United we stand…

I mentioned in my previous post that we had a family reunion gathering on Saturday night last weekend and except for the few stlll living in Sibu, the rest flew in from Kuching and others from Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur and from as far as Australia while some drove here from Miri and Bintulu.

There were over 35 of us from the maternal side of my family, including an aunt (my mum’s youngest sister) and two Ah Kims (aunts-in-law – they married my maternal uncles, since departed)…and we did invite another aunt, my mum’s cousin – the daughter of the sister of my maternal grandma) to join us as well and the rest were my sister and all my cousins and some brought their spouses and children along too. This photograph was taken when some of us had arrived at the venue for the party…

…so not everybody was inside.

Of course, there was the feasting…

…before everything else and of course, I insisted upon some of my favourites to be included in the menu for the evening like their special otak-otak, for instance…

…and their mushroom roll…

…which everyone liked a lot…and also the kacang ma chicken…

…which a cousin from Melbourne enjoyed so very much and had seconds and thirds and that came as no surprise as she lives so far away and would not have the chance to enjoy stuff like this all that often…unless she cooks her own and replacing the traditional Chinese white wine will render the dish somewhat different, I would say, even though it may be, on the whole, quite nice too.

By special request, there were also the paku (wild jungle fern) in santan (coconut milk)…

…and the titek (tapioca leaves with sweet potatoes)…

…both of which I had had before but they’re not on the cafe’s regular menu.

I requested for the Payung rojak and the herbs salad…

…but Peter, the owner of the cafe, added another salad dish of bean sprouts (the middle dish in the photograph) on the house. My daughter loved it but it did not tickle the fancy of some who are not into eating bean sprouts, raw.

This big tray of ulams (dips, with raw vegetables) was served, compliments of the house too…

…and I also ordered their beef spaghetti…

…in case some of the younger ones and the kids were not into all those exotic delights that we were having that night.

My very generous cousin brought 2 kilos of these very fresh and succulent prawns all the way from Kota Kinabalu and the café people were so nice as to agree to cook them for us in their very nice belimbing prawn-style…

…which is among my favourites at this place. Of course, he also brought a few kilos for me, thank you so much, cousin…but they’re still in the freezer. I wonder what I could cook with them…or maybe I would save them till somebody comes to town and I can whip up something really special for him or her. Anybody heading this way soon? Come, let me know quickly before I finish the whole lot! LOL!!!

These were also on the house…

– what they called special mooncakes, home-made…but to me, they were lay peang and were very very very nice.  That cousin of mine from Melbourne had her fair share of that and her sister from Brisbane loved it so very much too as well as many of the others – they all praised it to the skies and indeed, I also thought they were actually pretty good.

My daughter’s 24th birthday was only a few days away and so we decided to celebrate it simultaneously…

…so they had cake as well that night. Needless to say, my girl was the happiest of the lot – having so many people around to share the joy in conjunction with her special day, plus all the presents that she received as well, so much so that it prompted her to say that it was her best birthday celebration to date.

There was singing…

…and dancing too and everybody had a jolly good time. Yes, most of my cousins are of the feminine gender…and would anybody want to try and guess the song they were all singing that time when I took the photograph? Come, let’s have some guesses…and if you’re correct, I can send a prize down your way.

Thank you so very much, Peter, for everything…and Andy for standing by to attend to our wishes at our every beck and call and to the rest of the Payung staff as well. Everyone enjoyed the food and we all had a really great evening.

For anyone who’s interested, you can host your own private function at this very nice place on the 2nd floor of the cafe (no lift though, unfortunately) at RM35.00 per head but for the seafood package, it would be a bit more at  RM45.00 per person. Special arrangements may be made through Peter to get a deejay from outside, complete with the audio-visual equipment and all. Frankly, on my part, I can’t wait to find an excuse to host another party there…

P.S.:
It’s the Mooncake or Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節) today so here’s hoping that all of you will have a happy one and enjoy eating your mooncakes and everything else. Cheers!!!