13 Lo Hei ingredients and their meanings

Of all the Chinese New Year food, I hate Lo Hei (Yu Sheng) the most. Gosh it's like randomly throwing everything together, give them a meaning, and give them a representative color to fit their meaning. They simply don't taste right to me. And raw fish is just not my type.

But this Chinese New Year, I had 3x Lo Hei. Once at Din Tai Fung, once in Malaysia, and once at Tung Lok. The coolest thing for me was just the procedure to pour the ingredients together. Then the actual "lo hei".

Do you know what are the ingredients and the meanings behind their colors? How many can you name?

I picked up a flyer from Ichiban Boshi with 13 lo hei ingredients, and their respective meanings in both English and Chinese. Of course the ingredients here are tailored for Ichiban Boshi's Yusheng set this year. I read on wiki that they are 27 ingredients in the original dish.


1. Chuka Kurage
Excellence, 锦上添花

2. Red Sweetened Ginger
Luck, 鸿运当头

3. Peanut Crunch
Wealth, 金玉满堂

4. Pickled Leek
Divination, 妙算如神

5. Sweetened Lime
Merit, 苦尽甘来

6. Pickled Cucumber
Advancement, 平步青云

7. Winter Melon
Harmony, 甜甜蜜蜜

8. Fried Sesame
Prosperity, 生意兴隆

9. Chuka Wakame
Youth, 青春长驻

10. Pickled Melon
Tranquility, 风调雨顺

11. Pok Chui Biscuits
Affluence, 遍地黄金

12. Five Spice, Cinnamon and Pepper Powder
Fortune, 招财进宝

13. Salmon Sashimi
Abundance, 年年有余

Do you like Lo Hei? What was your favorite or least favorite Chinese New Year dish/snack?

Who says no money cannot eat?

Hmmm....it's been 3 months now since my last pay! What the heck... & Always in the last week, we try to scrimp and save. But who says no money cannot eat?

In times of need, we were so glad to have my Sakae Card around!

..with $55 Sakae Dollars from the e-journalists program. Just in time to celebrate wx's birthday too! Hehe

3 colored plates, $2.29 each + 1 red plate, $5.59

Nabeyaki Udon, $11.99

Tempura with Yuzu Soba, $13.99
Totals to $46.50. We paid only 50 cents!!

The yuzu soba was quite interesting. We were given this raw quail egg (poked with a small hole) and for a while we weren't sure what to do with it.


Do you know the correct way to eat your yuzu soba?

Rating: ★★★

This is not Farmville. It's your own REAL farm.. but online.

Ever played Farmville on Facebook? Apparently, it is the #1 Facebook app by Zynga (who also created Café World and Mafia Wars in Top 10) now with over 73 million users - that's more than twice the size than that of the #2 app. These virtual farm games are getting quite popular even on the iPhone. The most popular in the iTunes App Store is the Tap Farm by Streetview Labs, currently at #35 in Top 50 Free Apps.

I've been playing one myself called iFarm by PlayMesh. I spend time picking out crops that would make me the most profit, and I keep coming back to check on their growth even if it's at 3am - because everything is real time, if you leave a harvested crop for too long, it wilts.

How about playing one that actually returns you with REAL edible harvests? Doing it pretty much the same way as in those farm simulation games mentioned above (except you DO have to pay for this) - pick your crops, plant them, water them and finally harvest them - this creative Italian company will deliver your harvests to your doorstep within 24 hours! Interesting eh?

Unfortunately, this fun and innovative service only operates in Italy right now. And you control your own farm (or "garden") via your web browser. But I wouldn't see it being a problem to establish such services in the United States, where city people are becoming more health-conscious, "cheap" "organic" "home-grown" food would appeal very much to them as well. An even better idea - remotely control your farm on mobile even while traveling! Or send a box of love-filled tomatoes to your family!

Read more
Remote-controlled farming for city dwellers: tailor-made, no-fuss vegetable gardens

T for Teppanyaki

Finally found the chance to dine at Sakae Teppanyki @ Century Mall on Monday, been a long time! Everything looked strangely familiar - the chefs, the waitresses. In the past, I've talked about the food and I've talked about the service. I want to write about something different this time - the Teppanyaki cooking! :) Keep reading to also find out something new at Sakae Teppanyaki.

I think teppanyaki is awesome! It's really fun to observe how they prepare and cook, then slowly enjoy the food. Wx and I would even discuss different chef styles. You know, like gourmets :D

For instance, how many eggs and how much soy sauce to use for 3 servings of the garlic fried rice...




To get...




This!!

Even the shrimpy topping can make a difference in the overall taste. Some chefs will heat it up a bit after the rice is done (this I think is optimal); some set it on the metal plate longer (but I feel it makes the shrimps too dry); and some just sprinkle directly onto the rice without extra heating.

Remember, what is the one best ingredient in teppanyaki? Garlic!! There is the garlic fried rice and seafood stir-fried with garlic. Seriously I think there needs to be more more garlic :p




Besides stir frying, there are other styles of cooking in teppanyaki. Try the lobster stew! Prepared and served in nicely folded aluminium foil trays. These trays are also used in making beef sukiyaki.




Then there is the steamed kind like chawanmushi. Just spray some water and cover it up with a big round lid!

Here's something cute from Sakae:




Green tea icecream served in Sakae froggie trays!! Hehe I took home the trays :p

YUYU~!!

YAY! My sister and niece are arriving in Singapore very soon! Missed them :)