happy “chap goh meh”!
that’s the chinese equivalent of valentine’s day. hehe. yesterday marked “chap goh meh” day, also the last day of chinese new year!
how time flies! i remember waiting for CNY to come…it seemed like an eternity before the big day arrived. and yet, the 15 days went by so fast! let's see if i can recap my CNY celebration this year.
CNY eve: change of tradition – grandmother didn’t cook the annual reunion dinner anymore. guess age was catching up with her, what with the elaborate stuff she prepared for the reunion dinner steamboat (stuffed crab meat in crabshells anyone?). this year, all of us had our dinner at a thai restaurant (one of the very few restaurants open during CNY eve). the “yee sang” we tossed was also done in thai style (looked a bit like “kerabu”. incidentally, this was the 3rd “yee sang” i'd tossed. the first was with my family about a week ago; the second was with my colleagues at the office CNY lunch the friday before CNY). helped my grandmother to pack her “ang pows” that night too.
day 1 CNY: gong xi fa cai! it’s the year of rooster! first day of CNY = bright coloured clothes + vegetarian breakfast/lunch. my grandmother’s pretty traditional – must wear bright coloured clothes during CNY, so i normally wear colours like red or orange. spent the morning taking photos with my cousins while 3 of the youngest ones kept asking me “jade, can i borrow your phone?”. (i'd recently got a new mobile phone and they kept wanting to play with it!) visited…hmm…let me count…1…2…3…houses. spent my afternoon lazing around the house and sleeping zzz. oooh…guess what i had for dinner? kfc! yup, kentucky fried chicken. why? coz it was either that or nasi kandar, no other food shops open! starbucks was open too. how did i know? coz i went out to “yum cha” with my eldest cousin – a tradition we’d been keeping together with my sister for the past few years. it’s a great way for us to catch up without “parental eyes and ears” ;)
day 2 CNY: crossed the penang bridge to visit a relative in nibong tebal, a little town situated on mainland penang. (my CNYs are always celebrated in penang, my dad’s hometown. it's only when there’s extended holidays that my family also visits my mum’s relatives in kelantan.) what stood out from this visit was when my uncle, cousins and i discovered a box of really, really old photos – those dated around 1950s or earlier. quite funny to see what my uncle, dad and grandmother looked like nearly 50 years ago!
day 3 CNY: spent the late morning shopping at island plaza. imagine that! :p did i get anything for myself? erm…a book from time’s bookstore (the devil wears prada – hilarious chick lit) and a bag from super tanjung (elle – for me to bring to work). super tanjung was pretty depressing looking – at least half the store was empty, coz its parent company had gone bankrupt. will see how often i'll use this bag, since i tend favour backpacks over handbags or slingbags
day 4 CNY: left penang about 6am. lucky it wasn’t me driving home. my dad did that while i slept throughout the journey. ha! since we’d got back to klang with plenty of time to rest, we visited some people after dinner. who did we visit? my babysitter and my sister’s babysitter, that’s who! hahaha. note that it’s 2 different babysitters (who happened to be neighbours). these ladies had taken care of my sis and i as toddlers, while my parents were working.
day 5 CNY: mum cooked “poh piah” and invited some of our relatives and her old friends over. i didn’t stay for lunch coz i was over at one of my high school friend’s house, catching up with her and a few high school friends whom i haven’t seen in quite some time. (jesmine! my god…haven’t seen you since form 5! you look much prettier d! hehe)
day 6 CNY: back…to…work! wuaaahhhhh!!! :(( did not have mood to work and felt that way the whole day! ended up not doing much productive stuff throughout the following 2 days or so…
day 7 CNY: today is human day…also everybody’s birthday…or so i’m told. my uncle belanja-ed his family and my family dinner at subang golf club. the best part? banana fritter + ice cream for dinner! yummy!
day 10 CNY: ok...this is a really weird way to celebrate CNY...but i went to the movies with jive, onion and noie and a few of their friends. watched constantine - which is a darn good movie! some of the more outstanding scenes were the angel gabriel's wings spreading out and the depiction of hell (all red, windy, burning hot). for those of you who haven't watched it, stay until after the credits have ended. there's an extra scene that's not to be missed!
day 11 CNY: got together for a potluck dinner with folie a deux and mmu friends. i contributed a pot of noodles (helped my mum to cook :p) and some jelly (done by my brother. muahahaha). also had my 4th “yee sang” – which was really unique! the ingredients were all vegetables (purple cabbage, carrot, turnip, cucumber, green pepper) , the meat came in the form of thinly sliced sausage while the dressing was thousand island sauce plus sesame seed! a healthy, interesting and well-worth effort from siang @ elephant, the brains behind this dish!
day 15 CNY: celebrated “chap goh meh” at yet another restaurant dinner with my family, aunt, cousins and nephew (uncle didn’t go coz not feeling well. must be all the heaty CNY cookies and food…hehe). can still hear the fireworks bursting into the sky…marking the end of CNY.
how time flies! i remember waiting for CNY to come…it seemed like an eternity before the big day arrived. and yet, the 15 days went by so fast! let's see if i can recap my CNY celebration this year.
