Showing posts with label festives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label festives. Show all posts
I managed to dug up some of my old photos while doing all the Chinese New Year spring cleaning, and part of my plan of getting a all in one printer/scanner was to archive some of my old photos which I have not got around doing.
Speaking of which, this year's Chinese New Year was a pretty quiet affair, which was a good thing, though lonely. Grandma and most of the family had gone for a cruise and she had done a good job informing the usual visitors that nobody will be in. Had some time to just rest at home without the usual throngs of visitors. But Chinese New Year is a long affair of 15 days and in the end, had to make up for the visiting at the last week. Oh well... Ok enough digressing and back to the photos. Surprisingly the older secondary school photos stayed in pretty good condition while those army photos quality actually deteriorated quite a fair bit. Hmm.. some shoddy work there. Anyway, some good memories there in the last few years, especially with all the friends made.
trip Down Memory Lane
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
the CNY Entry
500g flour
250g butter
1 tbsp milk powder
1 egg yolk + 3 egg whites
??
Not sure if I miss anything out, oh well, a just in case, at least I can possibly try make the tarts myself in years to come haha, although that's like just a potential HUGE disaster waiting to happen.
and Jiali gets 1 tub + the BIG one!
Its only 1 more day to CNY, not really very festive this time around, its always been one of the major calendar events in my life but this year everything seems less exciting. Anyway, I was eating pineapple tarts this morning, argh! I left 3 only haha... gosh. But then again, another tub will be open tomorrow morning so there's still some cheer there. Homemade pineapple tarts are just very unique and special, I have grown so fond of them!
... The 4th Pineapple Tart last seen here ...
250g butter
1 tbsp milk powder
1 egg yolk + 3 egg whites
??
Not sure if I miss anything out, oh well, a just in case, at least I can possibly try make the tarts myself in years to come haha, although that's like just a potential HUGE disaster waiting to happen.
and Jiali gets 1 tub + the BIG one!
Its only 1 more day to CNY, not really very festive this time around, its always been one of the major calendar events in my life but this year everything seems less exciting. Anyway, I was eating pineapple tarts this morning, argh! I left 3 only haha... gosh. But then again, another tub will be open tomorrow morning so there's still some cheer there. Homemade pineapple tarts are just very unique and special, I have grown so fond of them!
... The 4th Pineapple Tart last seen here ...pineapple Tart Recipe
Wow, never had a chance to celebrate festive occasions with someone special before, and already, its been two (New Year and VDay now). It does brings a nice cheer to an otherwise commercialized day :). Yet, I have fallen to the cliches of it all!
Buildup to the day was hectic but still very much fun, really must thank Andy and Linghuey for helping me with the ideas / settings / and keeping me company as we go about shopping!
But definitely no thanks to the weird kinky ideas that were suggested. No, I am not the sort that favours whips and candles.
But I did get some candles in the end for a more romantic setting. Didn't know how to place the candles initially and yep, Andy gave me the idea of floating them in water and it was by chance that I had such a nice transparent ice bucket at home. So off we go on a photo jaunt of the most exclusive restaurant in my books.. il ristorante a edgedale (name changes depending on cuisine)
... the chef ...
... like fireflies ...
... main course!
And finally, present exchange time! wee =) I was serenaded by songs played by a lovely pianist - couldn't ask for more.
... posing with her presents ...
Buildup to the day was hectic but still very much fun, really must thank Andy and Linghuey for helping me with the ideas / settings / and keeping me company as we go about shopping!
But definitely no thanks to the weird kinky ideas that were suggested. No, I am not the sort that favours whips and candles.
But I did get some candles in the end for a more romantic setting. Didn't know how to place the candles initially and yep, Andy gave me the idea of floating them in water and it was by chance that I had such a nice transparent ice bucket at home. So off we go on a photo jaunt of the most exclusive restaurant in my books.. il ristorante a edgedale (name changes depending on cuisine)
... the chef ...
... like fireflies ...
... main course! And finally, present exchange time! wee =) I was serenaded by songs played by a lovely pianist - couldn't ask for more.
... posing with her presents ...fifty-Two Days & Counting
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