Chinese New Year in Penang

Ever since Annie went to the United States to study 13 years ago, she hasn’t been back home for Chinese New Year. Sure, we’ve come back to Malaysia several times to visit, but never during this season which is the most important holiday celebrated by her family. So when we moved to East Malaysia and settled in Sarawak, one of the first things we did was book tickets to KL so we could spend this festive time reuniting with her family in KL and Penang.

Annie’s extended family on her father’s side are from Penang. When I say “extended family”, I mean EXTENDED. Her dad has many brothers and sisters, plus all the other cousins and relatives by marriage. It was said that you couldn’t throw a stone in Penang without hitting a relative. I was looking forward to the excitement of the family reunion.

And, of course, I was looking forward to the food.

Crossing Over the Bridge to Georgetown, Penang

penang bridge

It was a 4 hour-long drive up from KL. We had stopped at a rest stop along the way for some mediocre hawker fare. By the time we got to Annie’s uncle’s house (where we would be staying the next few days), we were exhausted.

But we had barely a chance to unload our car, wash up and settle down before Uncle announced, "come, you want to go eat?"

Well, how could we refuse? ;-d

Continue reading Chinese New Year in Penang

Spiced Pork with Fried Ginger and Curry Leaves

Savory, spicy pork tenderloin – so delicious!

spiced pork with fried ginger and curry leaves It’s been a while since we posted. So much has been happening with us. The most important news is that I just got a new job!

I haven’t actually worked full-time in forever and this is my first job in more than 10 years. I started today actually, and I’m quite blasted after a whole day of orientation and meeting people in different departments. But I felt a need to write a post tonight.

Continue reading Spiced Pork with Fried Ginger and Curry Leaves

I Went to West Malaysia and All I Got Was…

We traveled from Kuching to KL to spend time with family over the Chinese New Year holidays. We ate (a LOT) of course, but also brought back lots of goodies from Penang and KL. Here’s a sample of our haul:

Bak Kwa – Sweet Pork Jerky

bak kwa

Thin sheets of pork meat, covered in a sweet glaze and lightly grilled. One of my favorite snacks; they won’t last long!

Continue reading I Went to West Malaysia and All I Got Was…

Gong Xi Fa Cai – Happy Chinese New Year

Wishing you a joyous and delicious

Chinese New Year

from the House of Annie

CNYslideshow

We’re taking the kids back over to West Malaysia for the Chinese New Year holidays, to visit with family, pass out tons of ang pow – red packets – and (of course) EAT! We’re going to be in Penang from the 12th through the 16th, then KL until the 21st. Looking forward to meeting up with some food bloggers there.

(If you’re going to be around and want to meet up, send us an email via our Contact page!)

This will be the first time in a very long time that Annie celebrates CNY with her family. And it will be the first time ever for me and the kids to experience what a Chinese New Year is like in Malaysia. I’m so excited!

I’m not sure what our broadband Internet connection is going to be like while we’re away, though. If I can get to a Starbucks, I may be able to upload some posts of where we’ve gone and what we’ve eaten. So stay tuned – you might get a treat!

Aloha, Nate

Making you hungry for the good things in life