I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy new year. May the New Year bring you good health, joy and abundance.

Every new year, I would go through what I have written throughout the year, and ask myself what I would like to do in the new year, and which content I would like to share through the blogs.

I have spent many years writing about fun activities for GoKids, as well as parenting articles from my own research and experiences. However, I have always loved food, especially the food that I grew up with.

Before going any further, I would like to talk a little bit about Tok Panjang. In my family, we used to have a “Tok Panjang” (long table), where members of our family would gather during special occasions, festivities or during meal times.

Tok Panjang means Long Table. Tok Panjang is a term that I grew up with. When we mention Tok Panjang, we usually refer to a type of feast associated with weddings and special occasions. It is about having family, family gatherings and indulging in wonderful Baba Nonya dishes. It is about our culture, traditions and our family.

After many weeks of blogging through My Long Table, and after careful considerations, I have decided to switch the website name over to tokpanjang.com, because the term tok panjang gels more with the content that I will be sharing with you.

Tok Panjang is the term I grew up with, it has a much deeper meaning than just a long table, and it reflects my journey as a migrant in Australia, reconnecting to my roots through my favourite traditional Malaysian dishes that I grew up with. It is also about my culture, my traditions and my families both in Australia and Malaysia.

I truly believe that the kitchen is the most important space of your home – the place to have fun, and a place to connect with your children and family. It is also a place to instill the love of food, empowering the essential skills of cooking and truely appreciating the value of healthy traditional food as well as your culture with the family.

Through the blog post from Tok Panjang, my aim is to help time-poor parents, busy professionals as well as students anywhere in the world, who are interested in Malaysian food, to be able to enjoy the beautiful array of traditional Malaysian delights and to reconnect to their roots through their childhood dishes.

Thank you for your patience and I shall see you over at TokPanjang.com