Foods To Celebrate Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year! Today is Cap Go Meh (the 15th day of chinese new year) which is the last day to celebrate chinese new year. So, I think I'm not too late to say Happy Chinese New Year to you guys. Cap Go Meh is actually the closing of chinese new year celebration. So, there are Liong and Barongsai festival around the city. But, I will not talk about Cap Go Meh in this post as I didn't celebrate Cap Go Meh in hometown. 

I was super excited celebrating Chinese New Year this year because I WAS CELEBRATING IN HOMETOWN (sorry for the caps lock cause I was too excited HAHAHA). I was so happy to meet my uncles, aunties and cousins again that I meet only in chinese new year. For the last 3 years, I celebrated my chinese new year not in my hometown. I have really missed the ambiance and the people's enthusiasm. That's why I was super excited to celebrate my chinese new year in hometown.

Anyway, I grew up in a family that has very traditional chinese culture. And, my hometown has a majority population of Chinese-Indonesian ((that's why the name of hometown foods have the sense of chinese)) so chinese new year in my hometown is a little bit wow. Streets are decorated with red lantern, houses are decorated with chinese decorations, and everybody are wearing red. I saw many people ware posting about their chinese new year on social media, so I decided to share my chinese new year on my blog. 

Nian Gao (年糕)

People in my hometown called it as Basket Cake (Kue Keranjang) or Tiam Kue. It is a cake that is made from glutinous flour and sugar, also, it has elastic and sticky texture. This cake is a mandotary cake to celebrate chinese new year. My mom said that this cake was a symbol of the sweetness because Tiam in Teo Chew means sweet, so this cake would bring the sweet moments everyday in this year. I don't really believe about the facts or history about this cake and I'm not a fan of this cake, I just want to enjoy this cake, but I don't really like it. People usually keep this cake in refrigerator for few weeks to months after chinese new year, but the texture will be so hard, so they re-steam it or fried it with flour and egg. 

Sweet Barley Soup

I started my chinese new year by drinking sweet barley soup. This soup has been served in the morning on the first day of chinese new year. I don't really like this soup actually as it taste like drinking the rice water in the sweet way HAHAHA. This soup is also the symbol of sweetness for new year.  

Layer Cake

Layer cake is actually not so chinese-new-year-cake as it also found when I come to friends' house during Eid Al Fitri and Chistmas Day. I heard that layer cake is one of the hardest cake to be made, so that's why the price is expensive. This cake was made by full fats butter and 30++ eggs, it contains with so many calories and fats. I really love this cake but I would not eat big size at once cause of the fats and calories that contained.

Mandarin Orange

Mandarin Orange is my favorite fruit besides durian and mango. The best part of chinese new year is I could find mandarin orange everywhere. My dad always buy two big boxes of the mandarin orange every year. Mandarin orange should be the healthiest food during chinese new year. HAHAHA.

Cookies and Snacks

A lot of cookies and snacks were served to celebrate chinese new year. In the photos above, there are (left-right) pineapple cookies, cornflakes cookies, cat's tongue cookies ((lidah kucing)), silk worm snacks, beef floss snack and snow white cookies. It's actually another cookies and snacks except in the picture, but I was too busy during chinese new year and couldn't capture all the cookies and snacks in my house. 

The chinese new year of this year was super great. I met a lot of family and friends who I have missed for a long time. We gathered and shared the story of our life while enjoying the chinese new year food. For me this chinese new year was the best moment as I have longed for 3 years. And, I hope I could share another story of chinese new year from my hometown next year. 

恭喜发财! 新年快乐! 万事如意! May this year bring prosperity, good luck and good fortune to you, guys! 

Yey!

Yelny

Missing Hometown's Food (Pontianak Culinary)

A throwback to my last year's post, I have promised to share my hometown's food to this blog. FINALLY! I could fulfill my promise. I will share 9 of hundreds delicious foods of my hometown. 

I was born and lived for 18 years in Pontianak, West Borneo (click here if you don't know about Pontianak). Pontianak (坤甸, Kūn diān) is close to Malaysia, so people generally speak Bahasa with Malay accent. Chinese-Indonesian generally uses Teochew and Hakka for daily conversation. It's also used by the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia. So, don't be confused if the name of some foods sounds weird and not familiar. 

Chai Kwe (Choi Pan) 

First food, Chai Kwe (also familiar as Choi Pan)! It has been my favorite hometown's food. I never miss to eat this food when I go back. Chai Kwe consists of 5 flavors: soybean, yam, chives (kucai), bamboo sprout and  bengkoang. Yam, bengkoang and chives are my favorite. This food is easy to  be found, you can find this in the morning at the market or in the afternoon and evening at restaurant or cafe.  Anw, I can eat 20 pcs in one meal :> oops. 

Koi Sai Tin Kwe

Next is Koi Sai Tin Kwe. I'm not sure about the name, but my mom told me that is indeed the name and she said that there is no Indonesian name as Indonesian doesn't really eat this. Koi Sai means chicken's sh*t and kue means cake, so Koi Sai Tin Kwe means... umm (fill the following blanks by yourself). The names of this food are super weird and disgusting, but the taste is good. Mom said that the black color was made by Daun Kentut (Fart Leaves). Omg, the facts about this cake are too silly. This cake is a little bit difficult to be found, I found this in the morning at the market. It also reminds me about the trend of black colored food in nowadays. 

