Quay Po Cooks: blogger lunch

Showing posts with label blogger lunch. Show all posts

Thursday, February 9, 2012

I smelled the food but I lost my way

I was excited. I always am when our local bloggers plan a get together. While blog sharing in cyberland is what we all love and revolve around, I love the chance to get up, close, and personal with my pals. It is all the more festive & fun if we have a solid excuse to party. What better a reason than the Chinese New Year? Wendy of Table for two and more was the bright light of recognition that we all would be silly to pass up this chance and very kindly organized a Chinese New Year (CNY) lunch for local bloggers. Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover generously opened her beautiful home to host the lunch. I was looking forward to this lunch scheduled for fourteenth day of the traditional CNY celebrations . When the day finally arrived, I woke up early that morning to prepare the cauliflower and potato in chilli tuna salad. I left the house early at 11.15am (though the lunch as set for 12 noon). If a person blessed with a normal sense of direction drove it, they would probably reach Sonia’s house within 20 minutes. It took me 1 hour to reach her house and would have taken longer if not for Sonia’s hubby who was so kind to patiently direct me by phone on how to get there. My Quay Lo said he is very grateful that I can find my way home every night. Oh Darling, how blessed are you!! LOL!

When I arrived at Sonia's home, Lena of Frozen Wings was there already. Sharon of Feats of Feasts arrived shortly followed by Wendy of Table for two or more and Swee San of The Sweet Spot. Although all had arrived, there was still a little last minute cooking and plating for all of us to do before we could sit down and enjoy an array of home cooked delicious food.

LOOK!!

The above photo shows the lovely table setting by Sonia

and below photos show her famous

nasi lemak with peanuts, hard boiled eggs,

boiled kangkung, deep fried anchovies, fried chicken,

sambal prawns and the best sambal belacan I have ever had.

Sonia also made us a special drink that was so yummy and refreshing.

She called it Lychee lime soda

Food by Wendy

beef rendang, kamquat almond mini cake and
Goiabinhas

Food by Quay Po

Cauliflower, potato, romanian lettuce in chilli tuna salad,

Swedish wedding balls and pheasant pate and cheese on mini toasted bread

Food by Lena

Pandan kueh, sweet sour crab and scallop kueh

Food by Sharon

stuffed you tiau with pork and

apple salad/slaw

Food by Swee San

Sicile (top l. & r.) an entremet of pistachio and blackberry cake,

and a Plum frangipane tart (below). Exquisite!

Last year, our CNY Blogger's lunch was at the home of Reese of Reese Kitchen and you can see we had lots of wonderful food then as well. Time flew and one year passed already.

Reese was supposed to join us but she could not make it. Though her plans were changed, it was so thoughtful of her to send the chicken wings that she had marinated through Sharon.

Reese, thank you so much for the delicious chicken wings. We wish you were here with us and we all missed you.

I am sure everyone will agree with me when I said we all felt connected even though some of us were just meeting for the first time. We didn’t seem to have any reservations; instead chatting like old friends. Our lunch lasted for almost four hours because we had so much to share. I am glad I can fit in despite the age difference between me and all the lovely young ladies. Most of them could be my daughters.

Like the saying goes, All good things must come to an end, we took a group photo to remember our fun day.

Back row: Wendy, Lena and Swee San

Seated: Sonia and Quay po with

Wendy's two sweetie pies! (We missed Sharon in the photo as

she had to rush off for another appointment.)!

Just before I left Sonia’s home, I quickly caught hold of Lena and told her that I need to follow her car to go out onto the highway. I know, it was so embarrassing that someone who is not from KL (Kuala Lumpur) had to show me the way out. I had to confess I have no sense of direction and if you blindfold me and turn me around, that would be enough to confuse me where I am. No kidding, I am that hopeless. For being able to return home safely, I had to thank Lena for leading me to the highway from Sonia's house. Having said that, I can proudly announce that I found my way home without much fumble. APPLAUSE!!

I would like to thank you again, Sonia, for being such a fabulous host. I am very grateful for your generosity in opening up your beautiful home to host the lunch for all of us. It was so thoughtful of you too to present me those gifts of ingredients any food blogger would be delighted to have.

Oh Lena, you are so sweet to give me the lovely little ceramic bowl and the pretty apron. I love them! Like how I look with the apron on (below)? I am holding the ceramic bowl you gave me also, I need a bigger one to ask for more of your out-of-this-world delicious sweet and sour crab lah! "lay sik joe lor" (You know what to do). LOL!

A big THANK YOU to all the "kitchen goddesses" who were there, for your delicious food, great company and an enjoyable afternoon. That was a million times better than to have a lunch at a restaurant. You ladies sure can cook and bake! Three cheers to you gals! Keep on cooking, baking, blogging and sharing!

A LITTLE ABOUT THIS QUAY PO

Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.