Ang Pau Collection Surpassed Expectations

So CNY came and went!

I’ve had my dosage of mandarin oranges, “wah so fat already ah!” comments, chai choi and ang paus for the year! Wouldn’t say that the fat comments are a nice way to start the year, but oh well…….. WHEN WILL RELATIVES START TO FREAKING UNDERSTAND THAT GIRLS DON’T WANT TO BE CALLED FAT? How to react ah? As if I can throw a tantrum there and then and leave the table sobbing right!

So just smile and bob your head and sheepishly say, “Haha, hai ah…?” “Hahh.. sek siu tit fan tak gah? Hai meh? Oh..” *rolls eyes*

Regarding my weight issue, my Kaima broke a piece of bad news to me. Apparently, my greatgrandmother is of hakka descent. SO, apparently, my greatgrandma comes from a lineage of Hakka Warrior Women. wtf wtf.. and according to my aunt, hakka warrior women are big and burly. This is why most of the women in my family are not exactly size 10 and below.

This is where I come in. Hakka warrior women of the 21st century. Sadness. I’m a friendly giant! 🙁

Speaking of lineage, my dad has always been convinced that we’ve got a Manchurian as one of our ancestors.

He was led to believe so because there’s a photo of one of our ancestors in full manchurian get-up. Only recently did we think that maybe he went to a photo studio and found a manchurian costume there and he decided to have some fun. He’s got the expression and parted legs and hands on knees, the works lah! Akibatnya, a long line of descendants thought that he was a real manchurian.

So let’s see, I’ve got Hakka Warrior Women in my blood, maybe-Manchurian, Siamese blood (1/16) and the usual hokkien and canto on dad’s side. At least on my mum’s side it’s purely cantonese! Is anyone from Panyu as well? Apparently that’s my kampung in China. Ooh ooh, my Yeema (the one who passed away) once told me that most of my family members have a crack down the nail of their baby toe. This means that we are of Han descent. I’m quite the Rojak chinese! I still can’t quite accept the fact that I don’t have Nyonya blood. :\ So many people are nyonya, it’s trendy!

My dad took an entire week off for CNY and as we didn’t have to go back to Malacca this year, we had the most tiring chinese new year in all of my 22 years of life. A record breaking 16 houses were covered within the first three days of CNY, I could feel myself shaking towards the end and I had to hold my grandmother up. Surprisingly my dad was still going strong. But in a way good also lah, “wan sek ka  nan” right? 😛 The ang pau collection has surpassed the RM400 mark, another record breaking feat! Usually it rarely touches RM300…so I happily deposited money into the bank for the first time in my life! 😛 Usually mum or dad puts cash in, or when I bank in cheques from rage/nuffnang, or money just comes in when my customers pay up. (I sound like an Ah Long right.)

The reunion dinner for dad’s side was at our place. But it’s just like any other weekend dinner since the entire family only consists of 10 people and 2 of them are in the UK.

With my grandmother around this year, we had a far more sumptuous meal than last year’s pitiful excuse of a reunion dinner.

L-r: Dad, Kaima and Mum helping out in the kitchen.

Angel felt bored.

Grandma putting the finishing touches to our feast.

A braised mushroom and chicken dish courtesy of my grandma.

This is by me!! 🙂 My contribution was a bowl of spinach with boxthorn (kei chi).

Mervyn flashes a rare smile. With his now wavy hair, he has been getting comments that he looks Korean now. My uncle was teasing him that he can now give Rain a run for his money. Presenting, “Flood”!

Dad’s famous chai choi. The recipe was passed down from my grandfather to my dad and over the weekend, I wrote the recipe down. It’s the Lai Chai Choi!

Grandma’s lap cheong and ngaku dish!

My Kaima made a dish called Lou Chu Yok.. I think it translates to Braised Pork? It’s damn nice! Salty and porkish, just the way I like it.

Another view of the delicious dish.

