Finally recovered from a whirlwind of a weekend celebrating Chinese New Year at home. Was the weekend worth it? YES! Could it be longer? YES! Could I do it all over again? Maybe not, it'll be longer next time, I promise myself.
It's just too emotional to take these trips for such a short amount of time and Chinese New Year especially with all my family around, it's too hard to say goodbye.
It was nice being home. Surrounded by all things familiar and all friendly and accepting faces. To sit by the waterfall my dad built and ponder about life in the midst of all that serenity.
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| Our garden at home |
This is KL in all its CNY grandeur:
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| Chinese New Year in KL |
Of course all Chinese New Year really revolves around is the feasting with closed ones and the Reunion Dinner is the most significant practice of the entire holiday, signifying that if the family is reunited this night, then they will be united for the entire year. And my Grandmother especially treasures this, because she believes that since we have all the twelve symbols of the Chinese Zodiac in our family, come what may, as long as we remain as one body, we can overcome any misfortune.
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| Reunion Dinner courses: Layered pork belly slices with yam, Braised Sea cucumber and mushroom, Pork stomach pepper soup, Steamed Chinese Sausage and Fried Chicken. there were also steamed chicken and fish that didn't quite make it into this pic. |
Feasting also extends to gorging on the snacks amidst the idyllic chatter. CNY is the only time when no one is working and therefore have time to catch up.
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| All the CNY cookies, nuts and munchies that are purchased especially for the festivities |
Most good dishes served at CNY holds its own auspicious significance. this dish has featured on my blog before but it carries the meaning of success and climbing higher up in the year.
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| Home Made Yee Sang |
This dish means longevity and the village where my family originated from in China all those years ago is known to make the best longevity noodles, al dente and well seasoned.
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| Most important first meal of the CNY: Longevity noodles |
My family always makes sure my favourite home made meals are prepared when I am back, even if it wasn't quite the seasons for them:
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| Handmade Pan Mee(Black sesame flavored for a wholesome twist) with Yong Tau Fu |
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| Rice dumplings which I hadn't eaten for yonks! |
So, after being so spoiled and fed at home, I come back to a day of fasting on Ash Wednesday. And my parcel from Asos as planned. I was swimming in the dress, which I didn't expect. So off back it went. Sighs. It's back to trawling for dresses again.
