 'ong lai' tart for CNY to reminisce about home. I found that this dough is very soft and melts in the mouth. Those who have tasted them seem to like them very much too.

255g all purpose flour
1 egg yolk
50g condensed milk
175g butter (room temperature)

Whip butter with condensed milk till light and creamy, then add in egg yolk to whip till combined. Add flour and mix till combined. The dough should be soft but not sticky.

I rolled my dough into lots of 10g each, flattened them on the palm of my hand then filled them with the pineapple filling (8g) before bringing the edges to close and rolled them back into a ball.

Brush with the leftover egg white.

Bake the cookies at 165c for 25 mins or until golden brown.

I made my own pineapple filling using tinned pineapple (I wanted to buy fresh pineapples, which I think would have been better, but I really didn't have the time!!). By blending drained pineapple pieces from 3x400g cans, and cooking them over the stove with sugar to taste, the end result was around 450g of pineapple jam

This recipe will produce around 50 pieces of crumbly, melt in your melt pineapple cookies. 

Australian Open 2014

We love summer! Not only because of the sun, blue skies, and the warmth, but also because it's tennis season!

This year summer has been unusually chilly, but as soon as the Australian Open rolls by, it warmed up instantly. We bought ground passes to the first day of the Open and saw some record crowds there this year. It seemed like everyone's caught the tennis bug and want a piece of the action.

We had to queue up to all the matches we wanted to watch, and fight the crowd for everything, including in the washrooms and the queue for food.

While I was waiting in the long queue to buy our lunch, I saw a couple who pretended to have a robust discussion about upcoming matches right next to me. I knew what they were up to... they wanted to jump queue! Either they were too ill mannered to go to the back of the queue and wait their turn, or they were really hungry, like the rest of us. In the end, they found that they couldn't slip in front of me and settled for a spot behind me in the queue

We visited some sponsor tents - ANZ provided a cool hand held fan which had LED lights that light up and spell words when the fan is switched on, they also had a virtual tennis game which was quite fun to play, Mount Franklin had a tent which continuously blew bubbles into the air.

It was very hot that Monday and the sun burnt into our skin while we watched the tennis. Besides a really good match between two Frenchmen, another good experience was when I found a Korean food stall selling a most delicious bibimbap. I think sporting venues in Melbourne have really upped their game in the quality of food provided on the premises.

I leave you with my favourite picture of our day at the tennis - quirky!