The 2nd day of CNY is when the married women bring their families to visit their parents. I used to tussle diplomatically with my MIL over the Reunion Dinner. Although I have three brothers, one is single and another sometimes can't make it back from Singapore for the dinner. The remaining brother came back for the Reunion Dinners only while dad was alive. For reasons only he knows, and I know he's reading this, he is considered 'married off' rather than 'married in'. My sister goes back to her in laws in Sandakan. That means although my parents have 5 children, only my oldest bro and I will be around for CNY. And because of this, I would make an effort to eat at my parents' house and then eat at my in laws'. After dad passed on, I still made sure to eat Reunion Dinner with my bro and mom, before going back to my in laws. MIL was upset initially but I stood my ground. Girls, we have as much rights as the guys to be with our parents! I wonder how other people manage this sensitive issue of which set of parents to eat Reunion Dinner with. I know some will have dinner with their own parents and siblings on other days. In my case, I'm getting my siblings and their families together on the 15th day. I personally feel that married women should be allowed to eat with their parents, especially in China where most families have only 1 child.
Anyway, most people will bai nien (greet the new year) by visiting their friends on the second day since the first day is for visiting relatives. In the past, we used to rush from house to house. While that was fun too, especially for the kids because they get more hung bao (gifts of money placed in little red envelopes to unmarried people), I find getting in and out of sun-baked cars too unpleasant in our weather. Since I was cooking dinner for Hub's relatives on the 2nd day, we visited my dear friend E's house for a quick lunch. I hope L is not reading this because I knew there'll be hundreds of people at her house and I don't like to be part of a hundred. Apologies to S and B too for not going to their respective dinners. *sigh* For this period, I fast during the day and eat like crazy at night but the weighing scale shows record highs every night.
E cooked a western lunch and it was a welcome change after the Chinese feasts the last 3 nights.
The brie was hand-carried from Switzerland and was the smoothest and softest (it was oozy) brie I've ever tasted. I would've eaten the whole disc if I hadn't caught a glimpse of a giant pear when I walked past E's hallway.
A cold cut platter from Recipes House included slices of vegetarian mock abalone, smoked duck breast and salmon skin. While most people liked the salmon skin, I'm unsure about it. The soy and sesame oil dressing was tasty and the skin was crunchy but when put on my plate, the skin looked rather like snakeskin and I felt very uneasy.
Roasted pork from Tong Hing. This was too tender and bland. I prefer my pork to taste like pork, with texture and flavor.
E called this 'jai' (vegetarian dish usually eaten on Day 1 of CNY) but there was chicken in it so technically it wasn't 'jai'. Kind of oily.
Roasted lamb was tasty.
E makes the best multi-grain bread of anyone, any bakery I know and it's made by a Sanyo bread machine. The bread has an unusually strong el dente bite and is addictive to eat with butter. Maybe I should just accept being a giant pear.
Unfortunately the walnuts from Pelangi was rancid and spoilt this cake. I know the frustration, E, because I used almond flakes fron the shop and they made rancid-tasting cookies. That's why whenever anyone is coming back from Australia and asks me if I want anything, I usually tell them I want any kind of nuts. Hey.
The apple crumble was simple and delicious with cream and black coffee.
On the way out, we all spied this on the coffee table and played 3 rounds. Hub walked away the winner, RM1/US$0.30 richer.
I think it's an excellent idea to serve a western lunch on one of the CNY days when everybody is sick of koe rou, boiled chicken and fatt cai stew. Dinner is a different thing though. My MIL requested that I roast a turkey for our relatives from Shanghai on the 2nd day of CNY. While the turkey was roasting and giving off that heavenly aroma, the lion dances troupe came calling and firecrackers were sounding around the neighborhood and it was a very confusing moment. Was it Christmas or CNY?
Anyway, most people will bai nien (greet the new year) by visiting their friends on the second day since the first day is for visiting relatives. In the past, we used to rush from house to house. While that was fun too, especially for the kids because they get more hung bao (gifts of money placed in little red envelopes to unmarried people), I find getting in and out of sun-baked cars too unpleasant in our weather. Since I was cooking dinner for Hub's relatives on the 2nd day, we visited my dear friend E's house for a quick lunch. I hope L is not reading this because I knew there'll be hundreds of people at her house and I don't like to be part of a hundred. Apologies to S and B too for not going to their respective dinners. *sigh* For this period, I fast during the day and eat like crazy at night but the weighing scale shows record highs every night.
E cooked a western lunch and it was a welcome change after the Chinese feasts the last 3 nights.
The brie was hand-carried from Switzerland and was the smoothest and softest (it was oozy) brie I've ever tasted. I would've eaten the whole disc if I hadn't caught a glimpse of a giant pear when I walked past E's hallway.
A cold cut platter from Recipes House included slices of vegetarian mock abalone, smoked duck breast and salmon skin. While most people liked the salmon skin, I'm unsure about it. The soy and sesame oil dressing was tasty and the skin was crunchy but when put on my plate, the skin looked rather like snakeskin and I felt very uneasy.
Roasted pork from Tong Hing. This was too tender and bland. I prefer my pork to taste like pork, with texture and flavor.
