23-1-12 Chinese New Year 2012!!!
Welcome to my home. Its Chinese New Year 2012 and what a glorious day. Anybody would wonder how's it like celebrating CNY in Kelantan, a Muslim dominated state with the Chinese consisting less than 2% of the state's population. Personally, what I look forward to during the 1st day of CNY is to dress Nana and Peter up in their Cheong Sam and Chang San (长衫) respectively. These are traditional outfit rarely adorned by us unless for special occasions, like now (CNY) or Chinese weddings.
Nana and Peter are the 6th generation of Chinese living harmoniously in Malaysia. Our ancestors migrated from mainland China (perhaps fled during the war?) in search of greener pastures and landed in peninsula Malaysia during the British colonization time. The rest, as they say is history, which I feel I have a duty to excavate even more. To know the depth of one's own root, is to lay down a solid foundation for a lasting family legacy.
As many would agree with me, Chinese are quite an enterprising bunch of people living all over the world. I would go as far as saying there are few of us living in Iceland and Greenland. Hailing from one of the oldest ancient civilization of the world, we strife through sheer hard work, determination, "kiasu" competitiveness and close knitted family bond. Chinese speak many dialects eg Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, Teochew, Hainan etc, each originating from different provinces of their ancestral country.
The one language that unites us all is Mandarin. Fortunately in Malaysia we have Chinese elementary schools where Mandarin is part of the country's optional education syllabus, albeit there were "suggestion" of abolishment put across by some distinguished political clowns who practice religious extremism and fanaticism. But that's a different story altogether. Point is, Chinese who can't speak Mandarin or their dialects are bananas (figure of speech for Chinese who lost their roots), including me.
Don't mean to be self deprecating, I always wish my father could have done more to pass on our family dialect to me. Ironically, he too is a banana, albeit a different type. Difference between us is he can't read and write Mandarin while I cannot speak 广西 my dialect. By now it should be clear that Mandarin is taught in Chinese elementary school while dialects are passed down the generations through conversing. Since my father was English-educated during the British colonization time, we mainly converse in English at home.
Except between my mother and we siblings. My mother is Hokkien in origin and therefore her mother tongue is Hokkien. As a self-taught Mandarin educated, we never knew she could speak Mandarin until kinder garden. That time, my brother and I were foreigners from a distant land plunged among native speaking Chinese kids, sticking out like a sore thumb, because of the language barrier. By some miracle my brother and I , with mum's help, picked up the language as fast as we learned bicycling.
As a consequence, my father became the odd one out in most family conversations. During our time, vernacular schooling system ie Mandarin school for Chinese and Tamil school for Indians (the 2 minority races in Malaysia) has steadily been implemented while British English schools has long been abolished (yes we still have English in our syllabus). Naturally pa and ma would send us siblings to Chinese schools just so that we would "fit-in".
In a typical meal time my siblings and I would be yapping away in Mandarin with my mum while dad was reduced to a passive listener. He didn't insist we all spoke our common language nor did he make effort to converse in Mandarin. It would be like switching radio stations when we were having our back and forth between our parents. Then mum would bring us down to earth and speak English out of respect for dad.
Back to the present, upon waking up on the morning of CNY, we looked forward to greeting and wishing each other. The younger ones should always wish the patriarch and matriarch first to show respect. It was important to inculcate this value in Nana and Peter too, by teaching them to wish their great-grandma and grandparents. After bathing, we dressed Nana and Peter up into cute adorable China dolls in their stunning Chinese traditional outfit, the Cheongsam and Chang shan respectively.
2 years old Nana looked stunning and well-beyond her age in the elegant Cheongsam. Nana might have been a little uncomfy in it but all we had to do was complement how pretty she looked and she was persuaded to stay in it. I found it unusual for Nana to develop a need for acceptance by being presentable or looking her best at this tender age of 2. But I will make sure to build in her a fortress of self believe and confidence based on a foundation called love.
