Chinese New Year Feasting

OK I've done a count. From the eve of Chinese New Year till today, the 13th day of the year of the Golden Rabbit, I've feasted at 17 Chinese New Year-related meals! And that is not including the 4-day holiday I took in Samui! There are still 2 more days of festivities to go and I've got 2 more dinners set. I should therefore hit 19 by Chap Goh Mei. That is quite a lot of food.

Just today alone, being a public holiday, I enjoyed 3 major meals. It started with an early lunch with my friends Yoke Choo, Tony and Soon Kok, the former two ex-Genting, the latter still Genting. Dim sum and Waxed Meat Rice started the ball rolling. From lunch I headed straight to an afternoon tea hosted by our family friends, the Khaws. Roti Jala with Chicken Curry, Seri Muka, Layered Cake and Fruit Jelly; I didn't even dare try to take on the Mee Siam. An afternoon nap later, it was off to Chinese Treasures at Sime Darby Convention Centre for an 8-course banquet dinner hosted by an uncle from my Mum's side of the family. It was a wise move on my part therefore to have gotten in a swim this morning right after I completed the morning news at RTM. The exercise in a way relieves me a little from the guilt of such indulgence. I think more swimming and gymming will be required over the next few weeks to shed the excesses.

The thing is, what is a celebration without food? Chinese New Year is a time when we renew ties with family and friends, mostly over a meal, or more accurately, numerous meals. Communal feasting enhances kinship, promotes camaraderie, creates memories. And when the company is good, the experience goes up a notch too. It is a blessing and we should be thankful. I guess what I am trying to say is I look forward to more feasting over the remaining days of the Chinese New Year celebrations. I hope you do too!

Photo of Waxed Meat Rice.

Yee Sang

I had my first 'yee sang' of the year today at lunch with two of my good friends from my Genting days, Yoke Choo and Tony. Our new year resolution is to meet up for lunch at least once a month and in order to do so, I suggested that we fix the next lunch date every time we meet. This practice been working with regards to lunch with my other two friends, LC and Bunny, the past year, so it shouldn't be any different with these two. So, our February lunch date is set.

Sad to say, Yoke Choo and Tony, in particular the former, are the only ones I keep in touch with regularly from my Genting days. It is always good to catch up as we share a common bond of having worked and lived up in Genting. We have a good laugh over the good ol' times and share plans for the future.

We hope to add another to our lunch company come February. Let's see if Soon Kok makes plans to join us.

Lunch at Grand Palace at Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.