Cornflake Honey Joy Cups

If you were to ask me what is the one thing that I really miss about spending Chinese New Year back home in Malaysia, I would have to say - THE FOOD! Of course I miss spending time with my family, extended family and my friends too but missing out on the CNY goodies always bums me out each year. This year, I tried making one of my all time favorite CNY treat, the Cornflake Honey Joy Cups! Boy, I really love those tiny cups of awesome! I never really tried making them and I always assumed that they were really difficult to make. After checking out a few recipes online, I realized that they are really simple to make. Here's how you make them!

Start off by melting about 90g of unsalted butter in a large pan. Then add in 4 large tablespoons of honey.
Stir the honey into the melted butter and allow it to come to a boil. Remember not to let it overcook, cause it burns easily. Once you see it bubbling, you can turn off the heat immediately.
Then, add in about 4 cups of cornflakes.
Gently fold in the cornflakes with the honey butter mixture. Just make sure that you coat all of the cornflakes evenly with the mixture.
Next, scoop the cornflakes into tiny little paper cups. This recipes makes about 60 mini cups.
Pop in the tray of cornflake cups into a preheated 325F oven for about 12-13 minutes. You know it's done once it turns golden brown.
Once you have taken out the tray from the oven, sprinkle on some nonpareils colored balls as decoration. Allow it to cool for a bit and it's ready to be served! Wasn't that easy? The smell of the cornflake cups were just simply intoxicating when it was baking in the oven. So so so good! Go ahead and try it. It's awesome!

Yes! You can find Yee Sang here in NYC!!!

As many of you know, we didn't go home to Malaysia for Chinese New Year this year. It always suxs to spend Chinese New Year in a foreign land, away from the family. Not only does one miss out on all the family reunions and festivities, but we also miss out on all the FOOD! I was talking to some of my family and friends who also missed out on celebrating Chinese New Year back home this year and everybody says that of all the things that they miss most, it would have to be the Chinese New Year goodies. Sure, you can bake your own Chinese New Year cookies or buy some at the Asian grocery store, but certain things are a tiny bit harder to find. One of them is the Yee Sang.

As far as I can remember, we've always associated eating Yee Sang as part of celebrating Chinese New Year. I've always thought that Yee Sang is a Chinese dish and that Chinese from all over the world eat it during Chinese New Year. I guess it was due to the fact that you can pretty much find it at any Chinese restaurant in Malaysia during the Chinese New Year period. Not only that, boxes of prepacked Yee Sang are readily available at all major supermarkets and grocery stores. It wasn't til I moved to US did I find out that the Yee Sang is actually a Malaysian/Singaporean dish. Therefore, it's almost impossible to find a Chinese restaurant here in the States that would serve Yee Sang during Chinese New Year. Well, guess what? I found out that you CAN find Yee Sang here in the greater NYC area! As far as I know, there are three Malaysian restaurants in Chinatown and one in Edison, NJ that serves that for the entire month of February.

On the first day of Chinese New Year, Kevin and I dropped by New Malaysia Restaurant (located in the tunnel between Bowery & Elizabeth St in Chinatown) to take out a small serving of Yee Sang. In New Malaysia, the servings come in two sizes, small ($26.88) and large ($36.88). As you can see from the picture, the small serving is large enough to feed about 6-7 people. Even though the Yee Sang from New Malaysia might seem a little pricey compared to the other restaurants, I must say that New Malaysia's Yee Sang totally rocks! Really yummy and authentic tasting. Apart from the usual dried ingredients and thinly sliced vegetables, it also comes with salmon, jellyfish, plum sauce as well as pepper and five spice powder in the angpow (red packet).

So far, we have only tried the Yee Sang from New Malaysia Restaurant and Penang Restaurant (the branch in Edison, NJ). I know that there are many Penang branches all over the greater NYC region but I believe that Yee Sang is only served in the Chinatown as well as the Edison branch. For those of you who are thinking of getting some Yee Sang during this Chinese New Year period, here is a list of restaurants that serves them (there might be more but so far, these are the only places that I know of that sells them).

