The Year of the Rat is almost over and in just 30 mins we will usher in the Year of the Ox, but don't expect it to be a bull run, the economy is going to take a while to recover from this current worldwide downturn.
Am super stuffed, because the eve of Chinese New Year always means feasting on that obligatory steamboat dinner with the in-laws. And as usual, there was too much food, I think we only cooked half the ingredients prepared.
With my own family, we had a reunion lunch earlier in the day. With Ma being the eldest in her family now, Baba and Aunty Irene came to eat with us out of respect to her. Mummy prepared buah keluak, kuah nanas, pek kueh soup (comprising gingko nuts with chicken, mushroom and quails eggs), fried kangkong, fried beansprouts with salted fish and salted eggs.
Swana and I were reminded of our childhood CNYs spent with our Amah in her old Bedok flat. We'd spend the night, watch the countdown on TV, sometimes venture into Chinatown to soak in the festive atmosphere and stock up on goodies. Our love for bak kwa was cultivated then, along with kua chi and an appreciation for Peranakan food.
Amah would make so many dishes. Pongteh, buah keluak, pek kueh soup, chap chye, ngoh hiang, everything would taste really good and I would have seconds and thirds and eat the same food for the next 3 days!
Sigh, those were the days. Hmm, thinking of Amah is making me tear right now. She was Chindian like me, but more Chinese than anything. She married 3 times (Ma is from Husband No.2), smoked like a chimney and was a garang old lady, but a doting grandmother. Unfortunately my memories of her before her stroke are hazy, because I remember her bedridden years more.
She died 2 weeks after Nick proposed on my birthday back in Aug 2001, at least he got to meet her a couple of times. I think she approved of him. In my final moments with her at the hospital, I did whisper that I was getting married, she knew before everyone else because we hadn't announced the engagement yet. Ok, now I'm just sobbing for no reason.
Anyway, since Amah passed away, there's a song from My Fair Lady called 'On The Street That You Live" that I hum whenever I think of her. It came into my head somehow either during her funeral or a few days after she died, and it's stuck ever since. I used to hum it to Nat too when putting her to sleep in her earlier months, maybe that was my way of linking up these 2 generations, I'm sure Amah would have loved having a great-grandaughter.
Ok, it's past midnight now so it's officially the Year of the Ox. Incidentally, the FA Cup qualifier between Liverpool and Everton has started so off I go. Something tells me I'm not going to like the result...
Am super stuffed, because the eve of Chinese New Year always means feasting on that obligatory steamboat dinner with the in-laws. And as usual, there was too much food, I think we only cooked half the ingredients prepared.
With my own family, we had a reunion lunch earlier in the day. With Ma being the eldest in her family now, Baba and Aunty Irene came to eat with us out of respect to her. Mummy prepared buah keluak, kuah nanas, pek kueh soup (comprising gingko nuts with chicken, mushroom and quails eggs), fried kangkong, fried beansprouts with salted fish and salted eggs.
Swana and I were reminded of our childhood CNYs spent with our Amah in her old Bedok flat. We'd spend the night, watch the countdown on TV, sometimes venture into Chinatown to soak in the festive atmosphere and stock up on goodies. Our love for bak kwa was cultivated then, along with kua chi and an appreciation for Peranakan food.
Amah would make so many dishes. Pongteh, buah keluak, pek kueh soup, chap chye, ngoh hiang, everything would taste really good and I would have seconds and thirds and eat the same food for the next 3 days!
Sigh, those were the days. Hmm, thinking of Amah is making me tear right now. She was Chindian like me, but more Chinese than anything. She married 3 times (Ma is from Husband No.2), smoked like a chimney and was a garang old lady, but a doting grandmother. Unfortunately my memories of her before her stroke are hazy, because I remember her bedridden years more.
She died 2 weeks after Nick proposed on my birthday back in Aug 2001, at least he got to meet her a couple of times. I think she approved of him. In my final moments with her at the hospital, I did whisper that I was getting married, she knew before everyone else because we hadn't announced the engagement yet. Ok, now I'm just sobbing for no reason.
Anyway, since Amah passed away, there's a song from My Fair Lady called 'On The Street That You Live" that I hum whenever I think of her. It came into my head somehow either during her funeral or a few days after she died, and it's stuck ever since. I used to hum it to Nat too when putting her to sleep in her earlier months, maybe that was my way of linking up these 2 generations, I'm sure Amah would have loved having a great-grandaughter.
Ok, it's past midnight now so it's officially the Year of the Ox. Incidentally, the FA Cup qualifier between Liverpool and Everton has started so off I go. Something tells me I'm not going to like the result...
3 comments:
I miss steamboats. We stopped having them ever since the dietary restrictions in our family got too complicated. There are ppl who don't eat beef, some who don't eat pork (me), some who are allergic to seafood and even one who can't eat chicken. And well, that's all the stuff that makes a steamboat nice and yummy isn't it. *stares longingly at your pics*
Ha, well you could get one of those steamboat pots that let you have 2 soup bases or just have vegetarian steamboat lah...with mock meats!
Wow, this is a feest!
I miss Singapore now.
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