Grandma’s spicy prawns. Surprisingly they weren’t that spicy and so I could actually eat a few.

While waiting for the others to gather round the table.

Thought it would be nice to get a photo of the three of us. We must keep adding entries into the family album before we grow up and away.

And the man of the house finally officiates the reunion dinner.

MY favourite bit of the yee sang is the crunchy crackers! Yummm! Not to forget the salmon.

Angel sitting on the floor, wanting to be part of the camaraderie.

Lo-ing sang on dad’s side.

Shevie and her phone which probably already grew roots into her hands (haih kids these days, always smsing 😛 ) and Angel was used as a tummy warmer.

The next day, it was with mum’s side of the family. For the first time in my life, I’m having the CNY reunion dinner with mum’s side of the family. After my aunt’s demise, we don’t have a reason to go back to Malacca for CNY and since almost the entire family is based in Subang, we decided to have it at our place as well.

Ethan looking for his mummy. He knows a few words like, “Mi!! Mi!! Mi!!” (always with the same urgent tone) and “Car” or “Car key”. 🙂 Too cute. Oh, and the name of his little girlfriend, “Annie”.

Hong Weng and dad layaning my photo request before we had our meal.

Aunty Jenny brought delicious fried duck!

Look at Ethan traumatizing Angel.

The second plate of yee sang.

As you can see, there are a few repetitions. We are not very creative people..

Ethan gets a chance to be part of the ruckus too! 🙂

Mum’s side of the family is bigger hence there were more hands.

We had to split into two groups! My dining area is not big enough to accommodate mum’s side of the family but it was really nice having everyone around. Especially with little Ethan running around terrorizing Angel.

It was also my Uncle Yew Hee’s birthday and his wife, my Aunt Jenny made him a sponge cake. We didn’t have any candles or decorations so out came the make shift candles and make shift cake deco.

The happy birthday boy.

Isn’t Ethan such a sweetheart in this picture? 😀 I love him so much!! Poor Kwee Fong has got to sacrifice for this photo, her son is just too cute here!!

Acting like a baby again.

Sigh.. *pinch*

The little boy  has an obsession with cars! He was looking at the Myvi brochure for a really long time.

Our little darling <3!

The quality of this photo is obviously much better than the usual ones on my blog right? My brother and Jacqie snapped out their dSLR to get a shot of the entire family to be forwarded to the dozens of relatives spread across the globe. Great grand father has 14 children, and we are the 7th son’s family.  We still see the other siblings’ families during special occasions! 🙂
top l-r: Mervyn, Hong Weng, Aunty Doreen, Dad, Mum, Kwee Foong, Hong Fei
bottom l-r: Uncle Yew Pun, Jacqie, Aunty Jenny, Ethan, Grandma, Myself (and Angel in her CNY clothes) and Uncle Yew Hee.

Mum and Dad playing the filial children come the first day of Chinese New Year. It was actually past midnight when they presented my grandmother with ang paos. Damnit, I totally forgot about the tea serving ceremony……..I’m such a lousy chinese child.

On the first day of CNY, while waiting for Shevie, Kaima and Kaiyeah.

Grandma watching the CNY programmes while waiting.

Awww.. even Angel gets an ang pau. She gonghei-gonghei-ed for her ang pau too! RM5 to buy doggy treats! Her sister, Chazzy, which belongs to my Kaima, also got RM5 from my mum.

Got money also still so angry.

Since we have so many family photos on my dad’s side, it’s okay if I sit out on this one and just be the camerawoman.

Shevie and I before we cover the obligatory three houses. Same route every year.

Later that night, I brought a little something over to Chee Kiang’s place and was just in time for his aunt’s birthday!
L-r: Chee Kiang’s dad, Chee Liang (Chee Kiang’s bro), Chee Kiang’s mum, Chee Kiang’s aunt, Chee Kiang, Dina (Chee Kiang’s sister in law).
Wow.. so many Chee Kiangs in one sentence.

