Author: Kimberly Low

My 2013 in a large nutshell

The time has come to review my 2013. What a good year! We travelled a bit, cooked a bit and generally figured out more about life.

Rather than rambling on, here goes:

January 2013
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January started out really, really well. A bunch of good friends and the husband got together to give me the surprise of a lifetime. They rented my wedding gown again for me and gave me a new bridal photoshoot as on my chaotic wedding day there weren’t any proper picture of me in my gown.

# – Trying out my wedding gown, again :)

These aren’t just friends to me, they are family.

February 2013
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Chinese new year fell in February. It’s our first year as a married couple so we had to give out double red packets to every unmarried friend and family member.

# – Packing angpows.

March 2013
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March was a really quiet month, blogging-wise. There were no postings, other than advertorials. We did go to Bali for the husband’s birthday in March and blogged a little about it in here and here. It was both our first time. We finally mustered up the courage to visit Bali only after we’re married because of the famous Bali break-up curse lol.

# – With hubs.

# – With babi guling.

# – At Tanah Lot.
kimberlycun bali

Wasn’t our best holiday to be honest. There was so much driving and getting stuck in the jam. And the weather was so hot. I made the mistake of trying to cramp in too many things at one go and ended up getting stuck in the car most of the time. Next time, we will stick to staying at only one area.

April 2013
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Finally saw The Prodigy live for the first time ever at FMFA! T_T It was surreal!!!

# – With the hubs at FMFA.

# – # – Keith Flint on the gigantic screen.

Also helped to cook a Star Wars themed menu for Mike’s birthday.

# – Star Wars menu.

May 2013
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Took the 2nd best holiday of the year, a diving trip to Pom Pom Island in Sabah. I really miss it. Had such a great time diving and just chilling.

# – Sun, sea and beach!

Voted for the first time. And went to a political rally for the first time, didn’t blog about this..only instagram. Definitely a life-changing experience.

# – Indelible ink ah? lol.
vote

# – Black 505.
rally

It’s also the month I embarked on journey to perfect teeth. Put dental braces on after years of contemplation.

# – Gigi besi.
braces

June 2013
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Took mom to my favourite city in the world – Bangkok. We had such a great time, shopping, eating and massaging for 5 whole days :)

# – Suppertime with mom in BKK.

July 2013
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This is my favourite month because it’s my birthday month! Whenever there’s special occasions like Valentine’s Day, birthdays or Xmas, we celebrate it for a whole week. So, I got to have a birthday week where my husband indulged me in whatever I wanted to do or eat.

# – Happy birthday to me!

I had my deep-fried pork intestines in KL, had copious amount of Japanese food…yums yums. Got to sing karaoke too, hehe.

# – LOVEEEEEEEEEE Japanese food!

I was feeling so loved up this month so I was able to write two comprehensive posts about our wedding :) Part 1 here and
part 2 here. Also blogged about our Registration of Marriage day here.

Also made my first instagram video…

# – Me in my element.

August 2013
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The most exciting month for the year. We embarked on our epic Eurotrip #kimgaretheeurotrip

9 countries in 21 days…England, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. It was such an awesome holiday we had quite bad post-holiday withdrawal.

# – On the White Cliffs of Dover in England.

September 2013
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This is the month of nursing our emotions back to health. We had such a great holiday that being back home seemed so incredibly depressive – all the traffic jam, no manners Malaysians, hot weather, humidity felt much worse than they really were.

I tried to cheer myself up by doing some baking. Baking always does the trick for me. Made Hokkaido Chiffon cakes.

# – Hokkaido chiffon cakes.

October 2013
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This month I started to think about having babies :P We’re not trying but letting nature takes its course. It’s also our 1st wedding anniversary on 27th October :)

November 2013
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We went to Malihom, Penang as a 1st anniversary getaway. It was so, so nice :)

# – At Malihom’s pool.

December 2013
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The happiest month of all months! Cause it’s Xmas :D It’s also the chinese winter’s solstice so I made an epic 9-course dinner for my family.

# – Homemade 9-course Winter Solstice Dinner :D
winter solstice

As for Xmas, we held the Annual Xmas Party at The Davieses too. I made roast loins with crackling, roast chickens and roast pork belly. I didn’t manage any picture so am posting some nicked from friends.

# – Roast chicken.
chicken

# – Meringues with cream and berries.
meringue

# – Pork belly, skin roasted and meat braised with fennel and stock. This was so, so good am going to make it all the time, muahahahahaha.
pork belly

# – Roast loins with cracklings.

As usual, on Xmas morning hubs and I ripped open our presents for each other. I am really happy with mine, he’s done a great job this year :)

# – I got a brand new laptop (w00t!), 1.5 kilograms of gourmet jelly beans (wheeeeeee!), Chanel no 5 and Babyliss Miracurl (the best thing since sliced bread!!!!)

