It’s here – the Year of the Goat…and to welcome and usher in the new year, in keeping with the tradition and to preserve the heritage, we had our mee sua (longevity noodles)…
…first thing in the morning.
After that, we headed to my parents’ place and after that, to my mother-in-law’s, to wish them a very Happy Chinese New Year and to pay our respects. Then we went back home to wait for friends and well-wishers to drop by.
We served them drinks, cakes…
…cookies and everything else that we had prepared for this special day. I did mention in an earlier post that my missus did not make any cakes this year – we just went and bought our favourites at my regular Malay kuih stall at Bandong and the nice lady even gave me this kek batek mocha…
– not the usual batek cake but one with a difference, thank you so much. Some liked it a lot but my favourite this year would be the kek belacan.
We also had the very lovely fruit cake…
…that my cousin in Kota Kinabalu gave to me when he came to town and that was indeed very nice as well.
There was a steady stream of visitors the whole day, starting with my girl’s coursemates and a friend of theirs…
…who were so sweet and thoughtful as to bring this…
…along to give to us, thank you so much…and thank you too, Azlan – my friend from the radio days with Mag & Pat in the afternoon on TraxxFm for this “gift of gold”…
…and then, there was my godson, Andrew, home from New Zealand, who dropped by with his family…and an ex-student of mine working in Kazakhstan at this point in time but was also home for the festival. As always, Andrew did not come back empty-handed and this time around, he brought me these…
Hmmmm…interesting! I never knew that “sweet as” is Kiwi slang for awesome or good one. A big thank you to you too, Andrew…and I also would like to thank everyone who took their time off to drop by and extend their Happy Chinese New Year wishes – that was so very nice of you all and I really appreciate it a lot.
The last group on the 1st Day left at around 10 something…and it was past 11.00 p.m. before we turned in for the night. We had a great time entertaining our guests and I would say that it sure was a wonderful start to this brand new year.
P.S.:
My ex-colleague dropped by the 2nd Day of the New Year and she gave me these –
– her mum’s own-made peanut cookies and some jelly powder. Nope, please ignore the bag – there was nothing in it that would be of any use to me, not that it would help one bit…but obviously, my ex-colleague is a regular customer. I had not seen her since I retired over 7 years ago and it seems that she got a transfer to Kuching soon after I had left the service and look at her now – so much younger, her skin so fair and so smooth! Ok, my friend! Don’t you think I deserve a special treat for that? Hehehehehe!!!!!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Happy CNY! Gong Xi Fa Cai
Thank you. Hope the Year of the Goat will be a great one for you and your loved ones too.
Happy CNY! That fruit cake looks moist and yummy. Would love a slice with a cup of tea this morning.
Thanks, and to you too. Loved the fruit cake very much, it was very nicely done.
Looks wonderful…and I love Ferrero Rocher chocolates. 🙂
Expensive here. Exclusive, imported.
Gong Xi Fa Cai !! We have 15 days of cny and everyday is about food and cookies, haha.. Mel looks very sweet in her floral top, I love florals..
Yes, she looks great in colours because she’s very fair. Everything’s quiet now – all gone home, all back to work but we will have a special dinner again, come Chap Goh Meh to mark the end of the CNY season.
Nice bowl of mee and the fruit cake looks very nice & rich.
Still got half of the cake left, didn’t serve all – reserve for own consumption…slowly. Dunno when the next one will be coming and where it will be coming from. Still have a bit of the chicken soup left – may have some more mee sua today – I do enjoy it!
Happy Year of the Goat to you and your loved ones mate! May you all have health, wealth and everything else! 🙂
I loved the food, the baked chicken wings your wife made, the Thai chilli noodles you made specially, especially with those nice juicy prawns, and the beef in satay sauce was really good too!
Thanks, and the same to you and yours. Glad you enjoyed the food you had, not all that much, I’m afraid.
