Flashes of the Past

My usual CNY back to home; photos of home.

Hasn't changed much, well can't quite say that. Mom is always changing this and that. They did paint a few feature walls. Oh! Bedroom's yellow! Like canary yellow! Mom cakap it was a mistake supposed to be soft calm yellow but ended up.... bit too bright. Clashes with the maroon curtains completely...

Chor Yee. Pickles damn kepo, I went out of the house and she came trotting along...lol.

The nice purpley flowery plants have been rid of. Kinda missed it. Not to mention the forest-y effect it gives to the house. Whenever there's a continued rainy season, the flowers just bloom and everything's lavender-y and purple-y. But they only last a few days, then the pain in the ass comes when the plant sheds its flowers. It means extra sweeping chores for us kids.

I used to tell friends who are coming over for the first time to look for a house that looks like a jungle. lol.

See... everywhere I turn, there she is. Mom brings out the bright red table spread for CNY -.-

Numerous paintings Su En did. I interrogated Mom why she didn't hang my painting and she was saying it's dusty, bla bla bla humph, I can clearly see discrimination at work here. Su En used to be the kuai kia then hehe.

This part of the house hasn't changed much.

The feature wall with all those photos have been repainted. It used to be this bright sea blue colour and I think I prefer the previous one! This colour should have gone to the canary yellow bedroom -.-

The messy kitchen.

And the even messier study/laundry room. Which is sometimes the nap room.

Dug out some old photos from the master bedroom. Lookie what I found!

Ong Su Jen can you recognise this?! Not bad ah, but I reckon it's a product from your secondary school days hahahah because there are cursive writing, the kind we learn from Form 3 Art or something :D

"Wishing you a Happy Mother's Day; And to apologise for my naughtiness. Have a good day". rofl :D :D

All the same Mom must have really liked it cos she still keeps it :)

Pictures of my past, to my horror....

I will never forgive Mum for putting me into that overly large and skimpy bikini!!! I can still recall that I used to have nightmares in my sleep, at some island and the damned swimsuit (swim SUIT? Who am I kidding?), well the bikini slipped off or something lah. Geez.

Not sure where this is but I reckon it's taken sometime when I was 2 or 3? I still have that smocked dress hehe. They do go pretty well with the vest. We sisters make such nice and even stair steps. Oh this has to be at the height of my cuteness rofl. I can assure you that as I grow older, my cuteness factor greatly reduces exponentially.

@ 5 years old. Ah Ma's place on the lazy chair, or whatever you call it. Not quite sure how I managed to climb into it considering my feet couldn't even touch the floor. I remember I used to like wearing the blouse + skirt set which now I feel containing gross, contra colours hehe.

Another one of my fave shot, though I am nowhere to be seen. I've always loved Ah Ma's garden. Didn't help though that I had eczema back then and skin was super sensitive. Then Ah Ma would boil these tea leaves which she would scrub on my legs to lessen the spots :(

MCC, Sien Ee poh and Kim Po. Awww see who's the smart little girl who could make a V shape with her hands and legs :D

Su Jen's eyes were the largest and they start shrinking with each daughter Mum pops out. And yes I ended with the smallest eyes thank you very much for not asking.

Ok ugly, embarrassing photos coming up!

Oh! Realised that this photo has those lavender-y, purple-y flower plants. Awesome right. In full bloom. This was during the time I started growing sideways. I was a fat kid during my younger days. It's not like I wasn't active - I loved running around, twitching, playing God-knows-what. Su En looks so different then hehehhehe I wonder if I should put this up on Facebook, and tag her. Mother of all horrors hehehehe. At least I can pose chubi-ly.

Hahahahahha. I think we were at one of Mum's company trip. This would probably be Pangkor and I think I would be about 11 or 12? See that Su En pose punya style sooo sama with the previous photo. This can come in handy as blackmail item #2 (I'm pretty confident it can go up to #55). Remember what I said about cuteness factor shooting down rapidly? This is a good example. From cute little smocked dress with a petite vest... to this horrible checkered, matching shirt and shorts, complete with an equally horrendous brown vest. Mum! Only Mum looks great *grudgy*

Oooo... fast forward through the un-niceties. Lost loads of weight when I was about 12 after an appendix operation. With Dad on a Form 6 class trip to the Cameron Highlands. Which means... almost 6 years ago *gasp! I've said it many times and I'm saying it again. Time indeed flies! Whatever happened to me in my horrible matching shirt-shorts set and vest! Sigh... Hope to come up with a Cameron trip before the end of the year because Dad hasn't been there in a while now. Though I will dread the traffic - both vehicle and human - on the hill.