Peter looked smart in his out-fit too. Grandma wore a flowery Samfu (Cantonese term for 衣服). Ma put on her auspiciously red Cheongsam while Pa, well you know pa, dressed as his smart casual self. We exchanged red packets (Ang Pow) which contain money/currency as a form of blessing to each other. This traditional custom was once exclusively practiced by the Chinese, and now adopted by other races throughout the country as well, making Malaysia truly a melting pot of cultures and tradition.
It's always exciting to receive Ang Pows due to anticipation of how much money it contain. Pa and Ma are generous givers in terms of Ang Pow and always emphasize us siblings to save it in the bank. In addition to that we also exchange Mandarin oranges, also known as Lokam (not locum) which signifies 金gold. Hence its another customary form of blessing each other with "gold". To soak up the festive atmosphere, we took family photos. I remember pa and ma having fun coaxing Nana and Peter to look towards the camera. It felt surreal that my once strict parents have mellowed down as they transit to the role of being grandparents.
Lunch wasn't a typical Chinese meal but instead we had Satay (Kunyit chicken pierced in sticks prepared by charcoal fire). This is a Malay cuisine usually eaten with peanut sauce, Nasi Impit (rice cubes) and cucumber. Since Mum has single-handedly prepared all the meals so far, we catered these mouth watering dishes from a Malay caterer. Incidentally you should know Kelantanese are good cooks and their cuisine are well-received all over the country. I might sound biased because I'm brought up here so if you have the chance to try Kelantanese delicacies like Nasi Dagang or Nasi Kerabu, you be the judge.
The rest of the day was spent bonding with family and watching Chinese New Year programmes on TV. CNY themed concert, performances, documentary, talk-show, game show, soap, movies, etc continuously airing on our disk TV channel one after another. I was being spoilt for choice until I couldn't take it anymore I switched off the TV. Upstairs Nana, Mami and Peter were catching their beauty sleep they didn't realized I finally sneaked in to join them.
Then came dinner, it was food, food and more food. Gotta take my hats off to my mum due to her dedicated effort starting from the marketing process, planning the menu, preparation of the food until lighting the fire and churning the dishes. My mum had minimal assistance but organized and carried out every single culinary details to perfection, all this while maintaining a cool head. Our roles were only to serve the rice, scoop the soups and serve the dishes. Nana stood on the chair next to the table despite me ordering her to get down, witnessing all the commotion and perhaps the yummiest feast she had ever partaken on Chinese New Year.
Once the stage was set and the "casts" were presented, there was no stopping us from filling our stomach, again to the brim. The fish was fresh, mushroom pork tasty, home made Siew Mai (烧卖) had my mum's authentic signature on it, and the carrots were for Nana and Peter's eye sight. When we siblings were small, mum would keep serving us food on our plates even though we were full. So much so we mastered the timing of pulling our plates away just before mum could serve us some more. On this occasion we all gave it a pass to show mum our appreciation and gratitude towards her cooking.
24-01-12 2nd Day Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year just doesn't feel the same as Christmas or new year. I think the reason why we celebrate it is to welcome an auspicious/ brighter year ahead ie 除旧迎新. Auspicious(definition in Merriam Webster) = showing or suggesting that future success is likely. Like the definition says, we hope and pray for health, wealth, prosperity, longevity, fertility, promotion and so on, different measure of success depending on individuals.
You should keep in mind that based on Chinese tradition and custom, we should not talk about death, accidents or anything unpleasant for that matter on Chinese New Year because it is not auspicious. Doing so is believed to disrupt the auspiciousness and good vibes of the festive day which simply leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth, especially for the older generations who "manyak pantang" (very steadfast to the don't dos).
On the second day, Master chef of our home thought we should consume something less oily, hence she prepared Steamboat. Also known as hot pot, it refers to an array of raw and marinated ingredients stewed in a simmering metal pot of stock. Ingredients consist of various seafood, pork or chicken, meatball/fishball, green leafy vegetables, bird eggs and meehun. The liquid used to stew the ingredients could either be clear soup or Tomyam. Steamboat requires cooking and eating simultaneously as everything is best eaten steaming hot.