Special treat for looking older than ex-colleague? Plastic surgery/ botox. 😛
Sounds old, doesn’t it? No, she’s not as old – one of those sweet young things who joined the staff when I was already as old as the hills and about to retire. In fact, she was around the same year as my ex-students but she was not in my school – mine was a boy’s school.
I always lovessssss the mee sua… hehe….
Got a bit of the soup left in the fridge – maybe I will have that today for lunch. Want some. Hehehehehe!!!!! 😉
Ooohh..such nice cakes you have on the tray there! I would want to sample every one of them 🙂 I took a closer look at the t-shirt to make sure there was only one ‘s’ hee..hee…
You’ll have to come over to do that – all Malay steamed cakes and they sure do not scrimp on the ingredients. All so rich, so very tasty. Nope, the t-shirt’s an XXL but the sizes vary according to brands and places of manufacture – good for my missus, way too small for me.
it’s really nice that you’re fully practising the open-house concept and keeping the warmth and spirit of the celebration alive … i’m sure your visitors enjoy spending time with you and your family in your welcoming home! i have a shameful confession to make: i haven’t had an open house in many, many years, heh. partly cos i’m too lazy to clean up or decorate my place or invite folks over 🙂
For one thing, it’s our heritage, our culture and I do believe in carrying on the practice to keep it very much alive or it will eventually die a natural death. I think this is depicted very beautifully in this short film by a Singaporean, Royston Tan:
For another, now that my missus and I have retired, we’ve got ample time on our hands so we could do things bit by bit, slowly but surely as we wait for the festival to arrive…and though it could be quite tiring at our age, I actually found it very enjoyable. When we were working, it was quite a hassle juggling the work and all the preparation and everything that needed to be done. More often than not, we would pack up and run off somewhere to rest and relax and would only come back when it was all over and it was time to go back to work.
Wow… so much goodies! But I am sure the happiest part is having a great fellowship with one another!
Indeed, when friends and family drop by bringing all the cheer, it sure makes the occasion a very joyful and enjoyable one. This is an opportunity to strengthen family and friendship bonds, something sadly missing in today’s materialistic, selfish, one for oneself dog-eats-dog world.
I’m more interested with that Bacon flavoured Cheesebusters. Do let us know when you open that one for tasting! 😀
Why? My girl has opened it already. Nice, salty with a strong bacon fragrance, great to go with beer, my girl said. Something along the same line as Arnott’s SHAPES – cheese and bacon flavour. You’d probably be able to get that there – after eating, the bacon smell lingers on your fingers for a long long time.
wow.. you really had a busy CNY! Was it a foochow tradition to have the longevity noodles?
Foochows eat that for new year, birthdays, weddings…everything.
I love batik cakes!! Eh, my skin also soft & smooth. No special mention also…
I’m coming to Sibu this Saturday… Can I come with my girlfriend & try your cakes?
No problem, always welcome…any time of year. I’d better save all the cakes for you then, not much left. 😀
One of the merriest part of cny..having visitors over at your home. Good fellowship or friendship bond! And so many treats, too 🙂
Just like my parents. Both long retired, lots of time to decorate the home and welcome visitors to the home. Not to mention lots of places to go, too. One day this person’s house, another day, a relative’s house. 🙂
Almost like us but no, we do not go to people’s houses – no time as people will keep coming to ours and I can’t stand the heat plus I get tired going in and out of the car, house to house. Just stay home, let them all come!
Not sure if it originated in NZ (probably like the Pavlova, it’s indeterminate), but “sweet as” is common in Australia too 🙂
Yes, the never-ending squabble over such petty matters – like right now, there is one between Malaysia and Indonesia over “lumpia” aka “popiah” – waiting for the Philippines to join in, they have lumpia too…and the Thais and the Vietnamese – they all have the same spring rolls. Really silly – much ado about nothing…like they’ve nothing else better to do.
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/02/21/Popiah-protest-Indonesia-Malaysia/