Dongzhi dinner

 4 hours to cook dongzhi dinner and 6 dishes.

So tiring but i like home cooked food as its healthier.i used stevia sugar for tong yuan sweet soup.added pandan leave n osmanthus.pan fried shrimp in soy sauce,steamed fish n chicken in ipoh sauce of dong quai n ginger spinach with tofu in goji berry oyster sauce and winter melon soup.yum yum.

My body is aches but my heart is happy to see my family members enjoying the food.we reminiscence over the good old days when the extended family of aunts,uncles,cousins gather at our home to cook up a storm.my sis n jun says my cooking resembles my late mothers festive meals of good traditional cantonese food.

I spent the most on organic free range chicken as 3 large drumsticks cost rm30.the keng chong or glass promfet was only rm17 and the prawns rm25 as i bought it 10 days before festival at rm34 a kilo.all in i spent rm 100 for a meal for 3 of us compared to dining out which would cost me rm200 at least with drinks included.The leftovers i will make claypot yam rice with leftover chicken.the most tiring was the soup which i needed to boil stock with chicken bones,carrot,oysters,dried conchshell,figs,honey dates,sweet corn for 2 hours.i added chicken ham last. A meal with no red meat like pork or duck as they cause gout in Juns toes.i may need to go kuala selangor fishing village to buy seafood for lunar new year in two weeks time.hope the floods wont happen.