As Peter was still small, he took at least 2 naps a day, one in the morning the other in the afternoon. With all the action and interaction going on among the adults, Nana's inquisitive nature kicked in as she wandered back and forth from kitchen to living room, wherever the noise is. She particularly liked climbing onto the dining chair whenever food is served on the table. With so much variety on display, Nana enjoyed herself learning the name of the dishes while sampling them. Technically it was bad table manners but exceptions were made to fulfill her curiosity.
Even as we were satisfied from consuming a lot of home-cooked nutritious food, there were still room for snacking at intermittent timing. Chinese New Year cookies were the ones to be blamed, so was "Bak Qua", a type of expensive pork delicacy. Without inhibition, I made regular trips to the kitchen seeking these snacks ever so often it could have been mistaken for obsessive compulsive disorder, or eating disorder. I refrained from eating groundnuts altogether or too much Mandarin oranges because these 2 are well-known to cause bad sore throat, which would ruin the rest of CNY.
Now this look like a birthday party because it was Nana's early birthday party. Couldn't believe she was touching another milestone, 2 years old. Although her birthday wasn't in another 3 days, we wanted to celebrate it in the presence of her grandparents, since we were departing to my in-law's tomorrow. That's right, I'm committed to 2 families now. In the wise words of my combat instructor,"After working out one leg, there remains another leg". If that didn't make any sense, it means I have a role to play both sides of the family.
We all sure did enjoyed our pizza, even though it wasn't the same sticky cheesy pizza from the good old days. If some1 told me 10 years back Pizza Hut was opening at Tanah Merah my hometown, I wouldn't have believed it much less able to afford it. Pizza Hut those days were meals fit for a Sultan (Malay Ruler) because it was so deliciously rare. So this new chain opened just shy of 3 months and it became the perfect venue to hold Nana's birthday party, giving Ma a much-deserved respite from all the stress of CNY. We ordered different Pizzas types and finger-licking good side dishes, ate to our heart's content, adding Western to our Malay and Chinese wide array of CNY feast.
It was amazing how Nana and Peter managed to put on their party hat the whole time from dinner until we adjourned back to the house for cake-cutting. Ok they might have taken it off few times to scratch their heads. Nana could pass as a little apprentice witch while Peter an infant wizard, they looked wonderfully adorable, I wished they never grow older but stay the same. There are 2 types of babies in this world, one that submits to hugs and kisses and the other which shuns and struggle away from bare minimum human contact. Nana was the latter all along, but on this day she totally warmed up to all of us.
What is family to me? Family is the extension of me that I need to care for and love. Love is when one stops living for himself/herself and starts living as if his whole universe revolves around the ones that matter, truly disregarding any selfishness and malice. He draws his purpose and strength from wanting to see the ones he care for thrive and succeed. He procures lasting happiness from others' happiness. And since there is insurmountable room for human capabilities, his task of helping his love ones will be an ongoing process.
I gotta say, times when I felt so down and out, time when I was let down and wronged by the one closest to me, when I felt bitter and abandoned, I just stopped living for myself. I shut off all my feelings and continued caring for Nana and Peter, teaching and disciplining them, fighting for what was best for them, even if it meant cutting other ties. They were, and still are the only ones for me worth living for.
27-01-12 5th day Chinese New Year
In case you didn't know, CNY is a long fortnight celebration, with its culmination celebrated as Chap Goh Meh, on the 14th day of the new Lunar calendar. So in case you were wondering why are we still celebrating on the 5th day, its because we have 9 more days to go. Of course we don't all take working leaves the whole fortnight because that would plunge the nation into another (won't be the 1st time) economic recession Our race are, after all highly valuable but under-appreciated national assets.
The grand-appearing dish above is called the Pun Choy/ Poon Choi 盆菜 aka Big Bowl Feast. This expensive Chinese delicacy has ingredients made out of pork, prawns, abalone, scallops, ginseng, shark fin, beancurd, brocolli, mushrooms and sea cucumber. It was said between 13th-17th century Song Dynasty, when Mongol troops invaded Song China, the young Emperor fled near Guangdong province. To serve the Emperor and his army, the poor locals collected their finest ingredients available, cooked it and because there weren't enough containers, served the resulting dishes in wooden washbasins. In this way, Poon Choi was invented.
