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22 January 2004

As I climbed out of my bed on this morning, I could sense New Year in the air. Parents were up earlier already and we quickly greeted them with a hug and well wishes only to be greeted back with a red packet. We got into our clothes which was not that new. We didn’t really see a need to buy new clothes and have never actually done that before. Maybe cause we couldn’t really find anything that was nice to buy. So, it was back to our cupboards for anything presentable. I had on me a checked yellow shirt and pale coloured three quarter. I wear a lot of three quarter considering that I dislike wearing long pants. I am more of a short person that a long want although I am 6 feet tall.

There wasn’t many people who arrived yet as it was still early in the morning and my relative had yet to arrive. I quickly took this time to wish my grandparents that I dearly love. This would be a time of gathering between my family members and immediate family members. As usual, Auntie Carol and family wouldn’t be joining as they would be down in Penang celebrating with Uncle Ju Seang’s family. Its more common to find the wife following the husband side for New Year. Auntie Irene, Uncle Raja and Uncle Muru came then after following my Auntie Swan and Auntie Kim. There were a whole load of kids also, most of them belong to Auntie Kim. I couldn’t help myself admiring little Luke who was a baby then and now was a cute little boy. So adorable and cute he was that you feel like having one yourself. I shall wait!!! Thereafter, came the time where exchanging of angpows between adults and children began. Even at this age, I still am really excited receiving red packets although as time goes by it would be more of giving than receiving and I wonder how I would be able to adapt to that.

The menu for open house has always been the usual. Although it has always been usual, I never fret about it as my grandmom’s speciality only come once a year only. Some have even come to my grandparents mainly because of her cooking. Now you can see why I adore my grandma cooking and I hope that I will be able to learn a few of her signature dishes to continue this tradition of good food in the Wong’s family. The dishes that were spread out were as follow;

1. Nasi Dagang
2. Lemak Kari Ikan Haji
3. Chap Choi
4. Achar
5. Rendang Ayam
6. Dhalcha
7. Spring Hoppers(Putu Mayam)
8. Punch

There was an additional item on this year menu which was Mo Ku. It is the root of a plant that can be found in many homes during Chinese New Year. As it was rather cheap to purchase it this year, my grandma decided to sample it for the first time. And boy, 3 tins of it was finish even before New Year’s day. I guess I can see why it was finish so quickly because of people like me who was munching away addictively. Besides that, there as also my grandma’s special keropok and also her White Biscuit, which actually melt in your mouth. The items that were missing this year was her Almond Biscuit and her Pineapple tarts. Even without this two items, I didn’t really feel the lost of it even though some regulars did take notice of these missing items that had remain a traditional item in the Wong’s open house. Auntie Tina and family arrive kind of late as they were preparing the dhalcha and rending, bringing it all the way from KL.

Many people from both my church and my grandparents church, grandparent neighbours and friends and also my dad’s office collegue had graced this year’s open house. However, the number of people this year had dwindled as we didn’t really invited many people considering my parents concerns that my grandparents couldn’t cope with so many people and also preparing so much food. So, it was kind of a modest affair this year although it the spirit was still there and indifferent to other year. Each of us had a task to do, washing plates, entertaining guest and filling up the cookie jars. Mine was mainly making sure that there was enough drinks for everyone. With the condiments and various drinks that I had in hand, I had to prepare a mixture that would enlightened the guest taste buds and also making sure it was cooling enough to dispel the heat that was firing up.

Besides attending to visitors who came, I also took some time with my sisters to visit a few of my church friends such as Shiau Yen, Michelle and Selwyn. I met a friend of Shiau Yen named Rassam who hails from Nigeria. He didn’t really look Nigerian as he was kind of light skin and I could see that he was really enjoying himself trying all sort of stuff for the first time like keropok and achar. It was really kind of Shiau Yen to invite her international friends for New Year. Sometimes I realise we are so into enjoying ourselves that we forgot those who do not have a place to go like us during this festive season. The idea about inviting an international student friend has been lingering in my mind recently ever since we had the discussion in CF before. I hope to really try making friends and not only friend but be close to someone from a land that is different from us. Guess this is one way we spread our love that we have to other people besides enjoying it ourselves.

It was time to clean up after such a long day. I wanted to badly to get back home, to cool myself under the shower to remove the stickiness that I was feeling uncomfortable with. So with all this consideration I suddenly felt the urge to do all the clearing as fast as possible. I think my dad was kind of surprise at my speed and effort cause I’m normally very lazy when it comes to cleaning the house. I guess when you want to do it you can do it. Just reminded me about my studies while I was thinking about it.