Plenty…

Yes, we had our Reunion Dinner at home last Saturday evening – my missus insisted on cooking for everybody herself instead of going out somewhere for the very auspicious feast. We asked my in-laws – my brother-in-law, his wife and my niece, home for the occasion from Singapore, to join us and of course, my sister as well, seven of us altogether.

As they say, Nian Nian You Yu (年年有魚) or abundance year after year, so we had this steamed barramundi…

…and this sweet and sour or chio (ikan bawal hitam/black pomfret)…

…both served whole, like how they say it should be done. Filleted fish don’t count, I’m afraid. They also say that we must not finish all the fish – there should be some left over to be eaten over the subsequent days. Well, we did have some of that barramudi left but by the end of the dinner that night, there was nothing left of the or chio, other than the bones. My missus must have done a very good job with it – not even the sauce was left.

She also made some ngó͘-hiang (meat rolls) or lor bak as it is called at some places in the peninsula…

Traditionally, they symbolize wealth and prosperity probably because of its golden colour after frying plus all that meat, with prawn or crab meat added, inside.

My girl asked for this – our giant freshwater prawns with pineapples cooked with kunyit (turmeric) and everything else…

Without the prawns, it is something like the very delicious Malay dish, the pajeri nenas.

For our vegetable dish, we had this broccoli with mushrooms…

…and my missus threw in the abalone (New Moon brand) that her niece brought home from Singapore and we had this very lovely refreshing fish maw soup…

…with quail eggs. I did buy some sea cucumber but she forgot to throw them in. I guess those will have to wait till some other day then.

I bought this super-intoxicating kacang ma chicken…

…from Payung and needless to say, it was a hit. Andy gave me some pomelo salad…

…to which I added some Mandarins/ponkam and served and we also grilled the lamb chops…

…that Anthony & Nica Plus gave me that day. Yes, they enjoyed them very much but I did not touch it this time around as I have to abstain from red meat. Everyone sang praises of the one with rosemary and garlic.

My sister got this traditional Chinese salt-baked chicken…

…from a friend and she brought it along to share with all of us.

Goodness gracious me! There sure was plenty…

…to go around that night, don’t you think?

Believe it or not, we finished almost everything – there was only a bit left so there was no need for us to struggle to finish off the leftovers in the days that followed. Hopefully, that is the foreshadowing of what lies ahead for us in the Year of the Rabbit, everything in abundance, ciak pa pa (eat to our hearts’ content), fingers crossed!