Eid Mubarak

Selamat Hari Raya / Eid Mubarak to all Muslims all over the world!

A special wish to my blogger friends here in Malaysia especially to Emila, Marzie, Khemy, Rizal, Bain, Aki, Yun, Diya, Soulie and Bem. Be safe on the roads and have a wonderful raya in the kampung or in the city. May all of you have a blessed Raya with all your loved ones. Maaf Zahir Batin.

ROARRRrrrrr

Enter if you dare. Now we have a tiger at our porch to guard our house :) It roarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsssss.. hehhehehee.. yes yes.. our Chinese New Year decoration is up today. Well.. part of it. Boy and dad put it up this afternoon in the hot blazing sun.

Our decorations for the festivities are usually recycled every year. Be it for Christmas or Chinese New Year. But this smiling tiger is new. We just bought it from Tescos just now. To greet the little one who is coming home soon :)

I'm a bit poofed now because dad and i did quite a bit of shopping at Tescos to prepare for the coming week. I'll show you more pictures of the decorations as we add on to it :) Today we just did the porch... two pineapples.. some streamers and a tiger.

Maybe i'll go the the big market in town this weekend to go find some nice big pussy willows. They add a nice touch to the house.

Piper is snoring away now while Dom is busy flicking his ears. Piper sometimes sound like a train when he snores.. *LOL* For a little dog.. he sure is loud.

Oh yes.. our Christmas tree is still up *LOL* A marriage of sorts for the festivities. Boy said to wait for Jai to see the tree first before we take it down. But i think he is just lazy to take it down.. hahahhahahahaa

 

Catch you all tomorrow. Goodnite :)

Decisions Decisions

Chinese New Year is celebrated BIG in our household. At least we used to. We love Chinese New Year as we get new clothes, new shoes, new underwears *LOL*, new pajamas too. Well... at least that was how i remembered Chinese New Year when i was a kid. And we get loads of angpows too. I could almost get rich overnight when i was a kid. I come from a very big extended family.

We haven't really celebrated Chinese New Year like we used to these past few years. We just keep wanting to run off somewhere when Chinese New Year looms. As you get older, you tend to fear the festivities. Lots of questions from the clan. And the usual question would be.. When are you going to get married? Gosh! The aunties asked me this year after year. Don't they ever get bored. Each year i get more embarassed and trying very hard to find a hole to hide *LOL*

Other than trying to evade all these very inquisitive people, i don't quite like Chinese New Year anymore since mom passed away. When she was still around, every Chinese New Year, i love to shop like crazy the week before i go home. I am usually running here and there in Sunway Piramid with bags and bags of clothes. I love to find her some very chinese looking blouses each year. And something for dad... and lots of clothes for the kids. I haven't really shop for Chinese New Year these past two years.

Honestly speaking, i haven't done any Chinese New Year shopping at all this year. *LOL* I haven't got a new shirt for dad too. Since we are much much older now... i usually do with just one new thing for the Chinese New Year.

This year... we will have a lot of people to celebrate with us. Jai will be home... my sister and brother in law will be home. Its been a long time since my sister celebrated Chinese New Year with us. Most probably my brother in law and Jai will have a culture shock at how loud we can make Chinese New Year *LOL* And urmm.. the gambling too :)

My extended family is into gambling during Chinese New Year.. we were trained as kids. We have kiddies corner and adult corners for gambling. Its quite a sight to see the whole household gambling from the very young to the very old. Hope Jai don't start gambling too *LOL* Maybe we should start him on the Blackjack :D

I actually love Chinese New Year (yes.. i am a confusing creature). Its the only time i get to see who is related to me.. hahahahaha.. and i get to meet up with my old friends too. I haven't seen some close friends for a few years now since i keep running away for Chinese New Year.

We have been celebrating Chinese New Year in Kuala Lumpur these past few years. We haven't quite decide where we are going to celebrate this Chinese New Year. My father says that we should all vote. I wonder if Dommy and Piper gets to vote too :) My father will also be celebrating his BIG birthday too the day before Chinese New Year.

Festivities away from home is not quite the same. Our home here probably deserves a big bang of the ole festivities. What do you think?

Oh.. our Christmas tree is still up *LOL* We thought we want to put it up till Jai comes home. But i guess we better start putting some Chinese New Year deco up tomorrow :) We are going on a roadtrip next week. Jai is coming home. Hoooooorayyyyyyy!

Bak Chang Day

Today is Bak Chang Day. (Bak Chang means Pork Dumpling in Hokkien).

Duanwu Festival. The Dragon Boat Festival (or Tuen Ng Festival (in Cantonese pronunciation) is a Chinese traditional and statutory holiday. It is a public holiday in China and Taiwan, where it is called the "Duānwǔ Jié" and a public holiday in Hong Kong and Macau, where it is called the "Tuen Ng Jit". In English it is also referred to as "Dragon Boat Festival", after one of the traditional activities for the holiday. (info from Wikipedia)

I call it Bak Chang Day because the festival is associated with Bak Chang. You see a lot of Bak Changs hanging around in households and many will make the Bak Chang yesterday itself or much earlier. Lots of exchanging Bak Changs too from one household to another.

Lots of auntie auntie were buying last minute stuffs at the market yesterday to make the bak chang. It was like Chinese New Year. They were excited and chattering about like little birds. *lol* As clueless as i am always, i didn't know it was going to be Bak Chang day today. (i wasn't called a banana for nothing)

My mom used to make one of the nicest sweet smelling Bak Chang's ever. I never did find any other Bak Chang close enough to hers. She used to make a lot of Bak Changs when we were little. We'll have it for breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper. After a few days of eating Bak Changs, you'll even start dreaming of Bak Changs falling on you. *lol*

It is a very tedious affair. She'll wake up real early and get all the stuffs ready. Lay all the stuffs on the floor in bowls, plates and the glutinous rice in a big tub. She needed to sit on the floor because the strings to tie the Bak Changs were hanging on the door handle. hehehehe

When we woke up, we all all surround her like a surround sound system... and play with the stuffs. I never like the black eye peas (not the band Black Eye Peas) so i'll always have special orders. I'll tell her i want this and that.. and no black eye peas. Mom will wrap it up and tie a small string to indicate that is my order. After a while, we will start to disturb her to let us try to make our own Bak Changs. She'll give in and let us try. Usually we get too greedy and pack too much in the leaves. When we try and fold it back, it will burst! *LOL* Then she'll shoo us away.

I never did learn how to make Bak Chang when i grew older. Mom stopped making Bak Changs when we were older. It was way too tedious. And there's not so many of us around to eat it too.

Since today is Bak Chang Day or Duānwǔ Jié, i'll share with you what we have for dinner. Its not a feast but its our usual stuffs plus the Bak Changs i bought from the auntie in the market. That is me trying hard to keep up with traditions. Maybe i'll even attempt to make Bak Changs next year if i hear the aunties chirping a bit earlier about Bak Chang Day *LOL* I got to go consult an expert cook of an aunt first :D

Tadaaaa...

fried fishes

stir fried ladies fingers and kacang botol

old cucumber soup

bought Bak Chang to substitute rice

Mundane stuffs but its already a feast for the three of us. I think one of my sisters will be salivating over this food. *LOL*

Happy Duānwǔ Jié to those that are celebrating :)

Ops! I almost forgot.. i found this on Youtube this morning from The Star. If anyone is attempting to do this Bak Chang... here's how...