Celebration…

Traditionally, Chinese New Year is celebrated starting from the eve with the Reunion Dinner and ending with another grand dinner on the 15th night of the Chinese lunar calendar – the Lantern Festival or Yuanxiao Jie, or what is more popularly known as Chap Goh Meh which some may claim to be the Chinese Valentine’s Day.

However, I did not have a grand celebration this year as I was stranded in KL prior to the festive season and did not have much time to prepare very much for guests and well-wishers who would take the trouble to drop by. I did have some of the goodies that were given to me for the occasion and my missus did buy some cookies as well.

She got these homemade peanut cookies from some lady…

…and they were very nice, unlike the pineapple tarts from the same source – not that they were not good but there was simply too little jam. What she could have done was to add more jam and sell at a higher price. When the taste is good, I’m sure there are people who are willing to fork out the dough.

These “pineapple jam tarts” that resemble golden quail eggs, are from a bakery near my house and they certainly look better and taste real good too…

My missus also bought their peppermint cookies…

…and their almond ones…

We have been buying cookies from that bakery for a number of years now and all of them have been more than satisfactory.

She also bought these rolled version of “love letters” or kuih kapek/kapit or kuih sepit…

…which, of course, could not compare with the folded ones that Mandy‘s mum made but were not too bad as well, and my niece (my brother-in-law’s daughter) bought us these “Treasure Pumpkin” cookies from KL…

…and as for the cakes, I ordered two from my regular kuih-muih stall at Bandong – one Horlicks-cheese and one Evergreen layer cake…but I was stuck in KL and in the end, I had to get my sister to collect and give them to her and my parents to serve to their guests. I still had the kek lapis sisik ikan (fish-scale layer cake) and the kek hati parek that I bought when I was in Kuching…

…and my missus bought two very nice ones when we were in KL…

A few friends did drop by including Clare and also Louis J, and quite a few of my ex-students too. It certainly was quieter than in previous years but it was still a celebration albeit on a smaller scale and for one thing, it definitely was less tiring. After all, I’m no spring chicken anymore…and the years are starting to take its toll on this old chap! Sigh! …LOL!!!