seafood dinner

Just finished organizing some of the photos I took while on vacation back home. I came by this picture and started to feel homesick. When I was still in Malaysia, we used to have 'lean lor' (steamboat) on the eve of Chinese New Year every year. It was always an occasion where everybody is there. This is at my maternal grandma's house since my 'gee kim' is always the best cook and she stays there.

As years goes by, our two oldest cousins, J and C left for studies in United States. Later, my 'tua ee's' family would skip the event as they have to go over to her husband's side in Kelantan. Then there was a few years when dad couldn't make it back from China during CNY. Just the year before I left to come to US, it was almost a very quiet celebration. When I left, it became even quieter as Mei, my closest cousin, also left for her studies in Australia. My parents would also skip it as they were both in China the past few years. However, it was maintain until today that it is a reunion regardless of how many can make it.

It's been a long time since we've had the chance to gather like this again. So this past reunion dinner, which was a pre-celebration of Aaron and Emily's wedding, is a very important occasion to me. I had a chance to chat with Mei and Ling. My dad was the 'crazy uncle' he always was. All our mums were cooking together in the kitchen. The ahmah's were exchanging about the latest health topic. Jokes were shared, laughters continuously, smiles naturally on all our faces. It'll always be a memorable occasion. Even better was the food - it's all homecooked by my gee kim. We had steamed crab, balitong (that's my fave!!), char bee hoon, fried belachan chicken, 'hae kean' (deep fried prawns), some kind of shell which took a lot of effort to get the meat out and fried fish (can't remember what but they were good!, next to the balitong). We also got cold sparkling wine sponsored by Aaron.



It'll be a very long time before we get to gather like this again. The only people missing from there are J and C as they are still here in the States and my bro who could not get off from work in KL. There's more pics from that night's dinner here.