年三十晚 :: 年夜飯

I was really pleased that I heated up my own dinner and stayed in with the floofs. That was my peace. The kiddos were even happier to chill out with me and eat noms. Sent the husband to rep us on his maternal side's reunion dinner. I straight-out declined since I wanted to stay at home with the floofs. Nowadays, I have no issues saying no. I make it very clear that my priority is with floofs, not humans. And the husband absolutely understands that. 

The evening rains are back, and while we've lucked out with no thunder so far, I wouldn't be able to predict when it would roll in. If it rained and thunder came, I would have be really upset that I went to this dinner that I didn't care for instead of being there for the floofs. 

I got the kiddos a small bowl of poon choi (盆菜) from MumMumGourmet. Cooked, not freeze-dried. I have nothing against freeze-dried, but if I have options for freshly cooked items, I'll take that. Fresh is always better, in a way. The bottle of pork broth would be put to good use too, and not be inhaled in one shot. I wasn't intending to heat up the poon choi in the traditional manner. 

By now, I'm well aware of what food intolerances they have, and what might trigger a one-off diarrhea or mushy poop. The ingredients in the poon choi were fine, but I wasn't going to let them eat all of it. These were to be toppers to their raw base. The floofs were so pleased with their dinner and supper. Hahahah. 

I decided not to cook udon or noodles this year. I had gotten a takeout from Kizuna — an osechi box (おせち料理) and a miso-nabe (味噌鍋) with pork loin. Kizuna actually gave pork belly, but they thought that I would prefer the less fatty pork loin, so they gave me that instead. Ahhh, the pork loin was much appreciated. The miso paste was included as well. All I needed was to add some water to dilute it. #ImpieCooks2026

I also had plenty of XO sauce and chilli as dips to accompany the soup. I loved this light and clean meal. Absolutely satisfying. Yes, I'm aware of the irony of having Japanese food for a lunar new year reunion dinner, and considering 15 February was the fall of Singapore in 1942. BUT. Well...... culture versus heritage versus history. You pick one. 

I kept a small portion for the husband who didn't mind some soup when he came home. He had a nibble of the osechi box's prawns, tamago, abalone and clams, and garlic before going out. Dinner was at 8pm, and he needed some food before that.