Every year its the same.

Spring cleaning and decorating the house in lots of reds and symbolic items, reunion dinners, parents' kitchen busy busy busy, lunches and more dinners. (Tradition, tradition, tradition!)


Those who have not been to my parents' place for CNY have no freaking idea how busy the kitchen was! Nor anyone believes me when I tell them how much food was churned out per Chinese New Year.

My dad loves gathering. Gathering of relatives and friends. He wouldn't mind spending all his time slicing the meat, preparing and packing, and slaving over the stove to please the crowd. His satisfaction comes from happy faces gorging themselves silly and absolutely loves the attention of how much they loved his food! (You really have to try the chicken wings and the garlic sauce! They're our house's trademarks!!)



This plate will be gone in minutes! Oh wait... shit it's all gone!! Damn!



Every year, the menu is the same. From the 1st time in 1989, when I 1st moved in with them, till now. On the Eve, its always steamboat, and the rest of the days, steamboat BBQ. The soup stock will be cooked, add on, cooked, till the last day of the CNY! Imagine the lovely stock after 15 days of cooking! So, on the last day (15th day of CNY), we'll finish the stock to its last drop.



The usual Eve's Reunion Dinner, Steamboat...


The usual ingredients on the menu...


This year's additional ingredient is...
Japanese Mushrooms!!


Oh, don't get me wrong. We won't be eating the same stuffs everyday for the next 15 days! 85% of the total amount of the food will be consumed by the guests.


The house will always be streaming people in and out from lunches till dinners starting from the 1st day till the 3rd or 4th day, depending how many days of public holidays on the calendar or whether weekend are included. Usually, my parents, James and myself would nibble here and there or just surviving on Cheng Ting my mother always prepare during CNY. Karaokes would be at its "peak" on the 2nd and 3rd day! (At this point, I'm glad we got our own place to chill, relax and enjoy the new year in peace. And lots of space to ourselves!)


As per tradition, the girls (and their better halves) will usually be there on the 3rd night for dinner. Um... sometimes it would be on the 4th night...





Welcoming our newcomer, Melvin!! (Ling, Qing, we missed you!!)


Yah, my folks got a huge corridor space outside the unit. Hence, the space are usually well utilized during CNY. And having the steamboat BBQ outside would save us time and madness from getting rid of the oiliness from the BBQ in the house.

Imagine, seeing 16 people all standing around the table eating and BBQing at one go. The most I've witness was 20 people crowding around the table, and a few running in and out of the house, alternating between normal steamboat (in the house) and the BBQ (outside the house)!


Anyway, one thing why I love CNY so much. Besides the heart-warming CNY atmosphere; lovely yummy smells lingering in the air; gorgeous food and tibits to feast; loads of mandarin oranges; catchups with family and friends; being transported back into familiar sounds and reminiscing the good'ol memories; etc...; my lunar birthdate actually falls on the 5th day of CNY. Heh heh... that would mean double angbaos!!! Muhahahahaha!!!