Once more with feeling

(I thought I was done with CNY posts but my sister mentioned on her blog that my post was all about food, and that it never mentioned some interesting discussion topics brought up during those CNY visits with relatives. Since she wrote about that, I will write a bit about something else. Something maybe a bit less trivial. )

Many people can't stand CNY - the thought of being in the clutches of ruthless relatives who ask those dreaded questions: When are you getting married? How come no boyfriend/girlfriend ah?

I haven't really been asked those questions. Maybe it's because those relatives I see during CNY tend to be those I see over Christmas and a few other occasions throughout the year so they don't see the need to ask.

Maybe they've just given up hope.

At any rate, I cannot imagine CNY being any different.

Some people take the opportunity of the long weekend to venture overseas. Others just hibernate at home.

I think about CNYs of old.

I remember how reunion dinners would be at my grandparents' house in Haig Ave. The kids (and some of the mums) would sit at the table set up specially in the living room. The adults would be at the dining table. The steamboat would be bubbling merrily away on a table laden with food. Our table had the special ingredient - beef, as my grandparents didn't eat beef. So the adults would pop over once in a while to steal some of that meat.

Later in the night, boxes of cakes would arrive almost magically. If I'm not wrong they were from a Malay customer of my grandfather's baking goods store. I just remember sneaking peeks at the cake and holding my nose at the durian one.

And on the next day, all dressed up in brand new clothes, we'd make our way back to Katong to bai nian.

There would be liang cha to drink (which of course I wouldn't bother with) and plenty of snacks. And then a hearty lunch that probably included jap chae and my favourite kong bah bao.

We never stayed long enough to catch the lion dance. I think that only happened a couple of years. It was always fascinating to see the lion step back and ta-dah! on the floor were the peeled orange segments forming the character fu.

The day would always be blazing hot. And the cars would have to be cooled down before we climbed into them, ready to head off to the next stop. On the way, counting, not so secretly, the money in the angbaos.