We’re into the 5th Day of the Chinese Lunar New Year now – the Year of the Dragon. So how has it been for all of you? Gone back to work already, some of you? I guess most people have taken the whole week off to go back to their respective homes.
Did you have to contribute your part in the cleaning and the cooking? Before the big day arrived, everybody would be cleaning the house from top to bottom…and in my neighbourhood, I would hear the sound of pressure pumps as they all diligently washed their driveways till they were all sparkling white and clean. I wonder why they bothered since they would get it all dirty again with all the fireworks and firecrackers on New Year’s Eve. They would also put up the red lanterns that would all be gaily lit all through the night – I did not bother to have any. I don’t think I would want to waste my money on the electricity…but I did decorate the house a bit…
…just the bare minimum…
…to brighten up the house a bit and to have a little bit of that festive mood…
…but I had no intention of overdoing it and making my house look like some kind of Chinese temple.
Then there would be the cooking and the baking to be done. I was lucky as I had the intoxicating fruit cake that Elaine gave me…
…and I also had the extra-old fruit pudding from my aunt in Kuching, also heavily-laced with brandy…
…and the meat floss rolls from Annie-Q…
I bought this very nice muruku from a bakery here…
…and their peanut cookies were very nice too…
My missus bought these pineapple rolls from Penang…
…and she also bought the pineapple nuggets from another bakery in town…
They used to be very good…but I found that they had shrunk and there wasn’t very much pineapple jam inside. I think we would not buy those anymore from now on.
She made two types of cookies of her own – the butter cookies, Golden Churn no less…
…and the Nestum cookies…
…both of which were very nice, and she baked/steamed these cakes as well…
There were also the baked cashew nuts with garlic butter added, her fried peanuts with ikan bilis (dried anchovies) which would have been a hit among those who could drink but nobody did…and a whole lot of other cookies that she bought, all in their original containers, sealed airtight, as there were simply too many to serve so those were never taken out in the end. Hmmmmm…I really must remind her to be more prudent come this time next year…
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 