By this time we had made it back to my in-laws house in Subang. All the siblings were back and we were reunited. Nana and Peter got further acquainted with their aunts and uncle. After feasting on the Poon Choi fit for the China Emperor, we went back to cut Nana's cake. Today was her birthday for real, and we went through the whole motion of posing for camera, singing birthday song, blowing the candles, cutting the cake and taking some more pictures. I hoped Nana enjoyed it because I wanted her to feel important and special.
As we did on the 1st day of CNY, me and Karling performed the customary Ang Pow exchanging with my parents in-law. Since Karling's siblings weren't married, its was customary to give them Ang Pow as well, as a form of blessing. On one hand we wished the old folks health, longevity and happiness and on the other we wished the younger ones prosperity, good luck in studies and bullish career advancement. I thanked God for His continuing blessing and protection on my family, and the hard lessons He has taught me. I pray I may one day be deserving of a place in His home. Amen.
Papa look, I'm a pretty China doll. Gong Xi Fa Cai!!
Welcome to my home. Its Chinese New Year 2012 and what a glorious day. Anybody would wonder how's it like celebrating CNY in Kelantan, a Muslim dominated state with the Chinese consisting less than 2% of the state's population. Personally, what I look forward to during the 1st day of CNY is to dress Nana and Peter up in their Cheong Sam and Chang San (长衫) respectively. These are traditional outfit rarely adorned by us unless for special occasions, like now (CNY) or Chinese weddings.
Nana and Peter are the 6th generation of Chinese living harmoniously in Malaysia. Our ancestors migrated from mainland China (perhaps fled during the war?) in search of greener pastures and landed in peninsula Malaysia during the British colonization time. The rest, as they say is history, which I feel I have a duty to excavate even more. To know the depth of one's own root, is to lay down a solid foundation for a lasting family legacy.
Lets get on with the Ang Pow, papa.
My mum handing over the Ang pow to grandma as a blessing for the new year.
As many would agree with me, Chinese are quite an enterprising bunch of people living all over the world. I would go as far as saying there are few of us living in Iceland and Greenland. Hailing from one of the oldest ancient civilization of the world, we strife through sheer hard work, determination, "kiasu" competitiveness and close knitted family bond. Chinese speak many dialects eg Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, Teochew, Hainan etc, each originating from different provinces of their ancestral country.
The one language that unites us all is Mandarin. Fortunately in Malaysia we have Chinese elementary schools where Mandarin is part of the country's optional education syllabus, albeit there were "suggestion" of abolishment put across by some distinguished political clowns who practice religious extremism and fanaticism. But that's a different story altogether. Point is, Chinese who can't speak Mandarin or their dialects are bananas (figure of speech for Chinese who lost their roots), including me.
Karling exchanging Ang Pow and Lokam with Pa and Ma, while multitasking Peter.
Mami, don't forget to collect my Ang Pow for me..Zzzz
Don't mean to be self deprecating, I always wish my father could have done more to pass on our family dialect to me. Ironically, he too is a banana, albeit a different type. Difference between us is he can't read and write Mandarin while I cannot speak 广西 my dialect. By now it should be clear that Mandarin is taught in Chinese elementary school while dialects are passed down the generations through conversing. Since my father was English-educated during the British colonization time, we mainly converse in English at home.
Except between my mother and we siblings. My mother is Hokkien in origin and therefore her mother tongue is Hokkien. As a self-taught Mandarin educated, we never knew she could speak Mandarin until kinder garden. That time, my brother and I were foreigners from a distant land plunged among native speaking Chinese kids, sticking out like a sore thumb, because of the language barrier. By some miracle my brother and I , with mum's help, picked up the language as fast as we learned bicycling.
Now is Nana's turn, the darling of the family, look how she delights Po po.
All the ladies in the Yong family.
As a consequence, my father became the odd one out in most family conversations. During our time, vernacular schooling system ie Mandarin school for Chinese and Tamil school for Indians (the 2 minority races in Malaysia) has steadily been implemented while British English schools has long been abolished (yes we still have English in our syllabus). Naturally pa and ma would send us siblings to Chinese schools just so that we would "fit-in".
