New Year's Lunch

On new year's day, my family from Alor Star visited us. We had rice with grilled terubuk fish and accompanying sambal belacan (pounded by my aunt, Ndak), chicken Thai curry, Mixed vegetable pecal, sweet and sour bawal (sole) and the last of our korban meat cooked in soya sauce after marinating in spices overnight.

I was happy with all the dishes, except that the Thai chicken curry should have been thicker. I should not have put too much water and keep on adding the coconut milk. The problem started because I put too much fish sauce which was very salty. So I had to add more water and then more coconut milk. The terubuk was a bit dry too. Maybe because the fish had been frozen far too long.

I was happy that my pecal was a hot favorite. So far, my spouse and children are the only ones who love the pecal. We had pecal at least 4 times last month .Zaty is beginning to be an expert in cooking and cutting the vegetables now.

As pecal is something I learnt to prepare from my husband's family, I have never served it to my own relatives. I didn't know that they love it too. Next time when I go back to my hometown I will prepare the pecal again. It is easy now that I can buy the peanuts already roasted and grinded, as it saves a lot of time.

As this is my first posting in the new year, I wish everyone a happy new year.

For those whose new year resolution is to lose weight, let us do it sensibly and in a healthy way.

For those wishing to save more in anticipation of tough times ahead, let's learn to cook easy and healthy meals ourselves. Meals bought from hawker stalls are usually not so healthy and could lead to lots of problems later. We should learn to reduce use of preservatives, colouring and mono sodium glutamate. Maybe make our own stocks instead of relying on stock cubes.

My new year wish for all is "Stay Healthy, Be Happy and Live within Your Means"

Happy New Year.