Egg Tart 

Egg tart is the third. Pontianak's egg tart is quite similar with Hong Kong's egg tart but it has a bigger size. It is baked on a plate and cut into 8 pcs (click here to see original size). I love this egg tart more than Balinese or Portuguese as it has a bigger size of the custard. I can easily find this in the market or traditional cake shop. Nowadays, there are chocolate, green tea, oreo flavor, but my favorite is always the original one,

Crab Noodle (Bakmi Kepiting) 

Pontianak's Crab Noodle (Bakmi Kepiting) is quite famous in Jakarta. There are 2 options to enjoy this noodle, with soup and without soup. Mostly, the restaurant also serves Kwetiau and Dumplings. And, I prefer the noodle with soup. This food could be enjoyed at breakfast or lunch. 

Chicken Rice (Nasi Campur) 

In Pontianak, this food is called Chicken Rice. I don't know the story of its name, but it's totally different with Singapore Chicken Rice (hmm.. the roasted chicken is almost the same btw). There is no Hainanese rice in this chicken rice, and there are many pork with less chicken inside. In Jakarta, this food is called Nasi Campur. Until this time, many friends of mine ask me why it's called chicken rice in my hometown, and I just answered with laugh haha. I enjoy this food for lunch, btw. 

Tiam Mie (Sweet Fried Noodle)

Sweet Fried Noodle? Weird? It tastes good, guys. The sweet taste was made of palm sugar. It's quite difficult to find this food since not every person can cook this noodle. My mom has ever tried to make it by herself, but it was too sweet. Btw, I enjoyed this for lunch. 

Che Hun Tiaw + Bongko

Che Hun Tiaw is just like Indonesian Cendol with plain color, and Bongko is just like Selendang Mayang with green color. It can refresh me up in the super hot weather of my beloved hometown. Mix up two of them is an option, some people enjoy Che Hun Tiaw or Bongko only, but I love to mix them up. I can easily find it in the afternoon.

 Lek Tau Suan (Green Beans Dessert) 

Sharing about Lek Tau Suan reminds me to my dearest ex-roommate. She made this for my friends and me when we were living in the dormitory. Lek Tau is green beans that have been peeled off and Suan means diamond as the beans shine like a diamond, they said haha. The best part of this Lek Tau Suan is the Chakwe or dough fritter, I won't eat it without chakwe. I can easily find this at the market, but it's definitely cheaper to make this at home. This is so easy to make, the ingredients are simple and easy to find. There are many recipes about it on the internet. 

Tofu Pudding 

Last but not least, Tofu Pudding! It's a combination between pudding and Soy milk. Sweet and soft are perfect are two words that suitable to describe it. Tofu Indonesia has many variants of their product, such as tofu tart, tofu ice cream, tofu bean curd with many flavor and topping. And, they have opened their store in Kemanggisan, Jakarta, but I have never gone there. Maybe I should go there and introduce Tofu to Fili :)

That is my story about my hometown's culinary. Hopefully, there will be part 2,3,4 and 50, I hope you guys will never get bored about my hometown hahaha. Well, for those who are going to have a culinary trip in Pontianak, you should follow Kuliner Pontianak on Instagram. This account was made by my friend ((and I was helping her to make the logo :>)). And, I got my references about Pontianak Culinary from there. The caption of the photos is detailed enough, location until prices. The way she describes the food is fun. Hopefully, I could do a collaboration with her someday :)

Btw, me and Fili are in the last term of our university life! We are doing our final project now. We pray that this project will be completed smoothly and finished on time, yohooo! Wish us luck! :>

Yey! 

Yelny

Caffè THE THA

Finally, i have time to write several posts. I was busy managing an event of my faculty. But, I will not talk about that event, i will share about new cafe in my hometown.

I went back to hometown last holiday. Well, my hometown isn't a big city. It's a little difficult to find beautiful cafe to have a chit chat with friends. But, a new cafe,named THE THA was opened 2 weeks ago before i back. So, I asked my friend to visit and have a little chit chat in there.

Caffè The Tha is located in Jln Merdeka Barat, Pontianak. It has minimalist interior design with beautiful white and blue color. I admit that this is my favorite cafe in hometown since there is not so many beautiful cafes in town. Me and my friend were visiting on weekdays and it was no so crowded, so i can enjoy the cafe and take some photos freely \^^/

Btw, I was searching about THE THA in Instagram and Facebook and i found that there is another THE THA in Harapan Indah, Bekasi, West Java. It's actually the first before in my hometown.

THE THA Parfait - IDR 18,000

THE THA Partfaits is available in 3 flavors, Chocolate, Strawberry and Mango. As a chocoholic, i chose the chocolate flavor. This Parfait consists of ice cream, coco crunch crumble, cornflakes crumble and pudding on the bottom. It's actually has whip cream on top, but it was out of stock on that day.

Cookies and Cream Snow Ball - IDR 20,000

This food was ordered by my friend. It's cute actually, but we had no idea how to eat or drink it hahaha. There is a ball-shaped ice cream on top and vanilla milk in the glass. 

Money Bag- IDR 18,000

Money bag is actually a lumpia, but they serve in the different way. I forgot what is inside this food, but i'm sure there is chicken and some vegetable. The outside is so crunchy. And, there is the sauce on spoon. 

Mini cute flower on table. 

Pictures of Santorini hanging on wall. 

Having chit chat with my friends is one of obligatory things to do in hometown, but sometimes we have no place to do that. So, I hope for another new cafe like this in hometown when i was coming back again. :D 

Yeey! Yelny! 

Caffè THE THA

Pontianak : Jln. Merdeka

Pontianak,West Borneo

Bekasi: Transera Waterpark - Food Court Chakalaka

Jl. Harapan Indah - Boulevard Utara, Sektor VI, Kav. 5 Pusaka Raya, Bekasi

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