Note : Thousand apologies if you’ve tried to leave me a comment and kept getting that error message saying that you had to go back to fill up the math spam protection column. It’s totally my fault as I forgot to add in the code when I changed templates. My most deepest and sincerest [got ka this word?] apologies!
Although I’m not Chinese and I do not practise Buddhism [if there is a connection between the two], I respect this festival all the same. All this thanks to living in a multi-cultural and multi-racial country. Qingming or Cheng Beng as I normally call it is a day to remember and honour one’s ancestors. I think it’s almost the same as the Catholic’s All Souls Day. This afternoon, Mum and I took a drive down to Ah Ma’s place because I had not visited her in a long time and thought that this would be the best time to drop in as the whole family would gather together to celebrate this festival. [I assumed that all the prayers had taken place before we arrived.] Ah Ma is my uncle’s mother in law and although I’m not directly related to her by blood - she treats me like her own. Ah Ma = Kuih Kapit!
Anyway, back to the story…..true enough, almost the whole gang was there! The kids have grown so much that I can hardly recognise them, and them me. We were greeted with warmth especially from Ah Ma since she seems to have this liking for Mum and she was also ’talking’ Kecik while rubbing my almost non-existent tummy. Heh. I thought it was really weird coz she’s the first one to EVER touch my tummy, except Ted of course. I wasn’t surprised to note the amount of food that was on the table for a group of people less than 15, half of which were kids. This is very typical of Ah Ma, Tua Ee and gang, they never stinge on food and are always on the look out to ‘tambah’ a second helping of rice for you.
Today was also the first time that I ate more than 2 pips [correct or not??] of durians - I ate FOUR! This is highly unusual as I’m not really a durian lover but I couldn’t help myself because it was SO good! It was just nice - not too fleshy and simply so sweet. Something rather odd since it is out of season at the moment. Ah Ma prepared her most famed sambal belancan/spicy shrimp paste and I managed to catch her in the act. *grin* She even posed for me too. Such a sweet old lady…..
Ah Ma [stil able to squat] pounding away…
Ah Ma taking a break to pose for me. *grin*
THE sambal in the making and if you look close enough, you can see the shrimp paste/belacan in the mix coz it’s brown in color.
Tua Ee famous for her nyonya cakes also brought a variety of kuihs to tempt my taste buds - if only I had 7 stomachs like a cow!!
Ma Khor and Uncle Chai busy hacking the roast pork, duck and chicken. Based on the mess they made, I now know why Ah Ma wanted to do this herself! Lol
The array of dishes Ah Ma & her daughters prepared : [clockwise] Crabs, pork & chicken soup, pork tripe soup, tau eu bak [pork cooked with dark soy sauce] and joo hu char [shredded sengkuang cooked with carrots and dried cuttlefish also thinly shredded and is normally eaten with fresh lettuce. You can add the sambal in as well to give it a 'kick'.]
As you can see, with these kind of food all around me, how not to put on 2kgs in one week??? Yes, people - after one week of being home, I’ve put on 2 kgs and trust me, it ain’t Kecik!! *pengsan*
Ps. One more week before Easter and the end of my Lent sacrifice before I can return to blogging daily!!! How slow time flies when you’re suffering in silence…..*shakes head sadly*
