A very Penang CNY ....

Time really flies… especially when you are not working … Chinese New Year has come and gone, with memories of ….. hmmm ... wondering what I did…

Yup, it is the time of lazing around for 5 days since the Govt compensated us for the coinciding with the weekend and my school gave an extra day too…. But I also engaged in productive activities like worrying about my diploma assignments while poring through the readings, doing some pleasure-reading - finished the Lonely Planet Story :) - and of course, satisfying my olfactory and gastronomic senses big time …. aka bingeing on CNY goodies…..

There's my favourite pineapple tarts.. the delicious Sing Long curry puffs which my mum inadvertently mistook for another CNY staple - the peanut one. Also love the Loveletters, the fragrance sucking you into the container once the lid is off……… This is also the year of abundance of prawn rolls - I tried at least 5 versions, from the handsome-looking yet disappointing ones to the pale-as-kueh bangkit but packing a surprisingly delightful power-punch of “he be' (fried prawn paste).

Have been indulging in them even before CNY, before our Reunion Dinner at King’s Hotel - to a sumptuous Penang / Peranankan buffet with its

• Delectable Desserts like the nonya kueh. sweet soups and ice kachang


• Rojak with loads of fruits and cuttlefish


• Fried beehoon with chilli fishcake, cucumbers pickled in different ways…


• 'Otak' which turned out to be fish swimming in chawanmushi-soft pandan-coloured egg with banana leaf as its ‘fish tank’


• Braised pork cooked to tender perfection


• Penang laksa, herbal duck noodles, prawn soup noodles....


• Hawker fare like chicken satay is a cut above the ordinary…. Fleshy and succulently seasoned


• Riceflour pancake topped with banana slices dipped in sweet gula melaka sauce
  

Didn’t know there was such a range of good food in Penang fare. I certainly can't remember partaking in such an engaging feast during my trip to Penang eons ago….or maybe it's my pre-gluttony day where food is just a prevention against the inconveniences of hunger...

Contrast with now where I don't even have time for taking pictures of the food which I meant to... well who cares anyway .... Enjoy your new year bingeing and Bon Appetit !