On the 7th day of CNY, my family hosted an open house for the relatives. Photos from here onwards are from my brother’s dSLR. Seeing the beautiful colours and sharp pictures kind of makes me want to buy a dSLR. :\

We catered tubs of mee hoon, mee, fried pandan, curry chicken and acat from this nasi lemak Aunty at Parkway, SS19. She’s got a whole range of dishes to choose from, highly recommended! Email me for her number!

After the makan ended, my brother and I had to go return the tubs to the nasi lemak aunty whose name was Pek Yuk.

“Return to Pek Yuk ah!” my mum nagged.

“But I don’t know how Pek Yuk looks like,” I said, even though my mum has been catering from her for a few years now.

“Aiyah, sell nasi lemak one ma”, my brother said, very confident and all.

Since I’ve been away from home in the last few years, it’s no surprise that he knows more than me.

When I got into the car, my brother asked, “Pek Yuk, boy or girl ah?”

*insert japanese anime falling down emoticon*

Uncle Ricky and Jezzenio, my next door neighbours for the past 19 years. My brother and I stood at the gate watching Baby Jezzenio being carried back home from the hospital in a baby basket 15 years ago.

Dad playing host in black and white.

See what I told you about Shevie’s handphone?

Angel being totally nonchalant, thinking that she’s very much one of us.

We entertained in batches, hence the empty looking place. 🙂

l-r: Uncle Ewe Jin (who is expecting his first child in September!), Aunty Alice (who took care of my brother for the first two years of his life) and Aunty Ah Sui. Angel stares longingly at what could probably be long yuk.

We still have leftovers from Sunday’s lunch. I’m going to be a Yam Cake soon if tomorrow’s lunch is still left over Yam Cake.

Cousin Kwan Hoong looking handsome!

I showed off my domestic side for this year’s CNY open house! I made Bubur Pulut Hitam (Hak Lou mai/Black Glutinuous Rice Porridge)…and I got it right this time! woot!! I loved it! I’ll post a recipe up later.

I didn’t wanna call friends, sorry yah, this way it would be easier for me to entertain relatives.

Dad preventing Angel from disturbing the guests.

Popo and Aunty Ah Sui having a long chat.

Hehehe, Hi Kaima!

Uncle Caleb’s family!
L-r: Leon, Aunty May, Amos and Florence.
Uncle Caleb was one of my dad’s colleague when my dad had a small firm called BioVision during my primary school days. It was like an events company cum advertising company cum designing company.. I don’t even know what it really does, but I know artistes and printing and computers were of utmost importance to the company. I remember my dad had to take a sleeping bag to the office (which was at the shoplots where Tanjung in SS14 is, so it’s just down the road from my place) when he had to rush for a dead line. Sounds like hard times, doesn’t it? But life was really fun back then because we could just go into the office whenever we want and check to see if Hasbro (one of their clients) left behind any toy samples.

Almost all his staff were like family members back then and now they’ve become long time family friends. Uncle Caleb is one such person. When he first joined my dad’s company, he didn’t even have Leon yet. I remember a pregnant Aunty May and we were waiting and waiting and finally the baby came! We went to see little Leon at their apartment and watch him get his nappies changed. I was 9 years old then. Baby Leon is now a 13 year old boy attending high school already! Sigh time sure flies.

And just a couple of years ago, he was a mere 7 year old who had a strange interest for beautiful bathrooms. He’d go into people’s bathrooms and shout, “Waaaaahhh so nice!”.

Sweet kid. 🙂 I never really got a chance to bond with Amos and Florence as they were much younger.

The poor boy who looks most bored on the far left of the photo is the youngest son of my dad’s childhood friend.

My dad’s childhood best friends were a pair of twins (and one half of the twin was at the table but you can’t see clearly from this pic). They grew up in PJ Old Town and would climb Gasing Hill together and play with the monkeys when they reach the top. Amazingly, they are still such good friends to this day!

Gotta love CNY in a way. 🙂 Good food, good company and money!