Chinese New Year 2011

Beware: Long post below

Chinese New Year has always been a period of conflicting emotions for me. On the one hand, I look forward to Chinese New Year, expecting family togetherness, a week-long festival of eating, drinking, gambling and attempting the absurd; on the other hand, I hate the potential disappointment that future Chinese New Years can bring. Experience from recent years shows that the past few Chinese New Years pale in comparison to those of the good old days.

This year may be the year of the rabbit, but I surely was not hopping joyfully in anticipation of Chinese New Year. I lowered my expectation by a great margin and swore that no matter how bad Chinese New Year may be, I would not lose any sleep over it. Fortunately, the New Year turned out to be nothing like I pictured it to be.

Ironically, the most important day in the 15-day long festival is New Year’s Eve. This is because reunion dinner is held on this day. Theoretically, every member of the extended family gathers for a feast. Chinese societies are usually patrilineal so the married females would gather at their in-laws' place. However, the domineering women on my mother's side, my mother including, would never let that happen.

Spot the domineering women.

Reunion dinner this year was hosted by jee ee, my mom's second sister. Before the dinner, there was much of the usual mingling going on. Christopher and I playing around with the camera, Sunita trying to read her book among a cacophony of chatter, mom and jee ee in the kitchen and the rest of the family just making loud noises in the background.

Scoring some artistic shots.

Black and white candids.

The eccentric extended family photos.

Experimental photography.

Toilet humour.

The downright disturbing.

Unlike typical Chinese families who eat proper Chinese food during Chinese New Year, mine feast on salted chicken that looks unfit even for dogs (kay char iam), meat in thick, black, sweet sauce along which looks nowhere as good as it sounds along with rubberised eggs (kay hong) and traditional Malay food like rendang, acar and keropok.

Would your dog eat this?

The good shit. Almost literally based on appearance.

Hari Raya?

Some acar to improve our appetite.

Look! Chinese food!

These people ate all of the above.

First day of Chinese New Year means an abundance of red: old people still making a point to wear red, red packets, ten ringgit notes on the gambling table and of course red underwear to assist the process of acquiring those notes. It also means taking boring old family photos. Deciding that the old ways only produced fake smiles had to go, much to the chagrin on jee ee, the fake smile expert, we tried candids!

True smiles.

My favourite family photo thus far.

The next day, we embarked on a journey to my hometown, Kuala Terengganu. I was pretty hesitant on going back as we usually spend most of the time visiting distant relatives that I cannot remember or have not met. Coming from a small town like K.T., I have hundreds, literally, of relatives that my parents and grandfather keep in touch with. Visiting relatives is such a chore to me that I dread going back to K.T. Sure, angpows make a good monetary incentive but above that I prefer spending the meagre amount of time I have with close relatives. It is common sense to me, quality over quantity.

Lucky for me, the trip to K.T. was a short one, hence an unprecedented plummet in the number of visiting we had to do. We did visit the more significant, as I would say, relatives like my father’s siblings, grandfather’s siblings and cousins. Yes, that is the definition of significant to Terengganu folks. I was quite happy as we spent more time with close relatives instead of visiting my grandfather’s cousin’s uncle’s son-in-law or something like that. On the way from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, we stopped by my da gu, dad’s sister’s house for the usual gathering. Other than having a rare opportunity to meet my paternal relatives, da gu’s hot pot broth (boiled fish, chicken, pig bones and pig stomach) is to die for.

Savouring the soup.

Women of the Chong clan. Not so domineering.

This trip was quite refreshing to me as K.T. has changed quite a bit since my last visit in 2009. The main street of Terengganu, Jalan Kampung Cina underwent a major facelift. Many of the century old buildings were given a new façade and painted with bright colours. Behind the row of shops in Kampung Cina, what used to be a river decorated by rubbish is now a canal embellished by metal bridges and mosaic tiles. Were there any developments that would benefit the lives of Terengganu folk and are not just exorbitant white elephants? Probably not.

However, the things I like about K.T. are those that did not change one bit. Quality of food for example, and I can do no better than to begin with mm po’s nasi dagang. If nasi dagang is most commonly found in Terengganu, then her nasi dagang is, dare I claim, the best in the world. Fragrant, soft glutinous rice served with mackerel in sweet and spicy gravy, just heavenly.

A bold but honest proclamation: Best nasi dagang in the world.

Tied at second place are jee chim po, my grandfather’s sister-in-law’s laksa Terengganu and bubur lambuk. There’s nothing I miss more than the fishy goodness in Terengganu cuisine and I got a fair share of that this time. I could not resist the food, hence no pictures.

There is also Kari Asha's roti canai. Best roti I have tasted so far. Far better than the thick, floury roti from the usual roti joints in K.L. or Ipoh, Kari Asha's roti is crispy on the outside but soft on the inside and most importantly, not at all burnt.

Definitely gold standard.

Other than piling on the pounds by gobbling down ridiculous amounts of food, gambling is the next best thing to do during Chinese New Year, especially in Terengganu where there is nothing much else to do. Almost every relative’s house we step foot in becomes a gambling den. Despite my greater than desired share of losing, it was great fun.

5th meal of the day.

Before I noticed the passing time, it was time to return to K.L. again. Spending the rest of Chinese New Year in K.L. is something new for me. For most of the nights we had dinner with family friends. There was dinner with Aunty Dorothy and family at Jaya Palace.

Smoked duck in sauce on the left, smoked duck breast with coleslaw and mayo. Heavenly, nothing less.

There was also an eight course dinner that Aunty Koon Hwa cooked with assistance from her maid, but no small feat nonetheless.

Homemade dishes. Seriously.

Another event during New Year was gathering at ku Kiang's new house. There was definitely no shortage of eating and gambling there.

Abundance.

Ku Kiang and family.

To mark the end of the fifteen day long festival, we held a family gathering in Armanee. Hotpot was the order of the day as usual but this year it was I who prepared the broth. Gambling is also high on the agenda at every family gathering, and I got a chance to redeem myself at the table for one last time this year.

Trying to sneak a good shot before the eating starts.

Hotpot.

For the first time in my life, I celebrated the full duration of Chinese New Year. It started on a good note and ended with a bang. I could not ask for more, but I ask for a similar experience in 2012, since it might be the last Chinese New Year I get to celebrate.