A Blessed and Happy and a Bountiful Chinese New Year to one and all!
*CNY gifts from my dear cousin, Mohd Syaiffuddin Suyong and wife, Saliah Japaruddin and all loved ones in the family, thank you so much*
It’s the Rabbit Year this year so that means it is the end of the 6th cycle in my Chinese zodiac – next year, the Dragon Year, I will be 72!
We are keeping it somewhat low key this year so we have not been busy doing all the preparations. I have not put up any decoration – the idea of having to climb up and down the ladder to hang up the lanterns and everything else sure does not appeal to me, not at my age and in my condition!
But worry not! We do have quite a lot of things in the house. My missus insisted on cooking for our reunion dinner even though I asked her not to bother. She did not make any nyonya acar (pickles) though so I went out and bought a bottle…
…to eat with all that keropok (prawn & fish crackers)…
…in the house. She did make some cookies – two types and some light snacks such as that seaweed wrapped in popiah skin that my girl likes a lot. Other than those, she did buy some pistachios and baked some cashew nuts too and I got a whole lot of groundnuts and kuaci from my ex-student that day.
Other than those that she made herself, my missus did buy some cookies from our local bakeries and I went and bought these pineapple nuggets…
…from the bakery not far from my house. Yes, they…
…are still as nice as the first time I bought them from that same shop many many years ago when I was still teaching but of course, they do not come cheap anymore these days. There were jars and jars on the racks when I went but when my brother-in-law dropped by as Chinese New Year drew near, they were all sold out! He did not manage to get any at all!!!
My missus did not make/bake any cakes but my girl’s coursemate, Mona, dropped by the house to give her these…
I last saw her in 2011 when they were coming back from Wellington, New Zealand! Now teaching in Daro, she was driving home to Bintangor to spend the week-long Chinese New Year break there.
In the meantime, my girl also got these cookies…
…from her good friend, Dayang. Thank you so much to the two of you, Mona & Dayang!
Because of the widespread ASF (African Swine Flu) in West Malaysia, the import of pork bak kua from there is banned at this point in time. I did not feel like buying any of our local ones or those from Sabah either but I did grab a couple of boxes of the chicken bak kua from Loong Kee…
…which isn’t too bad as well.
And talking about West Malaysia, I sure had a pleasant surprise when my ex-colleague/student, Richard dropped by my house. He is home from Johore for Chinese New Year and it sure was so very sweet and thoughtful of him to give me this HUGE box of honey ponkam (oranges)…
…thank you so so much, Richard! The last time I saw him was when our borders first reopened in 2021 after the pandemic.
I must say that I am so very glad and thankful, praise the Lord, that I survived this past year. I actually thought I was going to kick the bucket and join the Heavenly Choir when my health was not too good and I had no strength to do anything nor the appetite to eat anything and started losing weight like nobody’s business. Thankfully, I am a lot better now – it sure looks like I’d still be around for a while.
Now that the brand new year is here, let us pray that God will bless and protect all of us with good health, blue skies and everything nice in the days ahead throughout the Rabbit Year. Do drop by if you’re in town – there should be enough for everybody to munch, don’t you think?
新年快乐!…恭喜发财!…身体健康!!!
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