In a typical meal time my siblings and I would be yapping away in Mandarin with my mum while dad was reduced to a passive listener. He didn't insist we all spoke our common language nor did he make effort to converse in Mandarin. It would be like switching radio stations when we were having our back and forth between our parents. Then mum would bring us down to earth and speak English out of respect for dad.
Nana sitting cozily in Ah Ya's (grandpa) arms.
Peter: Jie jie, why you not looking at the camera?
Nana: Sigh, papa & mami's gonna take all our Ang Pow and put it in the bank..
Peter: That's not fair. I haven't even opened it yet.
Nana: They say its for our books and milk..
Peter: What,no toy?
Nana: . ....
Back to the present, upon waking up on the morning of CNY, we looked forward to greeting and wishing each other. The younger ones should always wish the patriarch and matriarch first to show respect. It was important to inculcate this value in Nana and Peter too, by teaching them to wish their great-grandma and grandparents. After bathing, we dressed Nana and Peter up into cute adorable China dolls in their stunning Chinese traditional outfit, the Cheongsam and Chang shan respectively.
2 years old Nana looked stunning and well-beyond her age in the elegant Cheongsam. Nana might have been a little uncomfy in it but all we had to do was complement how pretty she looked and she was persuaded to stay in it. I found it unusual for Nana to develop a need for acceptance by being presentable or looking her best at this tender age of 2. But I will make sure to build in her a fortress of self believe and confidence based on a foundation called love.
I'm protesting because you confiscated my Ang pow..huh..
Grandma and Pa getting ready for CNY lunch.
Peter looked smart in his out-fit too. Grandma wore a flowery Samfu (Cantonese term for 衣服). Ma put on her auspiciously red Cheongsam while Pa, well you know pa, dressed as his smart casual self. We exchanged red packets (Ang Pow) which contain money/currency as a form of blessing to each other. This traditional custom was once exclusively practiced by the Chinese, and now adopted by other races throughout the country as well, making Malaysia truly a melting pot of cultures and tradition.
It's always exciting to receive Ang Pows due to anticipation of how much money it contain. Pa and Ma are generous givers in terms of Ang Pow and always emphasize us siblings to save it in the bank. In addition to that we also exchange Mandarin oranges, also known as Lokam (not locum) which signifies 金gold. Hence its another customary form of blessing each other with "gold". To soak up the festive atmosphere, we took family photos. I remember pa and ma having fun coaxing Nana and Peter to look towards the camera. It felt surreal that my once strict parents have mellowed down as they transit to the role of being grandparents.
Yum..yum, Satay with peanut sauce, and red wine!
Eat and sleep, wake up to eat some more.
Lunch wasn't a typical Chinese meal but instead we had Satay (Kunyit chicken pierced in sticks prepared by charcoal fire). This is a Malay cuisine usually eaten with peanut sauce, Nasi Impit (rice cubes) and cucumber. Since Mum has single-handedly prepared all the meals so far, we catered these mouth watering dishes from a Malay caterer. Incidentally you should know Kelantanese are good cooks and their cuisine are well-received all over the country. I might sound biased because I'm brought up here so if you have the chance to try Kelantanese delicacies like Nasi Dagang or Nasi Kerabu, you be the judge.
The rest of the day was spent bonding with family and watching Chinese New Year programmes on TV. CNY themed concert, performances, documentary, talk-show, game show, soap, movies, etc continuously airing on our disk TV channel one after another. I was being spoilt for choice until I couldn't take it anymore I switched off the TV. Upstairs Nana, Mami and Peter were catching their beauty sleep they didn't realized I finally sneaked in to join them.
I wonder if these food taste nicer than my finger.
Awesome Cantonese-styled food.
Then came dinner, it was food, food and more food. Gotta take my hats off to my mum due to her dedicated effort starting from the marketing process, planning the menu, preparation of the food until lighting the fire and churning the dishes. My mum had minimal assistance but organized and carried out every single culinary details to perfection, all this while maintaining a cool head. Our roles were only to serve the rice, scoop the soups and serve the dishes. Nana stood on the chair next to the table despite me ordering her to get down, witnessing all the commotion and perhaps the yummiest feast she had ever partaken on Chinese New Year.
