| Sunday, March 04, 2007 |
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you know something? i'm a sucker for tradition..maybe that's the reason why i enjoy the chinese new year so much. i like the reunion dinners that i always have on chu xi at my paternal grandfather's house..they're a great chance for catching up with my cousins, and the only chance in that year whereby i would be able to sit down and have a meal with both my parents and sister..   and the process of decorating my house with all the chinese new year knick-knacks after dinner while watching the lame new year countdown programme...which goes by the same format for as long as i can remember.. then there's the standard visting schedule... for Day 1, we go back to my paternal grandfather's place for breakfast..  he's one of the cutest grandparents i know.. Already 90+ years old but still very cute and good-tempered. i really like his ears and i think timmy's elephant ears look abit like his... then we go on to my maternal grandparents' house...for lunch...the usual blackjack gambling session.  i swear the kids these days gamble like a pro, i mean, some of them play even faster than me! i don't even recall myself sitting at the gambling table when i was their age.i totally dig my aunt's coach bag. the interior is sooo pretty. 
  i dunno about you, but i really like big gatherings. i think they're really fun. Random picture of my aunt and cousin, trying to be the poster couple for the 'jie di lian' 'lao shao pei' trend..  oh! and there were this two pilipino guys who came by this year, with a guitar and singing some 'gong xi fa cai' song to the tune of 'Mary had a little lamb' to raise funds for charity. how cute eh. and totally creative. my uncle suggested that we do the same too.. might be able to make some money...pretty good money i should say..to chase us away.  i got the chance to catch up with my nieces and nephews... all 3 of them.  i'd like to think that i dote on them a lot...  and i think they're uber cute! oh god. kids are so cute.. so long they aren't mine. and i managed to catch up with my cousin darius too. i dote on him the most.. always buying toys and sweets. he's starting primary school this year somewhere in Ipoh, and look at this poor boy! he had to shave his head in accordance of the school rules!  nasty and stupid rules some schools have. why they want their males students to look like baby monks, i would never know. and of course.. there's the usual 'lo-hei'...   When i was younger, the main new year festivities usually just stop there..with small visiting sessions to the places of distant relatives and the friends of my parents on and off during the weekends within the fifteen days of the new year.But in the recent year.. i finally came to realise why there are fifteen days to the chinese new year.. there are just too many places to visit! We went to CK's place, for dinner..  Ck's my darling of a godbrother and one of the most talented people i know. he cooked this entire spread above, all by himself!  As per usual, the gambling table was out and people were playing blackjack to pass time... sometimes i wonder..why must people gamble during the new year eh? is that some kinda unwritten tradition?  We bought him a bottle of champagne to thank him for having us over!  and then we went to kbox where the guys got high on beer. =s    Another day was reserved for dinner at Hsien's! where i got to meet an African baby!  and it was also at hsien's where i realised that i've been really down on my luck for the past few days of cny as i have never won money from the gambling table.. come to think of it, i actually lost money at every table i played.  It was so bad that i had to bet 10cents in the end, to keep myself in the game. i swear my 10cents looks so pathetic beside shing's very pretty and colorful two dollar note.  Also went over to cm's to visit and met his brother's very adorable puppy 'Mocha'..  met up with cin, habez and eoin for a small scale 'lo-hei' at Sakae.. learnt how to play mahjong at lenny's..**thanks brother! for contributing to my beginners luck! and for taking it all away when u sat down at the table to play.  and of course the usual dinner at my place..  my darling fangyi and ernest came by this year. =)  but they left pretty soon after ernest kept whining, wanting to go home..spoiler..i was a tad silly and forgetful that day. i prepared the yu sheng at home and i forgot to add the crackers.. so after we 'lo-ed' for awhile someone realised and we added them in, and continued with the 'lo-hei' process.. then after when everything was properly mixed and they started eating the yusheng, then they realised that i had forgotten to add in the most crucial ingredient, the plum sauce!!  the very bored people, 'lo-hei-ing' for the third time for the same plate.  and then after dinner, we entertained ourselves with a few round of card games.. blackjack and drinks... Shing tried to wipe out the entire bottle of very yummy alcoholic cocktail..
so that somehow sums up how i spent my entire chinese new year..with food, gambling and alcohol. doesnt sound like a very healthy way to start off the new year eh? i hoped you guys had fun. |
