Usually…

I did mention in my previous post that my missus had been cooking a few dishes before the whirlwind of events following my mum’s admission into the medical centre after which everything had to be put on hold.

Usually, every year, she would cook some of her specialties to store in separate servings in the fridge so she could take out bit by bit to heat up and serve to guests dropping by especially those from out of town who would have a problem trying to find something to eat outside around this time as most of the shops would be closed.

And usually, without fail, every year, she would ask her family over for lunch or dinner but my mother-in-law had left us earlier last year and my Bintulu brother-in-law would not be coming back. Nonetheless, she insisted on inviting her brother and his family here in Sibu to come over for lunch but of course, this year, we had to make do with what we already had as we did not have the luxury of time to cook more and that, of course, meant that we had most of what we had for our reunion dinner the night before on Chinese New Year’s Eve.

There was the leftover fish…

…which we were not supposed to finish and had to continue eating the following day. We did not touch the other side so it actually looked as good as new…and we took out the steamed chicken…

*Niece’s photo on Facebook*

…that I got from my friend, Mary. Everyone loved it a lot and all sang praises of the very nice Thai-style sambal dip that came with it. My girl enjoyed the stock that came out of the meat and she kept drinking it like a soup – that would be where all the wholesome goodness was, the true unadulterated essence of chicken!

Other than those, there were the salad…

…the kacang ma chicken…

…the satay beef…

…the ngor hiang…

*Niece’s photo on Facebook*

…and the pineapple prawns…

*Niece’s photo on Facebook*

– all that we had for dinner the previous evening and for dessert we had the amik melon that I got from my young friend, Justin, and yes, everybody loved it – so sweet and so juicy and it did not have that green taste and smell of the honey dew and the other melons that I am not all that fond of.

It wasn’t as elaborate as what we used to have in previous years but there was more than enough to go round and everyone enjoyed the lunch very much and of course, it was great to have them around, my in-laws.