Ming's Home!

Ming arrived home at noon, one of the first to return home from Australia for the year -end holidays. Late Nov to Feb are the fun months here, when the kids come home to party and fill up the drinking joints. With Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year in between and final term holidays for the local schools too, it's a time to chill out not just for the kids but for us parents too. KK actually becomes young and lively. I love this time of the year when the kids come home and the family is complete. Can hardly wait until my girl comes home in 10 days.

The plan was to eat out but Ming requested a Chinese meal at home with lots of veg ("The only Chinese veg they have in Coles is pak choy and chinese cabbage.") and a soup ("The only meat good for making soup is beef. Australian chicken and pork give an awful smell to the soups.") I am lucky that my family loves home-cooked food and I am pleasantly surprised that unlike most kids here, who prefer western food, my kids love Chinese food and all kinds of cuisine. I think the trick is to make sure you cook both western and eastern food. Most kids who crave for western food probably do that out of pure craving because their moms do not cook enough western food. I know of a Chinese kid who only eats western food. I find it strange and pitiful.

Dinner was very everyday home-cooked Chinese dishes, made with whatever was available from my fridge and garden.


Kampung chicken with young bamboo and winter melon soup. The winter melon was from my backyard.


MIL came with her Lion Heads.


Ming wanted "the angular fish that is crispy". Lucky for me (and him), I had some stocked in my freezer. Black pomfret is heavenly when wok-fried until crispy and doused with light and dark soy sauce.


A cold dish of silken tofu and century eggs.


Fried okra with dried shrimps, the okra from my garden.


MIL brought her soy sauce kampung chicken, a little lean but the sauce was great.


Kai lan with beef fillet, the kai lan from my garden.



Two more dishes were steamed minced pork with salted eggs and a veg dish of hard bean curd strips. Nothing deep-fried and lots of greens from my garden. Dessert was juicy jambu (rose apples, Ming's fav fruits) and papaya. I was surprised when he said "I miss fruits, Australia doesn't have much fruits" because most of our fruits are imported from Australia and whenever I go to Australia, I enjoy their fruits. "There's strawberries, blueberries, peaches, nectarines..." "Strawberries and all those berries aren't fruits, mom. Jambu, guava, papaya, bananas, pineapple and mangoes are fruits." Oh. I am guessing that most guys don't consider berries as fruits too.