Once the stage was set and the "casts" were presented, there was no stopping us from filling our stomach, again to the brim. The fish was fresh, mushroom pork tasty, home made Siew Mai (烧卖) had my mum's authentic signature on it, and the carrots were for Nana and Peter's eye sight. When we siblings were small, mum would keep serving us food on our plates even though we were full. So much so we mastered the timing of pulling our plates away just before mum could serve us some more. On this occasion we all gave it a pass to show mum our appreciation and gratitude towards her cooking.
Pork in mushrooms and sea cucumber
Siew Mai (烧卖) = pork balls
Ah ya, don't give me too much rice, scared I cannot finish.
24-01-12 2nd Day Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year just doesn't feel the same as Christmas or new year. I think the reason why we celebrate it is to welcome an auspicious/ brighter year ahead ie 除旧迎新. Auspicious(definition in Merriam Webster) = showing or suggesting that future success is likely. Like the definition says, we hope and pray for health, wealth, prosperity, longevity, fertility, promotion and so on, different measure of success depending on individuals.
You should keep in mind that based on Chinese tradition and custom, we should not talk about death, accidents or anything unpleasant for that matter on Chinese New Year because it is not auspicious. Doing so is believed to disrupt the auspiciousness and good vibes of the festive day which simply leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth, especially for the older generations who "manyak pantang" (very steadfast to the don't dos).
Raw ingredients for Steam Boat
Hmmm, everyone seems busy in the kitchen. I wonder what's the menu.
On the second day, Master chef of our home thought we should consume something less oily, hence she prepared Steamboat. Also known as hot pot, it refers to an array of raw and marinated ingredients stewed in a simmering metal pot of stock. Ingredients consist of various seafood, pork or chicken, meatball/fishball, green leafy vegetables, bird eggs and meehun. The liquid used to stew the ingredients could either be clear soup or Tomyam. Steamboat requires cooking and eating simultaneously as everything is best eaten steaming hot.
Look Mami, po po gave me Vitagen to drink.
Mami said share with her, please please pleassseee~
As Peter was still small, he took at least 2 naps a day, one in the morning the other in the afternoon. With all the action and interaction going on among the adults, Nana's inquisitive nature kicked in as she wandered back and forth from kitchen to living room, wherever the noise is. She particularly liked climbing onto the dining chair whenever food is served on the table. With so much variety on display, Nana enjoyed herself learning the name of the dishes while sampling them. Technically it was bad table manners but exceptions were made to fulfill her curiosity.
Great grandma, hang in there k, I'm as hungry as you too.
Nana standing on the chair again, learning that raw things need to be cooked before eating.
Even as we were satisfied from consuming a lot of home-cooked nutritious food, there were still room for snacking at intermittent timing. Chinese New Year cookies were the ones to be blamed, so was "Bak Qua", a type of expensive pork delicacy. Without inhibition, I made regular trips to the kitchen seeking these snacks ever so often it could have been mistaken for obsessive compulsive disorder, or eating disorder. I refrained from eating groundnuts altogether or too much Mandarin oranges because these 2 are well-known to cause bad sore throat, which would ruin the rest of CNY.
Ah ya and Po po, what big mouth and sharp teeth you both have.
Mami, I think I'm gonna save some space for my birthday cake later.
Now this look like a birthday party because it was Nana's early birthday party. Couldn't believe she was touching another milestone, 2 years old. Although her birthday wasn't in another 3 days, we wanted to celebrate it in the presence of her grandparents, since we were departing to my in-law's tomorrow. That's right, I'm committed to 2 families now. In the wise words of my combat instructor,"After working out one leg, there remains another leg". If that didn't make any sense, it means I have a role to play both sides of the family.
4 generations of the Yong family enjoying our meal. It doesn't get better than this.
Can any1 find Peter with the party hat?