CNY eve: change of tradition – grandmother didn’t cook the annual reunion dinner anymore. guess age was catching up with her, what with the elaborate stuff she prepared for the reunion dinner steamboat (stuffed crab meat in crabshells anyone?). this year, all of us had our dinner at a thai restaurant (one of the very few restaurants open during CNY eve). the “yee sang” we tossed was also done in thai style (looked a bit like “kerabu”. incidentally, this was the 3rd “yee sang” i'd tossed. the first was with my family about a week ago; the second was with my colleagues at the office CNY lunch the friday before CNY). helped my grandmother to pack her “ang pows” that night too.
day 1 CNY: gong xi fa cai! it’s the year of rooster! first day of CNY = bright coloured clothes + vegetarian breakfast/lunch. my grandmother’s pretty traditional – must wear bright coloured clothes during CNY, so i normally wear colours like red or orange. spent the morning taking photos with my cousins while 3 of the youngest ones kept asking me “jade, can i borrow your phone?”. (i'd recently got a new mobile phone and they kept wanting to play with it!) visited…hmm…let me count…1…2…3…houses. spent my afternoon lazing around the house and sleeping zzz. oooh…guess what i had for dinner? kfc! yup, kentucky fried chicken. why? coz it was either that or nasi kandar, no other food shops open! starbucks was open too. how did i know? coz i went out to “yum cha” with my eldest cousin – a tradition we’d been keeping together with my sister for the past few years. it’s a great way for us to catch up without “parental eyes and ears” ;)
day 2 CNY: crossed the penang bridge to visit a relative in nibong tebal, a little town situated on mainland penang. (my CNYs are always celebrated in penang, my dad’s hometown. it's only when there’s extended holidays that my family also visits my mum’s relatives in kelantan.) what stood out from this visit was when my uncle, cousins and i discovered a box of really, really old photos – those dated around 1950s or earlier. quite funny to see what my uncle, dad and grandmother looked like nearly 50 years ago!
day 3 CNY: spent the late morning shopping at island plaza. imagine that! :p did i get anything for myself? erm…a book from time’s bookstore (the devil wears prada – hilarious chick lit) and a bag from super tanjung (elle – for me to bring to work). super tanjung was pretty depressing looking – at least half the store was empty, coz its parent company had gone bankrupt. will see how often i'll use this bag, since i tend favour backpacks over handbags or slingbags
day 4 CNY: left penang about 6am. lucky it wasn’t me driving home. my dad did that while i slept throughout the journey. ha! since we’d got back to klang with plenty of time to rest, we visited some people after dinner. who did we visit? my babysitter and my sister’s babysitter, that’s who! hahaha. note that it’s 2 different babysitters (who happened to be neighbours). these ladies had taken care of my sis and i as toddlers, while my parents were working.
day 5 CNY: mum cooked “poh piah” and invited some of our relatives and her old friends over. i didn’t stay for lunch coz i was over at one of my high school friend’s house, catching up with her and a few high school friends whom i haven’t seen in quite some time. (jesmine! my god…haven’t seen you since form 5! you look much prettier d! hehe)
day 6 CNY: back…to…work! wuaaahhhhh!!! :(( did not have mood to work and felt that way the whole day! ended up not doing much productive stuff throughout the following 2 days or so…
day 7 CNY: today is human day…also everybody’s birthday…or so i’m told. my uncle belanja-ed his family and my family dinner at subang golf club. the best part? banana fritter + ice cream for dinner! yummy!
day 10 CNY: ok...this is a really weird way to celebrate CNY...but i went to the movies with jive, onion and noie and a few of their friends. watched constantine - which is a darn good movie! some of the more outstanding scenes were the angel gabriel's wings spreading out and the depiction of hell (all red, windy, burning hot). for those of you who haven't watched it, stay until after the credits have ended. there's an extra scene that's not to be missed!
day 11 CNY: got together for a potluck dinner with folie a deux and mmu friends. i contributed a pot of noodles (helped my mum to cook :p) and some jelly (done by my brother. muahahaha). also had my 4th “yee sang” – which was really unique! the ingredients were all vegetables (purple cabbage, carrot, turnip, cucumber, green pepper) , the meat came in the form of thinly sliced sausage while the dressing was thousand island sauce plus sesame seed! a healthy, interesting and well-worth effort from siang @ elephant, the brains behind this dish!
day 15 CNY: celebrated “chap goh meh” at yet another restaurant dinner with my family, aunt, cousins and nephew (uncle didn’t go coz not feeling well. must be all the heaty CNY cookies and food…hehe). can still hear the fireworks bursting into the sky…marking the end of CNY.
posted by bluejade @ 9:12 am
3 comments
3 Comments:
Food food food... whole CNY was full of food... poor me eating instant noodles in Aus.. haih.. where is mine, huh?! :D
food glorious food! :D
ur food ah...u come back malaysia then we go out makan again la ;)
Wow you can remember what you did on certain days @.@;;; If I'm to write it like that .. it's most probably be :
CNY Day 1-7 : Rolled around at home. Play Suikoden 4. Eat. Play Suikoden 4. Get angpow. Play Suikoden 4. See blobs of people coming to my house. Play Suikoden 4. Sleep. Play Suikoden 4
XD XDDD
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