Xin Nian Kuai Le

Happy Chinese New Year!

Phew, these last three days has been such a flight of the bumble bee for me and my. It has been non-stop activity all the way, but at least Patches is happy and clean, the porch is spankingly clean and my tummy is full of wine and food. Ahh... this is the good life. ^_^

My Home
Everyone came back this year, and my mom's house fully occupied - every space taken up by somebody's something - and it is great. *grin* The three boys are jumping around, running up and down the stairs and plunking on my piano (which I'd polised to to fine sheen the day before) and generally having a ball on this holiday. It's great when everybody's back and the house is no longer silent and still... There is laughter and music and indignant wails and it is great. Lee Ling only came back for two days though as she has to fly off somewhere today. But the Lee Hoon, Lee Na, the kids, Kok Eng, Mom and me are all here at home. Home is definately where the hearts are.

hic & burp
There's a dozen empty wine bottles sitting in the backyard now and all of them sporting expensive and famous labels... Chateau Lafitte, Fleur Du Cap, Malbac, St.Andrews special reserves and lots more whose names I can't remember let alone pronounce... ahhh. All thanks to my uncle who is a wine enthusiast and my sisters who brought back some of their collections as well. All that delicious wine went very well with my auntie's famouse leg O'lamb. Every year my auntie will cook for the reunion dinner and of course my family and I will always go earlier and help her, unlike some relatives, who eats and run. *shurg* Anyway, I always love this 'community cooking' event. It is such fun to get together to prepare for a special meal/event. This 'culture' is something that is on its way to oblivion what with today's micro-family syndrome. They rather go to a restaurant to eat as it saves them from cooking and doing the dishes. What they do not realise is that they are losing out on a big part on the bonding between relatives and friends. A lot of the KLites are like that nowadays and sometimes it is not their fault if they are a one-unit family without the boisterous relatives. I just think it is sad is all. But the food was good. Chinese New year is always about good bountiful food and good wines for us. We are very lucky.

My uncle also booked two tables at Renaissance for dinner on the first day of CNY. The chef made up a special menu just for him and it was not cheap. It was very generous of my uncle to treat us to such a bountiful dinner, and plus good wines too. Wine will always feature in my life. Lucky me. ^_^

Another addition to the Teo Clan
On a happier note, a lot of us came back for this happy event and my uncle's house was bursting at the seams what with the lot of us. Mervyn came back and showed of his new baby, Nicholas. He is so cute and scared. It is his first integration into a big family - usually it is just the five of them that he is used to. Now, he is suddenly in demand and with so many new faces and hands reaching out to him, he must be a mite overwhelmed. Poor thing. No wonder he is very clingy to his parents and it takes him a loooong time to warm up to another new face. Haha, some like me, he's disdainful towards. He was prob thinking 'What is that girl doing? Is her face always that contorted? Eeek! Big hands coming towards me! Mommeeee!' 0_o

Went back to my mom's roots
As usual, mom insisted on going to Kuala Krai where she grew up to visit her family. I usually don't mind going but I hate travelling there, have lunch and then travel back. I'm uncomfortable with the fact that my mom's sister will cook special meals just for us when we visit her, and they always insist that we eat first and they eat later! I know it is the chinese way to treat guest but we are family. I rather we all sit down and eat whatever they usually eat - at least that will remove that intangible believe that we are that special coz we are not. We are family for goodness sake. But then we are only visit them once a year so maybe... sigh.

Anyway, that's my chinese new year so far. I'm off to attend to Patches again and I have plans to meet up with a bunch of old friends in the evening. Should be interesting...



Parched
That is the only sound I can make now - I have a sore throat and I think I'm getting sick. All these days of eating all those munchies and not drinking water has taken its toll on my poor parched throat. I know, I know, what parched throat with all those wine pouring down into my gullet... But still, I've not been drinking enough plain water and now I suffer.