On 12/31/2024, New Year’s Eve, I invited my parents to sleepover at my place (first place away from home). To my surprise, they said yes! So after work, my husband and I went to pick them up. Of course my mom even packed blankets for themselves, so that I won’t have to wash my blankets after.

I haven’t cooked for them for a while, so I was looking forward to it. She even helped me cook some bokchoy, prep the fish, and wash the dishes! I was going to do it all, but of course she couldn’t sit back and relax :’)

Ingredients

1/2 cup chicken broth

3 limes

1/2 bulb of garlic

2 stalks of scallions

1 stalk of lemongrass

1 cube of palm sugar

2 tbsp fish sauce

thai chili peppers (optional)

Directions

1. Clean inside of the fish thoroughly with a chopstick or knife. Be careful of sharp edges in the fish!

2. In a mortar and pestle, mash the lemongrass. Then mash the garlic separately.

3. Rub some salt all over the fish and fill the inside of it with lemongrass. Top it with scallions, garlic, and lime slices.

4. When the steamer comes to a boil, steam the fish for 11 minutes.

5. For the broth: in a small pot, heat up the broth with the remaining ingredients (palm sugar, garlic, lime juice, fish sauce).

My parents enjoyed the fish (she suggested using American mang cho 美國盲曹), as the broth is different from the kind of steamed fish they usually eat. But next time I would cook the garlic and scallions in the broth as well, because if not it actually tastes a bit spicy. I also forgot to top my fish with lime slices.

After dinner, we helped my parents with things that needed to do online and then took a nap before watching the ball drop. They also wanted to see our wedding photos, so after the ball drop, we displayed the slideshow. It’s been a long time since I’ve spent a casual night in with my parents because they’ve been travelling and I moved out.

Then the next morning as they did their daily exercise routine in bed, I made a simple breakfast- chicken sausages, scrambled eggs, and brussel sprouts. For my dad, I made a hot chocolate. And for my mom, I made a cappuccino. After breakfast, since I vaccuumed, she even helped me swiffer the floors!

After spending a sufficient morning at home, we spent a full day out together and sleptover at my parents place <3

That wraps our New Year’s celebration!

Reference link here