Saturday afternoon saw us trooping over to my brother's house for lunch where a tempting spread of goodies awaited us. My sis-in-law showcased her culinary skills by treating us to a home-cooked meal. After days of indulgence, it was good to taste simple fare like smooth Cantonese-style porridge with chunks of century egg, salted egg, pork and dried oyster.
Being the generous host, she fed us fried noodles, grilled chicken seasoned with rosemary, spring rolls and savory snacks, mushroom and fatt choy (an auspicious Chinese New Year dish too.
We rounded off the lunch by doing the prosperity toss. Everyone gathered around the table to toss the colourful yu sheng salad.
Tossing yu sheng.
While we were lounging about feeling so stuffed, Ting started getting restless. Thank goodness there was a playground downstairs for her to expend some of that energy. For us, it was a good opportunity to take a breather from food because we had another dinner invitation that night.
When it was time to leave, we had a hard time convincing Ting to say goodbye to the playground.
Up the steps...
...down the slide!
In the evening, we were off to my best friend's house for dinner. Another round of feasting ensued. This time, we had noodles, meat rolls, spicy prawns and vegetables, washed down with sweet aromatic dessert wine. We sat around the table in the garden after dinner, chatting, sipping Chinese tea and cracking peanuts, just like good old times. Precious moments like this are hard to come by these days.
This morning, I brought mom to a gathering at her brother's house. Some of her siblings have not seen her for months and seeing how frail she is now after the treatment, many expressed concern and sadness.
Chinese New Year presents an opportunity to catch up with friends and relatives. If not for the tradition, I believe relationships will be neglected and friendships will be lost.
I often wonder if the next generation would continue with this practice when we are gone from the face of this earth. Perhaps it is time to instill the values now before it is too late.
Oh well....
And, what's this thing about the KISS??!
While I was driving around yesterday, someone kissed me from behind. To be accurate, a red car kissed the back of my car. Luckily, nobody was hurt, not even the car. Only some scratches. See!
Can you see Rusty? He's always hanging around.
5 comments:
good you had a good gathering for CNY....and the KISS? luckily it was just the car and not YOU!
The description of the foods made my mouth water! My (ex)husband came to share a meal with us for the festival. It's important to both of us to have our daughter continue on traditions such as this from both cultures.
I hope and pray that your mother recovers well, and will gain full strength soon.
Yes JY, it's a small kiss and for once, I am satisfied :-)
Jac - Indeed, I learned from your blog your ex is a Chinese. It's a good thing to let the kids experience and continue such tradition. Thanks for your wishes. My mum is on the road to recovery.
Sorry about the kiss. Gladly nobody was hurt. Yeah, visiting relatives is a good tradition as long as they get along well together HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...
Hello
It's good to see everyone enjoyed the celebrations. Great pictures.
But I'm sorry about the kiss. It could have been a worse kiss though!
I'm glad to hear your comment about your mothers road to recovery. I hope it's a speedy one.
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