CNY is hard work......what have I committed myself to?

I told myself (and everyone around me) that I would be ambitious and daring and bold for CNY. I'm planning to put together some treats in a bag for a couple of people I/we need to show gratitude to. So why not go all out and make everything from scratch? Yeah. It all looked so easy on paper and in my mind. lol. These last two days, I've embraced my inner auntie (although some people would suggest that my inner auntie likes to make appearances a regular thing) and made....



Cornflake cookies
Cranberry Pistachio biscotti
Alfajores de maizena
Checkerboard cookies
Kuih Bahulu
Kuih Rose aka Kuih Loyang
Yam Balls
Kok Chai

The conclusion I've come up with? Being an Auntie is HARD!! Everything aches, especially the hands and back (my hand feels like it's crippled from the overuse of that arthritis causing implement of torture we call a pair of chopsticks). jeeze. I don't know how all the aunties do it. Especially the ones who make bulk orders for sale. Some of the recipes are fairly easy to whip up but quite labour intensive (15 mins at most for hours of hard labour.....hmmm....sounds a lot like being pregnant...lolz. pretend I didn't just say that). I totally understand why CNY cookies are so expensive now. That said, I didn't like the recipe for the cornflake cookies (internets, you FAIL me) so now I'm stuck with about 100++ of them and I refuse to give them to people. I think they're that bad. And I need to work on the bahulu....my oven is just not cooperating *glares*

Apart from that, the CNY cooking craze continues so that I can attempt to make Kuih Kapit and Kuih Talam Ubi among other things. The list might expand. Maybe. If I'm still standing. Gotta clean the house too, you know.  Maybe put up some decorations :)

I think it's pretty awesome I'm attempting this though. My cooking skills up to a few years ago were horrendous. Really. I've always had a thing for baking when I was younger but it didn't mean that I was good at it (my brothers would testify to that seeing as I fed them "rock" cookies; the "rock" bit isn't a fancy name or anything, they were actually hard and had a looooong shelf life. lol). I'm still not good at it but I'm learning and improving as I go (haha, my theory is good, my practical needs work...sigh, story of my life). As long as I remember not to experiment with flavours (at times, my taste buds like things that make people go ewwwww) and to curb my habit of throwing things in if I see them sitting on the counter, there will not be a repeat of the cringe-worthy incidences that have displayed my ineptness from childhood through the college years (ESPECIALLY the college years) and sometimes, even now. People will no longer make fun of me for setting ovens on fire (with absolutely nothing in them) or improvising by scraping the salt from the bottom of a can of salt and pepper almonds during the Great Rice Cooker Chowder Debacle (don't ask, I was a poor starving student living in a crap hole).

Oh well, at least I have something to do instead of being the unemployed household slave person aka free maid service to my sibs.