New Malaysia Restaurant
48 Bowery St,
New York, NY 10013
(212) 964-0284
Price: $26.88 (small), $36.88 (large)

Nyonya Restaurant
199 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013
(212) 334-3669
Price: $23.88 (small), $28.88 (medium)

Jaya Restaurant
90 Baxter Street,
New York, NY 10013
(212) 219-3331 ‎
Price: $18.88 (small), $28.88 (large)

Penang Restaurant
505 Old Post Road
Edison, NJ 08817-4625
(732) 287-3038
Price: $14.85 (small), $20.20 (med), $25.55 (large)

Chinatown Walkabout - 1st Day of CNY

Is everybody having a good Chinese New Year so far? I know that we are! Of course, it's never the same when you have to spend Chinese New Year in a foreign country, away from all your family, friends and not to mention, yummy home cooked food! However, I'm really grateful that we live in a city that has a relatively large Asian population. That's right, celebrating Chinese New Year in Chinatown is kinda fun, actually. With loud Chinese New Year music playing in the background, red and gold decorations in almost every shop and the smell of Chinese New Year goodies whiffing thru the air....ahhh, for a moment, one would even forget that you are right in the heart of NYC.
Kevin took the day off (since he is now Chinese, he always takes the 1st day of CNY off :P) from work and we headed down to Chinatown for the Annual Firecracker Ceremony at Sara D Roosevelt Park. It was really cold that day, around 22F (-5C) degrees and the ground was all slippery and icy. That didn't stop us (and a whole bunch of other ppl) from heading out to enjoy the festivities. The firecracker ceremony was scheduled to start at 11am but I knew from experience that they NEVER start on time. So, I thought that I was being smart by showing up at around 11:45am. The timing should be just right (and we do not have to stand out the the cold for too long). Well, looks like I was wrong. At noon, they we STILL setting up! :P
After standing out in the cold for what seemed like forever, the firecracker ceremony finally began. There were a few lion dances followed by the singing of the Chinese as well as American national anthem. With that, the countdown began and the firecrackers were lit! We were standing really close to the firecrackers..so yeah, it was LOUD!! :P We even felt a few stray firecrackers being flung our way. A very good show, like always. By the time the ceremony ended, it was way past lunchtime. So, we join the rest of the crowd and headed out to the main part of Chinatown, in search of food and to do a little CNY shopping.
It was so cold out, we were literally frozen, from head to toe. Not only we were super cold, we were super hungry too. We needed something to warm ourselves up and we needed it quick! I remember reading some great reviews about a hot pot (steamboat) restaurant on Canal St, so I suggested that we head there for lunch. Best decision of the day! The hot pot at Grand Sichuan was really really yummy! The ingredients were fresh and the chicken soup was superb. It's so good, I'll have to write a whole separate post, just on that!
After lunch, we were feeling all recharged and warmed up, once again. So, it's time to bundle up and head out to do some CNY shopping. Our first stop was Malaysia Beef Jerky Inc on Elizabeth St. We wanted to buy some bak kwa (pork jerky) and the only place that sells Malaysian/Singaporean style bak kwa is Malaysia Beef Jerky. Kevin loves their bak kwa and I kinda like it too. Of course, it doesn't taste as good as the bak kwa that we can get back home in Malaysia, but in my honest opinion, I think it's as good as it can get. If it wasn't so expensive, I swear Kevin could even finish a 1lb packet in one sitting! :P We initially wanted to buy some CNY cookies from another shop but we saw that Malaysia Beef Jerky sells them too. So, we picked up a few boxes of bee pang siew (bee's nest), pineapple tarts as well as peanut cookies.
Since we have already bought our CNY cookies, we only have one more thing on our shopping list. Yee Sang! We wanted to eat some Yee Sang for dinner that night, so we figured we would buy some home. Since Yee Sang is a Malaysian/Singaporean dish, it's not widely available, even in Chinatown. As far as I know, you can only get it in Nyonya, Penang Restaurant, Jaya, Singapore Cafe and New Malaysia. We tried the Yee Sang from Penang Restaurant two years ago (since we were in Malaysia last CNY, we didnt get a chance to buy any) and it was rather good. We decided to try the Yee Sang from New Malaysia this year. The Yee Sang from New Malaysia is a little bit more expensive but it taste awesome! Will blog more about that later on.
After getting our Yee Sang, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the narrow streets of Chinatown. As usual, there were a whole lot of lion dance troupes making their rounds to various shops and businesses. Also, the kids were having a whale of time shooting out confetti cannons as well as throwing those tiny snap rocks. The whole atmosphere around Chinatown was certainly festive. After a long day out in Chinatown, we headed back home to Jersey, with lots of CNY goodies in tow and a big smile plastered on our faces. We returned to Chinatown a couple of days later, for the Annual Lunar New Year Parade...but I will save it for the next post. Stay tuned.

Egg Custard King Cafe

While roaming the streets of Chinatown during the Chinese New Year celebrations, Kevin and I stumbled upon this little gem on Mott Street. Egg Custard King Cafe is a bakery/cafe that specializes in Egg Tarts. Being an egg tart lover, I just had to go in and try some.

It's a small cosy cafe, located in the basement level of Mott Street. There are a few tables and chairs, but they are reserved for people who are eating meals and not just desserts. I later found out that the egg tarts here are really popular, hence the long lines.