Me on the other hand, failed a bit with his gifts…

# – Nespresso machine, Lab Series facewash, phone casing and a shaver.

Well, the shaver made him bleed T_T and the phone casing…..well he dropped his phone this morning and the screen broke. FML.

But all is well now, we have changed the shaver to a better model and fixed his phone screen, haha.

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To read about my highlights in previous years, click:

2008
2009
2010
2011 (this one was a cheat, honestly was too broke saving for the house until no activities hahaha)

2012

What I cooked for Winter Solstice dinner celebration 2013

My family decided to celebrate Winter Solstice earlier this year because of its proximity to Christmas. I was in charge of cooking, while hubs was in charge of cleaning the house.

I made a 9-course dinner.

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For appetiser, I made a cold dish called Chicken Crystal Jelly, which is an aspic. I added blanched prawns and baby corns to make it look more pretty. To make this was very simple, simmer 3 chicken thighs in seasoned boiling water for about 30 minutes, like making chicken soup. Skim the gunk off the surface of the soup while it’s simmering, this will help make the stock clearer. After 30 minutes, remove cooked chicken thighs from soup, let cool and debone. As for the stock, strain it (I used those paper made specially for straining oil, bought from Daiso) to achieve an even clearer appearance. While the soup is still hot, mix in gelatine or agar-agar according to instructions.

Arrange chicken meat, prawns and baby corn in the jelly mold, then pour in the stock and chill in the fridge overnight or at least 5 hours. To unmold the jelly, place the mold in hot water for a few minutes, put a plate over the mold, then turn it upside down…the jelly should pop out effortlessly.

# – 1. Chicken Crystal Jelly.
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Second dish was steamed prawns with egg white and wine. The easiest of the lot. Arrange prawns on a plate, plate ginger slices and spring onions on top. Mix 2 tablespoons of ShiaoXing rice wine and 1 tablespoon of soya sauce then pour it over the prawns. Steam on high heat for 4 minutes and just before you turn off the fire, pour in 3 egg whites all over. Voila, done.

# – 2. Steamed prawns with wine and egg white.
image

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Easy stir-fry vegetable medley. Dump everything into oiled wok and flip em around till everything’s cooked.

# – 3. Sauteed vegetables.
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Poached chicken. Stick chicken into boiling water for 30-40 minutes, take it out and them brush skin with sesame oil (3 tablespoon) and salt mixture (1 teaspoon). Let cool for a couple of hours then chop it up and serve. I also used the stock from boiling chicken as a base to my soup.

# – 4. Pak Cham Kai in cantonese.
image

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Dry bak kut teh. The BEST of the lot. Basically make stock with store-bought bakkutteh soup spice. Boil a head of garlic, pork belly, spare ribs and porn neck in the soup for 30-40 minutes. After that fry 10 pieces of dried chillies, soaked dried squid and chopped up bird’s eye chillies in oil till fragrant, make sure in a wok or a wide saucepan. Remove the meats and garlic from soup and add to the frying. Add a dash of dark soya sauce and a dash of oyster sauce. Then, ladle the BKT soup in and simmer for 30 minutes or until the soup thickens to a consistency of your liking. Chopped up ladies fingers and throw it in a minute before you turn off the flame. I think I will start making this pretty regularly…

# – 5. Dry BKT.
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Suan pan zhi or hakkan yam abacus. The last time I made this dish was back in 2008, when our kitchen was basically a little corner in the apartment with the floor as the work area. This year, making this dish was a lot easier as I am better equipped. The hand mixer was very useful, so I didn’t have to stick my hand into hot yam to knead it hehe. This time I added sliced tofu and slices of chillies too.

# – 6. Hakkan Yam Abacus.
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Easy pan-fried threadfin steaks, just finished with a dash of soya sauce.

# – 7. Pan-fried kurau/threadfin fish steaks.
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Soup base was stock from cooking the poached chicken. Added handful of boxthorn berries, handful of red dates, handful of peanuts, a few pieces of pork neck and chopped arrowhead tubers. Boiled for an hour, yummy yumyum.

# – 8. Arrowhead and peanut soup.
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Of course, glutinous rice balls is a must for Winter Solstice dinner. These are homemade with gula melaka and peanut butter fillings. Click here to learn how to make tong yuen my way. Broth was made by boiling gula melaka, few slices of ginger and a handful of red dates.

# – 9. Tong Yuens.
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Of course I made too much food. What’s new? Luckily my youngest brother and mom were willing to take the leftovers.