Labbit says Huat ah

Rudely awaken on Che It by the loud drums beating from lion dance troop. Practically hopped straight out of bed and flew down with towel slung over my right shoulder. The troop was just passing by the front of our house when I heard Mom's loud voice ringing from outside asking the troop to come back in an hour hehehhe. I only found out later that it was Mom shouting from the balcony -.-

Pooped, showered and yelled at Su En to get her ass out of the bed before clutching my camera and waited for the lion dance. The group is already back (it was only 20 mins or so since Mom shouted for them to come back), and the show begins!

Pickles was really terrified of the loud beats from the drums and even more so of the colourful furry beast hehe...

Our long firecracker (don't know what it's called but here's a photo to illustrate the item in question) only exploded a few tiers before going quiet -.- Then Papa had to light the fuse again! Darn scary I was afraid it was going to explode before Dad could escape. Those damn things are so loud!

:D

Chinese New Year breakfast!

Su En got some layer cakes from her trip to Jakarta. They're really nice. I love peeling those layer by layer.

Then it was labour time at Ah Ma's place....

Yeay! My ultimate favourite meal of all times. Can't remember the last time Ah Ma cooked these but I was really determined to learn the secret of the stinking recipe! Started cooking sambal petai right after lunch (Tua Ee really paranoid that we might have too much work to do).

Check out the bulging stomach... Outcome of just Day 1 of CNY.

Su En kesi kesi doing work... when in fact I was the one huffing and puffing :D

The greatest invention of a dish.... the superbly addictively stinking sambal petai. I could weep just looking at this beauty :'( It's Ah Ma's version of a sambal petai. Not the wet and soaking type, this is the bomb, just the way I love my petai ;)

Took a rest for a bit, killing zombies before starting on a very tedious preparation on the next dish that I love.

I'll give you a hint:

Not so sure yet? Here's another giveaway.

PERUT IKAN!!

My second love.... (err, come to think of it, I have many loves leh, maybe I'll say it's second with a hundred others? Yes, let's put it that way). Tua Ee used to say that it's extremely tedious and a lot of work involved in the preparation of the perut ikan but I have never completely appreciated the truth in those words until I was involved myself.

We started cleaning the ingredients, but I think, the worst was the daun kaduk. I had to individually clean each leaf (several times) before rolling them up and slicing them into fine pieces. Just that one part (but essential) of ingredient already took up almost 2-3 hours I think. By the end of the daun kaduk session, the balls of my feet are already aching from standing too long without support.

Scribbled on an old-fashioned calendar page... So important this! Perut ikan is soooo tedious to make that I will think twice before embarking on this tiring adventure. I might do it if I have like a hundred helpers :D

By 7:30pm only the perut ikan is simmering properly...

But my orgasmic moment approaches!

Ahhhh.... bliss! I could do with just white rice, and sambal petai. Drooling!! Used my hands to gobble this up, and then went for a second helping, no hesitation. Pants got a little tight around the belly but it was so worth it.

And the immensely complex bowl of goodness. The taste is good, though there is a raw-ish quality about the countless ingredients in it. We all reckon the perut ikan will be heavenly overnight, with everything absorbing the flavour of everything else.

I received a bit of a shocker when Mom jio me to puak. Lol! Can't remember the last time I gambled with Mom!

Puak like only gor puat each round hehehehhe but it's all for the fun of it! Didn't win nor lose though. Notice the foreigner? Pickles was hiding where it thinks is safe from all the loud fireworks :)