the CNY Entry
For the past Chinese New Years, I would get up by 7+ am, greet my grandfather, grandmother, dad.. followed by the customary red packets. As we are officially not celebrating this year, the occasion and all seems somewhat strange and muted.
Looking back at the past, when I was much younger, always looked forward to the nintendos / playstations that my cousin would bring over to play. I didn't had my own console and could only play when I go over to their house, so this was like a real treat for me. Sometimes they would also leave the system at my place for a couple of days so the 2nd/3rd day of Chinese New Year was also very much a blast! I know I would be eagerly anticipating the arrival of my cousins and the one year they forgot to bring, I was so sad!
And how can I leave out gambling? We usually only gamble with the closer relatives, the visitors who come don't really join in either. Strangely, our gambling is like "见不得人" and during the normal years, we will keep the gambling confine to my room, so that kind of keeps people out, and not to mention the games we play. We play quite a lot of "gin rummy", "in between" and recently, "dai dee". We only played blackjack once, and didn't really like it, so that was just a one year event. I guess, games like gin rummy and dai dee are still very much games where although luck plays a part, your destiny is still within your control. So gaming vs gambling, always such a torn every year, and I'm always being pulled towards the gambling side zzz.
Safety in numbers. I guess that's how I feel every year too, since I'm close to my direct cousins, hardly venture out of this safety net to engage the other cousins and will not talk to them much. I guess this would have to change! This year, a group of the "not so close" cousins were early, so had to talk to them since the rest wasn't here. Ok, Samuel and Deborah, my two cousins! At least now I know two names, haha. This also brings to mind another thing I should do, family tree, especially with a big one like mine.
The food! We usually will receive quite a bit of bak kwa from friends and relatives so always had some to munch on over the festive season but they were mainly my grandfather friends, so didn't get any this year. That's still snacks though, the real food is when dinner arrives. Curry, Ayam Buah Keluak, Ngoh Hiang, Kiam Chye Ah (Salted Veg Duck Soup), Roasted Duck, Leftover soup from steamboat, and all the strange CNY vegetables. So many food to eat! Strangely, there's really alot of food to eat, and alot of them are those that I like, yet, perhaps its tiredness or perhaps full from the snacks, I don't recall having a big feast or tremendously enjoying the CNY dinner. Hmm....
... my family signature dish ...
No more ah gong, no more his good natured presence, no more good buah keluak! =( Buah Keluak can probably be said to be his favourite dish, its quite rare for that matter and not a common sight outside, and even if found, sometimes its prepared differently. Ah gong always had a thing for cooking, and although sometimes his taste doesn't agree with ours, we are all still missing his culinary dishes.
Next year will be the Rat year! My year, our year! Time to make it a big event once again =D
Looking back at the past, when I was much younger, always looked forward to the nintendos / playstations that my cousin would bring over to play. I didn't had my own console and could only play when I go over to their house, so this was like a real treat for me. Sometimes they would also leave the system at my place for a couple of days so the 2nd/3rd day of Chinese New Year was also very much a blast! I know I would be eagerly anticipating the arrival of my cousins and the one year they forgot to bring, I was so sad!
And how can I leave out gambling? We usually only gamble with the closer relatives, the visitors who come don't really join in either. Strangely, our gambling is like "见不得人" and during the normal years, we will keep the gambling confine to my room, so that kind of keeps people out, and not to mention the games we play. We play quite a lot of "gin rummy", "in between" and recently, "dai dee". We only played blackjack once, and didn't really like it, so that was just a one year event. I guess, games like gin rummy and dai dee are still very much games where although luck plays a part, your destiny is still within your control. So gaming vs gambling, always such a torn every year, and I'm always being pulled towards the gambling side zzz.
Safety in numbers. I guess that's how I feel every year too, since I'm close to my direct cousins, hardly venture out of this safety net to engage the other cousins and will not talk to them much. I guess this would have to change! This year, a group of the "not so close" cousins were early, so had to talk to them since the rest wasn't here. Ok, Samuel and Deborah, my two cousins! At least now I know two names, haha. This also brings to mind another thing I should do, family tree, especially with a big one like mine.
The food! We usually will receive quite a bit of bak kwa from friends and relatives so always had some to munch on over the festive season but they were mainly my grandfather friends, so didn't get any this year. That's still snacks though, the real food is when dinner arrives. Curry, Ayam Buah Keluak, Ngoh Hiang, Kiam Chye Ah (Salted Veg Duck Soup), Roasted Duck, Leftover soup from steamboat, and all the strange CNY vegetables. So many food to eat! Strangely, there's really alot of food to eat, and alot of them are those that I like, yet, perhaps its tiredness or perhaps full from the snacks, I don't recall having a big feast or tremendously enjoying the CNY dinner. Hmm....
... my family signature dish ...No more ah gong, no more his good natured presence, no more good buah keluak! =( Buah Keluak can probably be said to be his favourite dish, its quite rare for that matter and not a common sight outside, and even if found, sometimes its prepared differently. Ah gong always had a thing for cooking, and although sometimes his taste doesn't agree with ours, we are all still missing his culinary dishes.
Next year will be the Rat year! My year, our year! Time to make it a big event once again =D
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1 comment :
your cny still sounds fun =) why look forward to rat year.. that just means we will all be OLD (no we are not old YET) haha
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