E called this 'jai' (vegetarian dish usually eaten on Day 1 of CNY) but there was chicken in it so technically it wasn't 'jai'. Kind of oily.
Roasted lamb was tasty.
E makes the best multi-grain bread of anyone, any bakery I know and it's made by a Sanyo bread machine. The bread has an unusually strong el dente bite and is addictive to eat with butter. Maybe I should just accept being a giant pear.
Unfortunately the walnuts from Pelangi was rancid and spoilt this cake. I know the frustration, E, because I used almond flakes fron the shop and they made rancid-tasting cookies. That's why whenever anyone is coming back from Australia and asks me if I want anything, I usually tell them I want any kind of nuts. Hey.
The apple crumble was simple and delicious with cream and black coffee.
On the way out, we all spied this on the coffee table and played 3 rounds. Hub walked away the winner, RM1/US$0.30 richer.
I think it's an excellent idea to serve a western lunch on one of the CNY days when everybody is sick of koe rou, boiled chicken and fatt cai stew. Dinner is a different thing though. My MIL requested that I roast a turkey for our relatives from Shanghai on the 2nd day of CNY. While the turkey was roasting and giving off that heavenly aroma, the lion dances troupe came calling and firecrackers were sounding around the neighborhood and it was a very confusing moment. Was it Christmas or CNY?
11 comments:
heh....always the problem ...in general for (raya) we alternate each year wh parents to visit first. in my case I never went back it was always with the inlaws! lol
haha!! I like ur term " Giant Pear! " :D
Gong xi fa cai !
Woohoo! We’re spared the Battle of the in laws…. Luckily, being so far away, we can make up excuses. I remember we used to visit our maternal grandparents in Tamparuli the 2nd day of every CNY. It was THE trip of the year in the old days. Actually, we visited them only 3 times a year; once during CNY and once each on their respective birthdays. But it was always a trip to look forward to. The other outings I remember enjoying very much were the twice yearly visits to my mom’s grandparents, in Penampang for the BIG celebration of their birthdays. Imagine, those were considered far off places in the 60’s!
Mike C
Thanks for sharing, Gong Xi Fa Cai to you.
wow what an excellent meal! sound amaing good to have a different cuisine on CNY! nice nice! :)
A very happy chinese new year to you and your family Terri. It's been ages, hope we can catch up soon :0
The Apple Crumble looks goodie!! =D =D
And I missed that game lol.
we solve dat by having reunion lunch at my parents, dinner wid in-laws :p
kung hei fatt choy!
Hmmm... caught you red handed! What would your cell group members think of their cell group leader? :p
zurin: u mean the in laws came? tt's nice!
denise: the pear has lost 1 kg so far :DD
mike: lucky u!it may be em, difficult to hang in laws hang around, but it's good for the kids to grow up around grandparents, like you've experienced :))
happy new year!
sonia: and to you too:)
shan:yes, we shd. bumped into louis 2 days in a row:))
bbo: :))
agnes: can draw your own 'prawn crab' game.
babe: tt's a great solution except it means eating cny fest twice on the eve? i guess tt's still a good alternative to running around like i did.
johnathan: well, if they mind me playing a game of 'prawn, crab' once a year or drinking wine, then i guess they should go to another cell where the leaders have feet of gold. i've never been afraid to show the real me n if smone doesn't like the way i live, too bad. the bible doesn't say we can't play such games (gambling is destructive addictive behavior) or drink (addictive behavior again). besides, Jesus made friends with prostitutes and sinners. i'm sure he won't damn people to hell if they play a game or two of 'ha goong lau hai' :))
btw, did i send you tt link to benny hinn's interview with ABC last oct in which he said he wasn't sure if the african man he resurrected was dead in the first place? in which he defended his lavish lifestyle? i was alerted to him years ago when a friend of my daughter who attended his healing rally recounted how he exploited the audience by asking them to give $1000 each n ppl did line up to give him. serves them right i say, if they know tt he had his own lear jets, mansions, bling bling n they still want to feed that lifestyle even though Jesus himself had nowhere to lay His head. i can go on about so many things about false evangelists (like i said, 99.999% are false) but what's the use? the whole christian machinery, and tt includes pastors and leaders, is out there to hoodwink believers into supporting such people. in the end, much of christianity, like other religions, is all about power and money. no wonder many people prefer to stay atheists. it's evangelists themselves who drive people away from God!
johnathan: recently a pastor came to my church n i was impressed with his challange to give everything up, everything, and follow Jesus, poor and homeless. lots of people took tt challenge, and i believe tt they were sincere.
but what * me off was after the altar call, he began to count how having given up everything years ago, he's still blessed bc his daughter married a rich man, his assistant married a rich woman, he lives comfortably thanks to the singapore govnmt, his kids get scholarships n on n on.
tt's not what Jesus meant! our rewards are spiritual, in heaven , not on earth. in the end, it's still all about money n comfort n blessings. the apostles all died violently n poor but i guess tt won't go down well with most followers. i was dismayed tt such a clever man turned out to be not so clever, spiritually, after all.
unfrtunately men like todd bentley, ted haggard, benny hinn etc etc will go on cheating people bc most ppl just are gullible n afraid to question bc we've been brain washed tt if we question, then we are faithless. in such cases, i always guide my action by asking, who do i fear, men or God?
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