Ashley's 3month birthday celebrations

It is chinese tradition to celebrate a new born baby's first month. We did this for my first nephew, and quickly forgot about it for all subsequent kids. (I think we had dinner, but nothing formal with invites and all) My second sister, who was in Singapore when she gave birth to her kids, didn't bother having a celebration since her in-laws didn't follow that tradition. And I'm sure after giving birth, organising a birthday party is the last thing you want to do.

For my brother however, because my parents are very traditional in the sense that the boy in the family needs to carry on the family name, it was a big deal that we had to have a celebration dinner for Ashley. But since most of the family was in Sydney, and Ashley was in Shanghai, we postponed it until they all came back for Christmas. So it was more of a 3month birthday celebration thing.

Our family has gotten progressively bigger and bigger. A family dinner is a minimum of 2 tables, where each table seats 12. We chose a restaurant that was close and would accomodate us comfortably. So it was back to Crystal Palace Seafood at Strathfield.

My parents had their 60th Birthday / 40th Wedding anniversay dinner here a few years ago. And we're still well known throughout the whole restaurant. I think the fact that we drank over half a dozen bottles of wine between 5 people was what earnt us that reputation. That and my brother and sisters decided to play a whole bunch of pranks on my parents, newly wed style.

Its always good to be known at a Chinese restaurant. There complimentry this and that, better service, and even personal attention from the guy in charge. Since we did a late booking, instead of getting the private room to ourselves, they sectioned off part of the restaurant for us. Fine by me, there was more room for the kids to run around!

When we arrived, there was a big fuss as to who would sit where. All the "oldies", aka my parents, my sister in laws parents, their in-laws and of course my brother and family will sit on one table. There wasn't enough room to seat the rest of us AND the kids on another table, so we seperated the kids out. Then there wasn't enough people to sit on the big table so we tried to reshuffle everyone! But my dad wanted the drinkers to be on the one table so they can all get drunk and rowdy. However, some of the drinks in the family had to drive, some CAN drink but would much prefer not to, and then theres those, like me, who can drink like a fish but can't exactly advertise that fact. After alot of hooha, we sat most of the kids at their own table, a few on the adults table. This meant that the waiters had to divide all the food into bowls before serving us.

We ordered a full banquet with the 12 courses (??) typically found at chinese weddings. Just because we couldn't be bothered choosing individual dishes and it makes it easier for the restaurant to cook.

Everyone still arguing as to where to sit!

The Birthday Girl!

Eggs and condiments

Chinese custom is that you get a red egg for your birthday. Every year on my birthday, I would wake up and mum will have a hard boiled egg waiting for me. The only difference is my mum doesn't dye the egg for me. My sister was telling me when she first came to Australia, in ESL class, they had to sit around and explain what they did on their birthday. When it was her turn, the teacher asked what does she get for her birthday each year.

Her: "Egg."

Teacher and class: "Egg???"

They basically thought my sister was neglected and only got an egg whilst everyone got cakes and presents. hehehe They didn't even have birthday cakes in China! And even if they did, you couldn't afford one!

First Course: Cold platter

Typical first course in a chinese banquet is the cold platter. Usually consists of Jelly fish (My fav!), roast duck, chicken, bbq pork, roast pork and other things like pork hock etc.

Brocolli and straw mushroom with dried scallop sauce

MMMmmm This was beautiful! No expenses were spared when making the sauce. There was mouthfuls of dried scallop cooked into a rich and comforting thick sauce. The brocolli was lightly blanced to retain the crunch and natural sweetness which refreshes the palette between bites. There was an overload of straw mushrooms, not that I was really complain because I love how they pop in your mouth when you bite into them. My nephew was in tantrum chucking mode after just waking up from his nap, refused to eat. Until I nicknamed these the "exploding mushrooms" accompanied with the sound effects. 2mins later, the whole bowl was gorrrrrrrn!

Scallop taro puffs

This is similar to the "wu gok" you get when you go yum cha. The only difference is that there a big white juicy scallop inside. My nephews didnt' like the taro so they dug the scallop out, ate that and discard the taro!%!#*#%*

MmmMmm Innards......

We actually had a huge plate of ginger and shallot crabs at this stage. But I suspect they used some old oil and didn't clean the crab properly when they cooked this dish. The usually snow white flesh came out brownish grey, and one some pieces, there was still algae/seaweed stuck to it. I think I'll leave that photo out thank you very much........

King prawn and snowpea stir fry

Sharkfin soup - A must for every chinese banquet

I always feel guilty when I eat Sharkfin soup. The guilt doesn't last long though, one spoonful of the soup has me throwing all my animal treatment ethics out the window. Its not the actual sharkfin that I like, but the broth. The broth is general made by stewing chicken, pork and chinese ham amongst other things for hours and hours. That is what gives it the rich and comforting taste. Thicken with corn starch, its as satisfying as a big bowl of steaming hot pumpkin soup.....but sharkfin style. I'd happily eat this dish with fake imitation sharkfin as long as the broth remains the same.

This soup is usually served with a dish of red vinegar that you drizzle into the soup to lighten the taste. And since I love vinegar, I usually go a bit nuts with it.....

Crispy skin chicken

By this stage I was getting really full. I think I had 1 piece of chicken and we had the rest put into take away containers.

Steamed fish with ginger and shallots

Our whole family loves fish. On average we have fish about 3-5 times a week. Of course, with the Sydney harbour water pollution etc etc, we've had to limit the amount and type of fish we eat. A shame really since we used to go fishing every week thereby giving us a constant supply of fresh fish.

I can't remember what fish this was, but it was good. The flesh was firm but not hard and the sauce wasn't too salty. I didn't have much though since I was saving my stomach for one of my favourite dishes that is yet to come out!

E-fu noodles

I don't know why I love this dish so much. Everytime I go to a wedding, I always save some room for this dish. When done properly (or the way I like it atleast), the noodles are soft and has absorbed all the sauce. This one was a bit firm for my liking, since I like mines VERY soft. This is a very simple dish, usually made with a few thin slices of mushrooms and young chives.

Stir Fried Glutinous rice

I shared a small bowl with my sister. She loved it. I went for another bowl of noodles. Hehehehe This version had chinese sausages, dried shrimp and chinese cured pork.

Dessert was a red bean soup, fruit and the above. One was a fried dough covered in seasame and the other was a shortcrust pastry stuffed with sweet black bean paste. Usually I don't eat any of the dessert except the fruit, this time I had about 3-4 of those shortcrust pastry things. They were deliiiiish! Not too sweet and the pastry was not too oily. There were none left at the end of the night, but we did take a big bag of the seasame things home (which I recycled for my Santa offerings) .

Happy 3month birthday Ashley!!