Yes, it was a new dawn, a new day…a new year – the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese Lunar Calendar!
We went to church, first thing in the morning…
It was not mandatory, not what we call “a holy day of obligation” but lately, we would go…and start the new year on the right foot.
In the past, we would have our longevity noodles, the mee sua and then, we would drop by my parents’ house and after that, my in-laws’ but we do not need to do that anymore as all of them are no longer around. These days, we would come home and have the noodles…
…for our brunch and for the rest of the day, we would just help ourselves to the cakes and cookies and whatever…or the leftovers from the previous night’s Reunion Dinner.
I did mention in yesterday’s blogpost that my niece, my brother-in-law’s daughter, came home for Chinese New Year and she brought this huge box of abalone…
…for us.
My missus did add one of the two packs inside…
…to her broccoli dish and despite being from that same brand of abalone from our growing up years (in a tall pink and blue can), the ones in the pack turned out to be quite small, a bit too chewy/tough – definitely not as nice and sweet as the ones long long ago. I guess these are still VERY popular, much coveted because of the exorbitant price that gives it its snob appeal.
My niece also gave us these…
…also from the same brand…
…and these truffle oil-coated prawn rolls…
I am not a fan of truffles in anything but these prawn rolls were very nice with the lovely sambal hay bee (dried prawns) inside. The fragrance was rather overpowering though so I could hardly detect the presence of the truffle oil.
I do not know what is so special about these noodles…
I suppose I will find out sooner or later when I get down to cooking it.
She did see my recent photographs on Facebook or here in my blog and yes, she thought I had lost so much weight so she went and bought me this t-shirt, Harry Potter, no less…
Thank you so much, Mary – the red colour sure makes it very appropriate to wear during Chinese New Year.
We did not have a lot of visitors on the 1st Day of Chinese New Year, just one – my ex-student who eventually became an English teacher and taught in my sister-school and has since moved to a school in Sarikei. She came with her husband, also my ex-student, her classmate…and their two sons. Their eldest, a daughter, has left home for further studies so you can imagine how old I am. Just like my niece, she too was alarmed when she saw how thin I had become in my recent photographs. It certainly was so sweet and thoughtful of her to want to come to see how I was getting on and they even brought along these dragon fruits…
…from their fruit farm for me, thank you so much.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
I have mee sua on the first day of CNY too. My DIL is a true Foochow and she does follow the Foochow tradition of having mee sua on the 1st of CNY, birthdays and all happy occasions. I love those prawn rolls. Very addictive. Once you start munching, you will never stop… 😂😂. I like dragon fruits too and prefer the ones with red flesh.
We never miss our mee sua on our birthdays and on festivals.
Not a fan of those mini-popiah rolls. I prefer real/fresh popiah but too lazy to make these days.
Unlike in Kuching, the ones outside here are not nice at all.
Dragon fruit is supposed to be very good, lots of health benefits. I checked online.
If you like abalone, give Calmex abalone a try.
Not really. I’m ok with it, will eat if there is any but my girl would not touch it at all so you would not see us going out to buy.
At least if it is good, it is very sweet and fragrant, not like sharks’ fins, nothing more than sheer snob appeal – for the rich & famous to show off!
New moon abalone is not cheap!!! We had one in the pantry….not expire yet. We used up other brand’s abalone for our dish as it is expiring this year.
We didn’t go to church on CNY. Everyone woke up late!!! But my mil did cooked mee suah for breakfast that morning.
Wowwww!!! You have so many cans of abalone!!!
My niece did give us a can, dunno what brand, last year but it was not nice – like rubber and not sweet & fragrant.
This one was a bit better but still rubbery and not as sweet and fragrant as the New Moon we used to enjoy so much during our growing up years. I wouldn’t want to go out and spend all that money to buy something like this!
Woke up late? Stayed up till midnight to let off all the firecrackers and fireworks?
Believe it or not, I slept through the whole thing. When I woke up at around 1 a.m. it was all over! LOL!!!
I seldom buy abalone knowing that it is an expensive item. The few cans of abalone were gifts from friends and neighbour and this year we receive 2 cans. I think there are still 3 cans of abalone in the pantry waiting to be used. The hay bee rolls used to be my favourite snack but I didn’t buy any this year. I love dragon fruits with the red flesh, very juicy and refreshing. So good of your ex-students to visit you.
Yes, I do have some very good students but they are few and far between.
We never buy abalone either – many other nice things that we can buy with that kind of money.
Like sharks’ fins, it’s just snob appeal, just to show off.
I prefer white dragon fruit but I hear the red ones are better as far as the health benefits go.