It's been a bit of an up and down week for me... emotions running all over the place. I think as I get older, it's harder to be so far away. But come to think of it, all my family members are all scattered all over so we've not been together to celebrate the new year for more than 10 years.
The Tan clan still gathers as normal as Ama's place, and I am envious of that gathering... I miss the jiu hoo char, gulai, chiap chai th'ng, lor bak and also all the preparations preceeding the New Year, all the prepping running up to the day, sticking red decorative papers on fruits and all other stuff and getting ready to 'Pai Thee Kong', the throwing of coins to see if our invited 'Elder's Spirit' and the 'Ang Kong' has finished eating so we can clear it away and begin eating ourselves, familes followed by families....Then after that for the next 14 days of 'Pai Chia', going from house to house and eating, chatting, laughing etc....I envious the kiddies playing with the fireworks.. I remember gathering at Ama's place doing all that and now my nieces and nephew are doing that. Fireworks and sparklers for 15 days must be exciting for them. My Ah Cik Koket used to have the most marvelous collection, even managing to get some of the red firecrackers when it was declared illegal. We were all excited waiting for the 'boo lang sai' so he can then let off the firecrackers.. We used to stand so far from it as we didn't want the risk of burnes, losing our limbs etc. The things the adults used to say to frighten us off their marvelous stash.
I tried to ring Ama's house to catch Ah Cik Teddy and Auntie Shirley but there were no answer so I missed missing them the annual 'Kong Hee Huat Chai' but I managed to ring my Kung Kung and he was happy to hear from me. I had the most bizarre but amusing conversation with him- he kept asking me when can i produce a baby for him to hold! when i asked who is going to feed, clean the poo etc, he just laughed at me... Then i had a good chat with my Aunty from KL.
Well, on the first day of CNY, I was working as normal and was feeling a bit down... but I forgot to request the day off, so maybe next year I will do so... and also have more prep time leading up to CNY. Today I finished work early, so I rushed into nottingham to see if I could get what I wanted for my Steamboat meal on Sunday. My preparation began this evening when I decided last minute I was going to bake banana cake as I had overripe bananas and couldn;t bear to throw them away. Then I prepared my vegetarian dumpling mix and Crab spring roll mix...all these took me some time as I had to make do with what I haven't got. Basically that is just so me... I don't have a definite recipe for anything... I just tend to throw things together according to what I have or according to my mood. The seasoning of food is also very impulsive on how I feel at time of cooking. I think Ian gets a bit frusfrated sometimes, when he asks how do you cook this and what do you put in there. My answer for everything is, a bit of this and that, a pinch of this and that or a handful of this and that. There is no exact measurement and I hope that my food all turns out edible or it ends up in the compost bin..Whilst doing all my prepping, I put some CNY songs on and I am beginning to feel excited not. My heart keep going ' Tong tong chiang, tong tong chiang'. Su Yin then started it off again when she put that remark on my FB so now I am all revved up when I am suppose to be winding down and trying to calm myself for my exam run through tommorow!
I will definitely post some pictures after sunday.
I bid everyone good night for now. I wish all my beloved family and friend' Keong Hee Huat Chai' and may you be blessed with peace, love, health and wealth always, may this and every coming year be auspicious for all of you. Thank you for all your text/sms, FM messages and e-mails and love packages.
Suzie- the 'ang chai' is hanging proud from my window ushering 'huat' into our home.
Before I forget, I want to say I am going ahead with my yee sang with my own adapted version. jelly fish still on menu.
Happy New Year all, I am truly blessed this year...XING NIAN KUAI LE
A Very Keong Hee Huat Chye to you too, your memories of CNY and all it's rituals and food are exactly the same as mine! Penangites to the core....
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