Finally another one of my fave. Please excuse the weird proportion of the photo. It's a photo shot landscaped but Blogger seems to be in a cranky mood and all my landscape photos turned out rotated into a portrait! I tried various means to overcome this rather large hitch... and found out one way to avoid that is.... to crop my landscaped photos to make it more portrait-ish -.-

And there you have it.

Still, can't complain! Still contains the essence of the photograph hehehe! Check out MCC's sideways glaring look, Su Jen's cacing outline, my chubiness, cuddled so affectionately by Ah Ma :D and Su En's double whopper! Flashing white panties and face thickly covered with bedak sejuk to match. Hehehehehehe.

Labbit Flens

Okie lah I think this should be the last of the CNY installments :D

I miss home so much, the mobility, the ease of mind and the contented belly.... :)

Sa zhap meh, dinner at a restaurant behind our house. All of us sort of decided to eat out because preparing food just isn't going to be easy on the remaining ones in SP, plus there is only ten of us having dinner that night :( Our number seems to be getting smaller and smaller...

Our family, minus Su Jen! It must have been more than a decade since we have taken a proper family photo! Kak SerJen cepat balik ah then we get a proper studio shot :D

This picture really occurred to me, how much I resemble Papa while Su En, mom.

Best aunties... Tua Ee really getting absent-minded! Hehe... we had to discuss, re-discuss about our dinner plans during the CNY so many times. But nevertheless, Tua Ee is my gateway to great nonya dishes! Don pray pray... when Ah Ma was getting weaker, Tua Ee was the one cooking. Ah Ma used to complain that Tua Ee doesn't give proper details to her cooking hehe, but that's how Ah Ma is, chef extraordinaire, to the smallest details.

It was a dinner like at a wedding... got old man hollering on the karaoke set in the background (in this case, more like in the foreground hehe), the usual 8 dishes. Food was not bad but the restaurant has made some really weird dinner arrangements, like, drinks are not provided. We were only given 2 bottles of sparkling juice. The waiters there were so busy that when our jug of tea finally arrived, we were already on our third dish.

First round photo of Sar Zhap Meh! Pickles look so saddddd! I think age is really getting to her liaw :( She's not quite the wriggly dog that jumps all over the place. Even Sien Ee commented that Pickles not so "cacing gila" oredy. Anyways when I was setting up the camera to timer shot, and everyone is standing in position, Pickles I think she was starting to feel left out or somewhat clueless and she went and sat right in front, facing the same direction as everyone else! Heheheh was really adorable but too bad I didn't get a shot of that.

Sisters jabbering away

First day CNY was a quiet affair, Tua Ee and Sien Ee came over early and then both Su En and I were over to Ah Ma's place later for the buah petai and perut ikan's labour work...

Ah well, 2nd day of CNY has far interesting events to report hehe. As the majority of work has been done the day before (ie the Pyramids-of-Giza-scale-perut-ikan). Su En wanted to make 'miang khan' which is a Thai appetiser. I was uninterested to help hehe so only Mom and Su En were at the market while I spent my time playing zombies and bathing Pickles again I think.

Our dinner that night is a buffet style dinner of sorts. Filled with some of my favoritest items! I think I prefer this way better.... than eating out, that is. Also a good opportunity to cheat Tua Ee into teaching me all sorts of dishes hehe.

Slaving in the kitchen for over 3 hours with the following results.

Su En's version of salted egg prawns. Boleh tahan lah noh.

Miang khan. Hmm... definitely needs improvement. Not a total failure though I think the sauce is a bit different from the ones we used to have hehehhe.

And the pyramids of Giza scale dish... that has been sitting overnight... each bite of the perut ikan has wholly infused flavors... I can't even describe how good it is :)

I name you my top favorite dish lah!

Tu Kha Sui

Unlike its darker counterpart Tu Kha Cho, TKS is a spicy-sour affair. MCC's nephew-in-law loves this one to bits.

