Monday, November 5, 2007

Mom's 80-4th Birthday.

We celebrated my mom's 80-4th birthday yesterday (one day early). Minus 4 because even though her passport says she's now 80, her chronological age is, we guess, 76. In those frantic days when families scrambled out of China, documents were left behind and somehow mistakes were made when they registered in their new countries. And so we had a small dinner at Royal China. Mom had wanted it at the new restaurant Shikei, but the lighting is very poor there and deemed unfestive for such an occasion.

We started out with a soup that's now not considered morally correct to eat so forget about the picture. I must profess I do love sharks' fins soup and see no difference between killing fish for their fins and their meat because according to sources, the sharks are killed and then their fins harvested, not the other way around. I also agree that there's a biasness here because sharks are killed for their meat in many western countries.

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Crab mornay in shells
Although this tasted good, I didn't taste any crabmeat in it and it was a little too sugar-sweet for me.

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Peking duck

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I asked that the Peking duck be served with some meat on. Duck skin was crispy and the meat tasty.I always find it such a waste to just eat the skin and then the meat is served all minced up and over-seasoned and over-fried for the lettuce-wrap dish. I would've preferred the traditional pancakes than crepes.
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Steamed black cod
I can never get enough of this!
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Mitzi spareribs
Sticky, sweet and tasty but a bit too meaty for some of the guests.
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Abalone, fish maw, sea cucumber and greens
Disappointing. The abalone was cut so thin and smothered in the too-sweet sauce, the sea cuke was tasteless (because it was plain boiled, not stewed) so it doesn't justify the cost of this dish.
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Tiger prawns with sambal floss
This came steamy hot and the prawns were fresh.
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Long-life noodles
Again I found the sauce too sugar-sweet and there was a slight ammonia stink in the noodles.
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I made an over-dressed fresh cream cake to fit the occasion.

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Turned out it was my FIL's 79th birthday according to the Roman calender. The peach baos with lotus paste filling is a traditional dessert for old folks celebrating their birthdays because the peach denotes a long life. Forget about ordering these if your folks celebrate their birthday at Royal China - these baos were dry and chewy.
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Somebody's (guess who?) hiding in the picture because he turned red drinking too much champagne.
Overall rating for Royal China's banquet set? Overprized and could've been better...

17 comments:

red | hongyi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
red | hongyi said...

WHOAHHHH!!!!

Looks like you guys had fun!!!

Oh I love that photo of Goong-goong with the peaches and grandkids! I miss him!

Popo-Ice looks so happy. As always. :D

Want to kiss-hug Na, Goong-goong and Popo-Ice. :D

red | hongyi said...

Wei Wei looks good with her new haircut, tell her that :P

And Michelle...I couldn't recognise her! Been years since I met her.

Cuzzins all look so grown-up already!

My grandparents all have black hair...*wink wink* :p

And I'm guessing it's Wey who had too much champagne? He's starting pretty young isn't he?

red | hongyi said...

Vivian's smirking, want to pinch her!

Okay I should stop flooding your comments section.

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

those rn't his grandkids u xyz! mich is looking very good, n bf was nice too. we missed u. i really di, n when ming made his drunken speech, the old folks were really touched.tt guy's quite the smooth-talker when he wants to.bet it would've been more fun with u around. ur cousins made a nice card for popo-ice.she was happy.as usual.

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

i did tell her.mona's getting very pretty too.yes, vv was her usual - refused to hug popo.i pinched and smacked her.

Denise ^ ChickyEGG said...

initially I was searching for Wey from the group photo bah ( I like to see ur youngest boy! very cute!!!), i look 1-by-1, still cant find! not until i read ur last line, I Knew it! (Behind the black shirt ?) hahaha, eventhough he's hiding, still can see his red face...like cooked crAb =p

red | hongyi said...

well, sorta his grandkids lah!

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

denise: he kept a straight face when he read ur comment but i think he was happy, n he said shdn't it be 'red as a lobster'?i said both crab n lobster turn red...

Denise ^ ChickyEGG said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Denise ^ ChickyEGG said...

*laughs*
see, that's how I like the rebellious way of Wey! hahahah

WoMbOk™♂ said...

The food looks absolutely scrumptious...

Must have peking duck...

Shan said...

Where is this restaurant?

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

denise: u really know him by now.
wombok:any good peking duck in kuching?
shan: in the new DJunction building, above umai jap res and spice garden. used to be good for dimsum.

Coketai said...

Wow!! You have a big family! I just wonder all your family member (in the pic) are reside in Sabah??

Anyway, Happy belated birthday to your mum!

LY.Tai

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

coketai: tq, i'll tell her :) i think our fam is considered small by local standards.in d pic, excluding my in-laws & BIL, mom's old friend n her DIL, niece's fiance, only 17 all in KK n another bro n SIL in Singapore.19 all-in.not exactly going extinct but the Ngs r a threatened species unless the younger generation (only 1 Ng so far...) r prolific :D

Western Dental said...

Looks great, I'm loving that cake!

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