We all sure did enjoyed our pizza, even though it wasn't the same sticky cheesy pizza from the good old days. If some1 told me 10 years back Pizza Hut was opening at Tanah Merah my hometown, I wouldn't have believed it much less able to afford it. Pizza Hut those days were meals fit for a Sultan (Malay Ruler) because it was so deliciously rare. So this new chain opened just shy of 3 months and it became the perfect venue to hold Nana's birthday party, giving Ma a much-deserved respite from all the stress of CNY. We ordered different Pizzas types and finger-licking good side dishes, ate to our heart's content, adding Western to our Malay and Chinese wide array of CNY feast.
Awww, don't sad sad. Ah Ya promise will get you a nice birthday present.
2 candles Nana, blow it before Peter does.
It was amazing how Nana and Peter managed to put on their party hat the whole time from dinner until we adjourned back to the house for cake-cutting. Ok they might have taken it off few times to scratch their heads. Nana could pass as a little apprentice witch while Peter an infant wizard, they looked wonderfully adorable, I wished they never grow older but stay the same. There are 2 types of babies in this world, one that submits to hugs and kisses and the other which shuns and struggle away from bare minimum human contact. Nana was the latter all along, but on this day she totally warmed up to all of us.
I'm so happy everyone is here to celebrate my birthday and eat my cake.
Ok po po I'll let you kiss me so that I can get present from you.
What is family to me? Family is the extension of me that I need to care for and love. Love is when one stops living for himself/herself and starts living as if his whole universe revolves around the ones that matter, truly disregarding any selfishness and malice. He draws his purpose and strength from wanting to see the ones he care for thrive and succeed. He procures lasting happiness from others' happiness. And since there is insurmountable room for human capabilities, his task of helping his love ones will be an ongoing process.
I gotta say, times when I felt so down and out, time when I was let down and wronged by the one closest to me, when I felt bitter and abandoned, I just stopped living for myself. I shut off all my feelings and continued caring for Nana and Peter, teaching and disciplining them, fighting for what was best for them, even if it meant cutting other ties. They were, and still are the only ones for me worth living for.
Grandparents and grandchildren. 1 memorable picture to cherish.
27-01-12 5th day Chinese New Year
Poon Choi. Perhaps the mother of all Chinese delicacies.
In case you didn't know, CNY is a long fortnight celebration, with its culmination celebrated as Chap Goh Meh, on the 14th day of the new Lunar calendar. So in case you were wondering why are we still celebrating on the 5th day, its because we have 9 more days to go. Of course we don't all take working leaves the whole fortnight because that would plunge the nation into another (won't be the 1st time) economic recession Our race are, after all highly valuable but under-appreciated national assets.
The grand-appearing dish above is called the Pun Choy/ Poon Choi 盆菜 aka Big Bowl Feast. This expensive Chinese delicacy has ingredients made out of pork, prawns, abalone, scallops, ginseng, shark fin, beancurd, brocolli, mushrooms and sea cucumber. It was said between 13th-17th century Song Dynasty, when Mongol troops invaded Song China, the young Emperor fled near Guangdong province. To serve the Emperor and his army, the poor locals collected their finest ingredients available, cooked it and because there weren't enough containers, served the resulting dishes in wooden washbasins. In this way, Poon Choi was invented.
Feels like deja vu again?
Papa wish i would never grow up because he loves how adorable I am now.
By this time we had made it back to my in-laws house in Subang. All the siblings were back and we were reunited. Nana and Peter got further acquainted with their aunts and uncle. After feasting on the Poon Choi fit for the China Emperor, we went back to cut Nana's cake. Today was her birthday for real, and we went through the whole motion of posing for camera, singing birthday song, blowing the candles, cutting the cake and taking some more pictures. I hoped Nana enjoyed it because I wanted her to feel important and special.
Come on Nana, better blow fast, Peter looking at your cake again.
Happy 2 years old Nana, Pa pa and Mami love you alot!
As we did on the 1st day of CNY, me and Karling performed the customary Ang Pow exchanging with my parents in-law. Since Karling's siblings weren't married, its was customary to give them Ang Pow as well, as a form of blessing. On one hand we wished the old folks health, longevity and happiness and on the other we wished the younger ones prosperity, good luck in studies and bullish career advancement. I thanked God for His continuing blessing and protection on my family, and the hard lessons He has taught me. I pray I may one day be deserving of a place in His home. Amen.
Me with my happy family-in-law.
