Every year…

On the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, it is customary for us to have a bowl of longevity noodles…

…served in chicken soup cooked with our traditional Foochow red wine and so it was this year as well. We had that the first thing in the morning when everyone has got up.

Every year, for many years now, my in-laws would drop by in the evening of the 1st Day for dinner and this year was no exception.

My missus cooked this very nice chicken rendang…

…and kacang ma chicken…

…but she steamed it a little too long and the meat was falling apart a little bit. Nonetheless, it tasted great and everyone loved it.

We only had a bit of the duck for our reunion dinner that previous night so there was a lot more of it…

…and we served that as well.

Likewise, my missus made a lot of the lokan…

…and saved most of the lot she made for this dinner with all the members from her side of the family.

Nope, this was not what was left over from the previous night’s dinner. My missus cooked this mixed vegetable dish…

…exactly the same way as she had done the night before and she made this salad too…

…using the giant freshwater prawns that my brother-in-law gave us recently.

No prize for guessing where I tapao-ed these from…

– the otak-otak that my mother-in-law fell in love with instantly at first bite, and the mushroom rolls…

…as well as the lamb curry…

No, I did not get any special discount or none that I know of – I did not ask for it…but they were so kind as to make everything extra large, twice the usual sizes! That certainly saved a lot of work so I think it would make a lot more sense to just buy home all our favourites instead of slaving and sweating it out in the kitchen all day…or for several days in a  row. After all, we’re no spring chicken anymore and no longer have the strength and stamina like we used to.

The highlight of the evening was the yee sang that we started off the dinner with…

…by mixing all of the ingredients together and throwing it up in the air to signify togetherness and for good fortune in the coming Year of the Horse. I’ve had that a few times before but this was the first time I had it in my own home – this is not easily available here, Sibu being a Foochow town and if I’m not mistaken, this is actually part of the Cantonese culture. Thanks to my good friend, Mandy, who went through the trouble of buying that and sending it all the way from KL, we all could have the pleasure of experiencing the traditional practice and enjoying eating that this year.

So how was your Chinese New Year this year? More of mine in the next post, so do stay tuned!