Our Lunar New Year Reunion 2009

This year's Lunar New Year had been a joyous and celebrated occasion. We drove back to Singapore for the reunion (we didn't do so last year). It had proven to be the right decision and if nothing goes wrong next year, we would want to return to Singapore again for the enjoyment of family togetherness and creating the noise that is much needed for a traditional chinese festivity!

My mother cooked up a storm on New Year's eve - 8 large dishes to feed 1 set of grandparents, 3 sets of parents, 1 young aunty and 8 grandchildren. At times, she was confused with what she should be preparing first and what she should cook next. I was happy I could lend her some help in the kitchen. It was quite a sweet thing to see my 60-year-old but still looking youthful mother looking lost.

Happiness is written all over my mother's face.

There was so much food we thought we won't be able to finish over 3 days! It is a traditional practice to cook more than you can eat on this occasion. It symbolises that you will have enough to eat for the rest of the year.

Eat till you drop: Spring rolls, wanton soup, roasted charsiew pork, chicken, vegetarian fish, szechuan vegetables, broccoli and dark sauced eggs (with black "mu er", beancurd and vegetarian roasted duck).

The table was too small to seat all of us, we had to eat by batches. The priority went to the children, with their parents stealing bits of food while supervising their children.

6 grandchildren having their chinese reunion lunch. The other 2 (not in the picture) were still too young to eat solid food.

Next round was for the hungry parents and grandparents... and there was no pictures because we were too busy eating and our hands were too oily to touch the camera! After most of us had our stomachs filled (or rather, over-filled), we left the table to go about our own business (chit-chatting, watching TV, playing computer games, sleeping, breastfeeding...) except, of course, the men who would never say 'No' to beer.

Beer makes happy! From left: Rao (no. 3 brother-in-law), Zhihao (no. 1 BIL) and Christophe. The beer cans were on the other side of the table. They were told to switch to a dimmer background for a better picture.

I loved that I was there. The food was delicious! The love behind the planning and preparation of the food was clearly evident - thank you, my mama!! Happy Chinese New Year to all!!