26.01.2009

First of all i would like to wish you all GONG XI FA CAI, PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR AND A BLESSED YEAR OF GOLDEN OX!

this year's preparation, i could say, not so much things to do, other than get up early in the morning to go to the market, so that we can get the best meat. even tanglung and the CNY decos were put up only on the day before CNY. usually, we (especially kakak), will be busy decorating the house a week before..i dunno what happen this year? but, i think, it's because CNY is quite near to the previous festive season, which was Christmas and New Year, and that was why we were a bit slowed down.

somehow, i managed to do something new..it's pineapple tarts..hehe. i made 4 batches altogether, where the first batch i gave away all to Ah Soon. usually the first batch are the most not-so-good ones, but, because of time constraint, i still gave them away and hope that he likes them. =) then, for the 2nd batch, i got ben to help me out to roll the fillings, and he was so proud of himself, that he kept on saying, he is a fast learner, who can roll one filling in just 13 seconds..duh~ and we did this at around 11:30pm..

i arranged them nicely in the container and didnt really promote them. and guess what? roddy thought that they were from the shop..and he said, they're nice! wahaha..it was the FIRST time he ever compliment on my baked products..sometimes, their comments (especially roddy and ben) are just too discouraging.

on the eve of CNY, our usual tradition is do cooking the whole morning and then we will have the offering ceremony for the ancestor, in the afternoon..this tradition has been carried out since i-dunno-when..but previously it was done in kampong..only after ThaiKong and ThaiMa passed away, we started to do it here, in KK. this tradition is carried out because it's their wish, written in their will. it has been passed down from generation to generation, and i do not know what will happen in the future..

every year, there are a few obligatory menu. they are whole chicken, fried noodles, fried mihun, mixed vege (not the normal corn-peas-carrot, this one is bamboo shoots, kimcham, black fungus, etc), bun-bak and fu-chuk soup..but there will always be extra menu other than all that because after the ceremony, we will be feasting on those food.. ;p this is just a tradition. people say 'biar mati anak, jangan mati adat'. hehe.

then at night, we usually gather at our house because dad is the eldest son. but, maybe also, because most of the food prepared at our home.. somehow, i heard there's suggestion saying that, next year, we will do it in DeChe's house.

mom prepared yee sang as the first dish, every year, for tuan yuan fan (reunion dinner), and we will lau and finish it all, before we proceed with the next dish.

update: due to too many questions from my friend, about the ingredient we used for yee sang, i'm going to tell you here. they are, carrot, fish-satay, jelly-fish, red cabbage, cuttlefish strips, seaweed, blanched abalone and raw salmon. nah, hope u can do it by yourself, next year, instead buying them from Tesco. =)

milia, me and teeta getting ready for the journey

this year, we went to Weston to visit TuaKoh and family, then we went to Menumbok and stayed a night there, in MaKo's house.
i remembered when we were celebrating the Dong Zhi Festival, i wanted to see if it will rain or not during CNY. and, guess what? it rained during our way to Weston. does that shows that the prediction is correct? honestly, i'm still not sure of how far the truth is, because it might be just a coincidence. i'll do the test again next year. =)

when we arrived in Weston, the unicorns had just arrived too, and they were about to start their dances. they performed the complete one, whereby they had the drunken unicorn dance, the playful (or should i say, courageous unicorn) because they are not afraid of the firecrackers, and they gave them lucky numbers. but i'm not sure how lucky the numbers will be. =)

the numbers are 1-3-8-8. go buy 4D and tell me if it strikes.

after that, we had our lunch, which was tom yam steamboat and we continued our journey to Menumbok.

i love the blue-green scenery very much. but after 30 minutes, i got sleepy and slept until we reached our destination. i planned to go to mempakul beach (which we went, last year) for some photo session before sun sets. but we reached there around 6pm and it was already dark.

so, we just stayed at home and helped Koko Ann with the dinner. we enjoyed ourselves with durian kampong, which DeChe bought at one of the stalls along the way to Menumbok.

then, we visited Uncle Richard's house, and he served us 5litres of red wine. Dad was so excited and challenge ourselves (all 17 of us) to finish it all in half an hour. in deed we did it! haha~ and guess, who got affected the most among us all? Dad..

the girls: yunie, ah meng, jun-jun, kayla and teeta

after came back from Uncle Richard's house, we had our dinner, then the boys light-up the firecrackers/works, because these little girls want to sleep already.

the next morning, we (the ladies) made tang yuan for all. then, we had fun pua-kiawing, prepared lunch and prepared ourselves for family photo session.

then, we headed back to KK. we reached KK at around 4:30pm.

and, these are my collection for the year 2009. muahaha! ;D