It is that time of the year again, which I always look forward to, ever since I was young and more so now when I am a mother. A precious once-a-year celebration — Chinese New Year. The night before Chinese New Year Day 1, we will have our reunion dinner. This is very significant because all families members will come back to the hometown to eat together. Since I am already married to the Wong clan aka am Mrs. Wong now, I will have my reunion dinner with the Wongs.
Last year was a little uncertain due to the fear of Covid19 and we were still in early stage of post-Covid, we dined at restaurant in view of bigger space. This year, just now, we had our reunion dinner at our Aunt's place. She is the eldest in the Wong clan, she is also the same Aunt I visit every Saturday and you will quite often read my blog about what she cooked for us. The atmosphere was different when we gathered at home. It is true - there is no place like home. Although her house is a little small and of course with all of us cramped there, we felt rather humid. However, the joy and happiness of eating together outweighed the humidness. What we felt was only an atmosphere of familyness and hearts of gratitude. It was one of a kind. Precious indeed.
Our spread of sumptuous reunion dinner!
When I entered her house, I saw my beautiful Aunt, dressed in her own-sewn purple blouse. She looked so lovely today. Her smile enhanced her beauty. I loved it. She was arranging the food and preparing to welcome us. Her table was full of oranges and some goodies for munching.
I smelled tasty dinner and couldn't wait to eat. I was actually super hungry, purposely ate just a little during lunch, hopefully I had more space in stomach to store more food. Haha. Below were the food we had.
1) Pork In A Box
Parents-in-law ordered this from an online store, with super good review. It was our first time ordered from this local food business, and I could say this would not be our last. Super duper delicious. Everyone commented well on it. It consisted of roasted crispy pork, 3 types of barbecued pork; XO, smoked and usual honey glazed BBQ. Finger-licking good. The box came with variety of sauces too for dipping. Impressive. I think I want to order this for my birthday as my birthday cake. Lol.
2) Stir Fry Pork Slices with Arrowhead Shoot
This is famous Hakka dish, my Aunt's signature Chinese New Year dish. We use a lot of arrowhead shoot during CNY because it signifies benevolence. Who doesn't want this good trait? My Aunt stirred fry it in her own Hakka way, basic ingredients would be soy sauce and oyster sauce. Usually she would use pork belly more but this round, pork belly was really expensive, so she used lean part of pork. Still delicious!!!
3) Stew Mushrooms with Chicken
Mushrooms are also a must-have dish in Chinese dishes. More so during Chinese New Year. Because it signifies good health and long life and great reproduction. Aunt used a lot of mushrooms, the whole plate was fragrant with mushroomy natural flavour. If you love mushrooms, you will fall in love with this dish. I ate so much mushrooms just now, I even burped like oje. Sorry, opsie.
4) Steamed Cabbage with Minced Pork
This dish was cooked by my sister-in-law. She rolled her well-seasoned minced pork with diced carrot and mushrooms with cabbage, then put to steamed, ladled with delicious broth. So yummy and healthy. If I did not think of others, I could have eaten 5. I restrained myself and ate 1 only.
5) Loh Hon Guo Drink
I said as what my Aunt said, "This is loh hon guo drink." Sweet dessert made of loh hon guo fruit also knowns as monk fruit, famous for its natural sweetness and lots of dried sweet longan. After our heavy meal, this drink was a good drink to sort of washing away all saltiness and refreshed us with some sweetness.
After our dinner, we had a good chit-chat with one another. When I thought I was very full, I continued with the mandarin oranges. Those tiny ones were so sweet that I ate 8 of them. My Aunt then told me the bigger ones called Lokam were so expensive, she wondered were they sweet. And I continued to devour another two bigger oranges. I wondered what happened to my stomach today, expanded so much. And I also ate some biscuits and candies served on the table.
The children continued to had fun playing in the room while the adults were happily chatting about anything under the sun. I loved season like this whereby we gathered to catch up with one another, a luxury indeed. Busyness in life had taken away this luxury from us. And when we got to experience it once a year, I treasure it a lot!!! We also took some time to pass CNY goodies to one another and the children happily receiving their 'angpaos' aka red packets.
Happy Chinese New Year to all Hive families who celebrate this festival.