We lucked out that day because there were not that many people. I guess everybody was outside enjoying the CNY celebrations. They serve many varieties of egg tarts, from the regular egg tarts to just egg whites tarts. They also have the ever popular Portuguese egg tarts as well as Strawberry, Almond and Banana( just to name a few) flavored egg tarts.

Apart from egg tarts, they also have many different kinds of yummy desserts and cakes. I was told later on that their swiss rolls, mango cakes and cream puffs are really good too. They also have all kinds of Bubble Teas as well as hot drinks like Milo, Ovaltine and Horlicks.

Two big trays of egg tarts just came out from the kitchen when we were there. I guess we really lucked out that day! We ordered two regular egg yolk tarts as well as the Portuguese egg tart. We packed it to go, so that we can eat and walk around Chinatown. So, what did it taste like? Did the egg tarts live up to it's name? YOU BET IT DID! It tasted heavenly...sooo yummmmmy! The crust was nice and flaky and the custard was smooth and not really super sweet, just perfect. No wonder the shop is called Egg Custard King! They really make really good egg tarts!

The next time you are in Chinatown, you should pop in to check it out. Oh, one word of caution though, the staff working there don't really speak English and I read in other reviews that they can be rude to customers sometimes. They are sometimes known as the Egg Tart Nazi, yup, just like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. We didn't have any problems when we were there, maybe they were just in a good mood cos its CNY. I'll be returning the next time I go to Chinatown, so I'll let you know if they are really the Egg Tart Nazis. I sure hope not, I do not want them to say " NO EGG TART FOR YOU TODAY!!"

Egg Custard King Cafe
76 Mott Street
(between Canal & Bayard St)
New York, NY 10013
Tel: (212) 226-8208

Dim Sum Go Go

After wandering around Chinatown, watching the lion dances and confetti canons being shot everywhere, we decided to go get some lunch. I felt like having some dim sum but it was already 2pm. Dim sum in most big dim sum halls like Jing Fong and Golden Unicorn would have been sold out by now. We ended up in Dim Sum Go Go, located in the trendier part of Chinatown, near Chatham Square.

Dim Sum Go Go is a double story dim sum restaurant that serves dim sum all day (it's the only restaurant in Chinatown where you can get dim sum all day).They do not have push carts like the more traditional restaurants but we get to pick the dim sum from a piece of paper and the dim sum would be made fresh. I find that this is a better option if we are not looking for that 'typical' dim sum hall experience and we know what we want to order. The dim sum here are always freshly made and we know that its not being pushed around in those carts for goodness knows how long. Dim Sum Go Go is also way cleaner than most of the other bigger dim sum restaurants.

The waiters were really friendly, and we were seated almost immediately. This is another thing I like about Dim Sum Go Go is, you get your own table no matter how small the party is. Those other big restaurants sometimes put you in communal tables if your party is too small. The menu pretty much has all the basic dim sum items and also a big vegetarian section. They also have a regular menu where you can order noodles, rice & dishes as well as the usual roast pork, roast duck, ect.

This is some of the food we ordered. There were more but I was too busy eating, so I stopped taking photos after a while but the food just kept on coming. I love the deep fried shrimp and mango roll ($3.50) and chicken feet with black bean sauce ($3.00). The char siew pau ($3.50) and char siew sou ($3.50) is good too. Most of the dim sum cost around $3.00-$7.00 for lunch and $4.00-$7.95 for dinner. It's a little bit more expensive compared to the other dim sum halls, but the food quality is better, it's way cleaner and you don't have to fight with crowds of people.

We were so stuffed that we only managed to share one dessert. We ordered the fresh mango pudding ($3.50) and it's really good. Big chunks of fresh mango in every bite! Our total bill came up to about $27.00. It's pretty reasonable for freshly made to order dim sum. Dim Sum Go Go is open from 10am-11pm everyday and accepts all major credit cards. You should check it out the next time you are in Chinatown!

Dim Sum Go Go
5 East Broadway,
New York, NY 10038
Tel: (212) 732-0797
Fax: (212) 964-3149

The Streets of Chinatown on CNY

After the Firecracker Ceremony at SRD Park, we headed back to the heart of Chinatown. We were told that there will be more celebrations there but we didn't really know what to expect. As we wandered through the narrow streets, Chinese New Year music and lion dance drum beats filled the air. The closer we got, the louder it became. We could also hear lots of cheers, laughter and children squealing with excitement coming from around the corner. This is what we saw when we made that turn.

