Xin Nian Kuai Le

The year of the roaster arrived with such a bang. The sky was filled with firecrackers all night long signalling the beginning of a new year. I was impressed by the variety of firecrackers that were released in my neighbourhood. It seems that firecrackers were either cheap or people had a lot of money. They were simply beautiful as big crackers like the ones we would normally see during big celebration like New Year or Independance Day filled the sky. I personally took a liking for the one that burst in the sky and trickle down like sperms. The last time I saw it was during the firecrackers presentation that Mines had a couple of years back.

It was quite a splendid Chinese New Year for me. I had my reunion dinner with my family on the Saturday before the real day. This was so that Auntie Carol and family could join us before heading up north to Penang for the celebration. The array of food that was prepared by my granny was simply outstanding. My sister and I had came earlier in the day to help in the preparation. The menu include two plates of Yee Sang, two kampung Roast Chicken, Duck Salted Vegetable Soup, two steamed Ikan Bawal, Fried Prawns, cooked radish and achar. The entire table was practically filled with food that everyone forgot about eating rice with it. As nothing in my granny place goes to waste, the untouched pot of rice was made into Nasi Ulam the following day by Auntie Tina. Boy, it really did taste good. Uncle Yeoh also came up with a dish made popular in Thailand that cost about more than RM10 here. Its include Ketumbar leaves with plum source, cili padi, onions, garlic, fried shrimps, lemon skin and groundnuts. It was my first time trying it and I simply love the quiet taste of it. Eating had been continuous from here onwards until Chinese New Year. Hunger has never existed in granny's place.

It was uncanny for me to go out during Chinese New Year eve as we would normally stay at home and go to bed early as we had to wake up early the next day to go to grandpa and grandma place. However, I joined Eric together with Vishnu, Terry and his brother Jaemy for the preview of Constantine. I was quite surprise by a large crowd who had gathered at the cinema as most of them were Chinese. There were some familiar faces there as well especially seniors from my school and some classmates of mine. It was good to see them all. Well, the show started thereafter. Overall, the movie was quite interesting to me and there was no complain after watching it. It was probably I went to see it without any expectation and was pleased with the outcome of it. Keanu Reeves is undoubtedly the best person whom I can think of that suits the role of a cool and blur look kinda guy.

The next day, my family and I were up early. We wished one another happy new year and received ang pows or red packet from parents. Most people would normally changed into their new clothes but I borrowed one of my dad's shirt as I had forgotten to bring back my new clothers from Shah Alam. For us, its not a must to have new clothes during new year like most people do but wearing red seems to be the most appropraite colour to wear during new year. We went to grandpa and grandma place thereafter to help out with the preparation. They have always had their annual open house where friends and family would come to eat my grandma's famous nasi dagang and kari ikan haji. However, my grandparents to have a small scale one this year for the family members and some guest. Therefore, there was not many people this year which was much easier to handle compared to previous years. With that, I took some time off to visit Eric and also Daniel. I manage to learn how to play Risk at Daniel's place and we ended up playing for almost three hours. I find its a really nice game to play which is mainly suited for guys as there is much strategy and the idea of trying to conquer as many nations as one can.

After that, it was going back and forth from KL and Seremban as my family and I visited friends and family. It was usual was us to go down to KL on the second day and visit people. It seem like a pilgrimage for us as we would normally visit the same people every year without fail since we were young. It has always been my parents idea to see these people mainly to keep in touch with them and it is always a joy to see them especially those whom I had grown up with since small.

Chinese New Year is still going on and it won't be done after the 15 day which is Chap Goh Meh. I guess my eating will also not be over till then. Mian, I am getting fat.