Homemade…

For all it’s worth, a Blessed and Happy Chinese New Year, everybody! 新年快樂 xīn nián kuài lè, 恭喜发财 gōng xǐ fā cái! Let us hope and pray that the dawn of the Year of the Ox will turn the tide and things will get better.

The other day, I mentioned that I had not bought my bak kua (barbecued meat slices) yet and I happened to drop by one of my neighbourhood shops. They only had one box left…

…and I quickly grabbed it.

At another shop, they had another brand that I am not familiar with and even though they insisted it was very nice, I refused to buy it.

The lady boss at my usual sundry & grocery store said that they would be sending their new stock that afternoon and asked me to go over the next morning. However, when I did that, she said that they had not sent it over yet and asked me to go again later. I did not bother as I am not that fond of going in and out, not in the current situation. I guess that one box would just have to do and sorry, I do not have any to give to my sister and to my in-laws or anybody, for that matter.

Much to my surprise, out of the blue, my missus decided to make her own…

Yes, it was very nice but no, it did not taste quite the same. That was because we do not have any shaoxing Chinese cooking wine in the house so she substituted it with our traditional Foochow red wine. That was why it had its own unique taste but beggars can’t be choosers – these…

…will just have to do, I suppose.

In the meantime, I received these Chinese New Year goodies…

…from my Melanau cousin and his wife and loved ones in his family. They never fail to give us something every year and this year, they are at her daughter’s place in Miri so they asked the son here to buy and send over to us. Thank you so much, ‘Lek & Saliah and everybody! Much appreciated.

My dear friend, Mary, also dropped by my house on the eve of Chinese New Year’s Eve to pass me these delightful own-made goodies, made by her girl…

…and to extend their special festive greetings…

Thanks so much to all of you, pretty ladies, too and thank you all especially for remembering me – it sure is a ray of light in these troubled times, a ray of hope that someday soon, love will see us through and things will get better. Incidentally, the peanut ones were absolutely out of this world! We almost finished the whole lot in one sitting. I only had two though – let my girl enjoy it! She loved it so much!

So, how’s everybody doing? How was your reunion dinner? I guess I shall be blogging about mine but that will be in another post, maybe not so soon. #staysafe #staywell #stayhome