It was just crazy!!! The streets were just packed with people and they were shooting confetti cannons into the air! Some were really big and they shot out parachutes with 'lucky sayings' attached to it. It was just a sight to behold. The ground was just covered with confetti!! There was so much confetti that when we got home later on, we still found confetti tucked in our coat pockets and in our hair! :D It seems that it's a Chinatown tradition that they shoot confetti cannons every year, on the 1st day of Chinese New Year. You could buy them from street vendors at $5 a piece for a big cannon and 3 for $10 for the small ones.

This is the aftermath. Empty cannons laying everywhere and confetti just covering every inch of the ground. When I took this photo, they were still shooting the cannons. I bet you can't even see the ground by the end of the day.

Lion dance troupes were just everywhere! They would dance in front of shops and some shop owners would invite them into the shop or restaurant. The troupe would of course receive a hong bao from the shop owner after dancing in the shop. The whole atmosphere was just so festive. There were all kinds of lions, there must be at least 12 different troupes that day. Everything is so colorful and nice. Here, I'll just let the photos do the talking.

We ended the day by going to a Dim Sum restaurant for a late lunch. I will of course blog more about that in the next post. It was certainly as experience to celebrate Chinese New Year in Chinatown this year. Of course nothing beats celebrating Chinese New Year back home in Malaysia but I guess it was as good as it can get when you are so far away from home during this season. I'm also really glad that Kevin took the day off to head down to Chinatown to celebrate Chinese New Year with me. He knows that it can be tough sometimes to be away from the family during the holiday season and I know he did everything he could to make this a great CNY for me. That is why he is the best husband in the world!! :D

CNY Firecracker Ceremony 2009

We woke up bright and early on the 1st day of Chinese New Year. Despite the frigid -7C temperature, we were all gung ho about heading to Chinatown to join in the Chinese New Year festivities. We took the PATH to the WTC station and started walking towards Chinatown. We saw online that there will be a Firecracker Ceremony, hosted by the Fukien American Association. There will be lion and dragon dances as well as lighting of firecrackers to usher in the new year.

We know that it's in Chinatown, but where in Chinatown? I looked it up online and found three different locations! Oh well, just head towards Chinatown and we can ask around :D We tried the first location, Chatham Square. It's nearest to the WTC Station and it was the location for last years Firecracker Ceremony. Guess what we saw there?

Nothing! Not a single person in sight.

Maybe the other side of Chatham Square? Nope...I guess it's not here either! We proceeded to ask a cop if he knew where the ceremony was. He said he has no idea, he was also waiting for further instructions! Wow, I think it's going to be a long day :P So, we continued walking towards the heart of Chinatown....

...stopped to take a photo with Confucius and continued walking. We decided to head towards the famous information kiosk under the big dragon to get more details about the location for the ceremony. We found a group of 'lost' people asking the same question and the helpful guy at the counter pointed us to the correct direction. It's at SDR Park, at the corner of Canal and Forsyth St. OK, now we know where to go! Another 6 blocks to go.

By then we were feeling a little hungry and started to look out for roadside food carts. Anywhere else in NYC, when we are hungry...we buy Hot Dogs, Kebabs or Pretzels from the street vendors. In Chinatown, it's Egg Rolls and Fishballs on a Stick!!! Only in Chinatown....

After getting our Egg Rolls, we continued walking and we saw some Lion Dance troupes getting ready to head towards the same direction as us. Woohoo!! We are on the right track!

At last we saw a park with flags waving in the air. Yes! We are at the SDR Park at last! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the firecrackers!! Since the ban of firecrackers in Malaysia, I have not seen many firecrackers around, let alone so many! They must be at least 15ft long..at least. There were not many people there yet, so we managed to get a good spot, right in front.

The crowd soon began to grow and the dragon and lion dance troupes started to arrive. There were reporters and news crews from various news networks too.

I believe 'Choy San' was spotted in the crowd too! ;P

The crowd started to get excited when a large group of important looking Chinese businessmen in long coats and gangster hats walked in with their wives in thick fur coats. They must be some really important people in Chinatown. They were lead to seats specially reserved for them and something tells me the ceremony is about to begin.

It started with the Veterans marching in and both the American and China national anthem being sung by some lady.

With that, the ceremony began! Fireworks started shooting out from behind the firecrackers followed by the firecrackers! Boy, I have forgotten how loud they can be! It just went on and on and on!! I had my fingers plugged in my ears for the entire time. Poor Kevin had to take this video clip, I bet his ears were ringing for a bit after the firecrackers stopped!!

After the firecrackers, the lion and dragon dances began. It was followed by some cultural dances by the ladies of the association.

The 'important' people walked around to greet the crowd for a while and left with their 'bodyguards'. With that, it marks the end of the ceremony. We then headed to the heart of Chinatown to join in more CNY celebrations but I will blog about it more in my next post :D

Gong Xi Fa Cai!!

We would like to wish all our readers...

GONG XI FA CAI!!