Our quaint little buffet table :) Small but packed with goodness! This is where I yearn, great food that I love with people I adore.

Clockwise from 12 o'c - Perut Ikan | noodles to go with perut ikan | Tu Kha Sui | Salted Egg Yolk Prawns | Steamed Herbal Fish | Sambal Petai (got extra one dish but I still sapu this one lah, paiseh hehe) | Sien Ee's Kerabu Bok Nee | the not-so-popular Ong Lai Pajelis which Ji Ee bought | another bowl of Tu Kha Sui | Mom's frequently-mentioned and force-snapped photos Acar Hu and Cucumber.

If you're not salivating already, you either feed yourself through where normally food goes out; or you're a rabbit.

Gluttons Alert!

The very talkative and super funny sis-in-law of MCC, Linda Chi! Brought us all close to tears from laughing that night. Here, she states that she is trying to cheat those to lau lang hehehhe.

The guys acting cool and stayed well out of we girls punya gossip circle hehehehe.

Yummers!

When Linda Chi and family are about to leave, I insisted on a group photo, but alas, Ah Koo dunno already cabut go where so again, this year kurang one more person. This Ah Koo can't seem to sit still enough for a family photo hmmph.

Yeay! Decent family photo, but Pickles is not in! We didn't bring her over that night because Mom said MCC's in-laws may not like dogs :( Just as well, I suppose, cause Pickles sometimes gets too over-excited I fear she may hyperventilate.

Check out the attention hehe...

Linda Chi relating all sorts of stories for us... mostly paranormal stuff she's encountered. She has the greatest PR skill that I have ever come across hehe... Taught us a load of stuff during traveling and street-smart points, at the expense of me getting goosebumps throughout heheehe.

Mom and Tua Ee laughing. Such a pleasure to watch :D

And finally (my eyes are starting to droop) a mini Convent reunion.

Those girls haven't changed one bit! And for that I am glad. Too soon, I am forced to go back to the congested concrete jungle of KL. May the Year of the Rabbit brings all of us much needed Happiness, Fortune, Prosperity, Health, Wealth and Contentment!

Labbit says Huat ah

Rudely awaken on Che It by the loud drums beating from lion dance troop. Practically hopped straight out of bed and flew down with towel slung over my right shoulder. The troop was just passing by the front of our house when I heard Mom's loud voice ringing from outside asking the troop to come back in an hour hehehhe. I only found out later that it was Mom shouting from the balcony -.-

Pooped, showered and yelled at Su En to get her ass out of the bed before clutching my camera and waited for the lion dance. The group is already back (it was only 20 mins or so since Mom shouted for them to come back), and the show begins!

Pickles was really terrified of the loud beats from the drums and even more so of the colourful furry beast hehe...

Our long firecracker (don't know what it's called but here's a photo to illustrate the item in question) only exploded a few tiers before going quiet -.- Then Papa had to light the fuse again! Darn scary I was afraid it was going to explode before Dad could escape. Those damn things are so loud!

:D

Chinese New Year breakfast!

Su En got some layer cakes from her trip to Jakarta. They're really nice. I love peeling those layer by layer.

Then it was labour time at Ah Ma's place....

Yeay! My ultimate favourite meal of all times. Can't remember the last time Ah Ma cooked these but I was really determined to learn the secret of the stinking recipe! Started cooking sambal petai right after lunch (Tua Ee really paranoid that we might have too much work to do).

Check out the bulging stomach... Outcome of just Day 1 of CNY.

Su En kesi kesi doing work... when in fact I was the one huffing and puffing :D

The greatest invention of a dish.... the superbly addictively stinking sambal petai. I could weep just looking at this beauty :'( It's Ah Ma's version of a sambal petai. Not the wet and soaking type, this is the bomb, just the way I love my petai ;)

Took a rest for a bit, killing zombies before starting on a very tedious preparation on the next dish that I love.

I'll give you a hint:

Not so sure yet? Here's another giveaway.

PERUT IKAN!!

My second love.... (err, come to think of it, I have many loves leh, maybe I'll say it's second with a hundred others? Yes, let's put it that way). Tua Ee used to say that it's extremely tedious and a lot of work involved in the preparation of the perut ikan but I have never completely appreciated the truth in those words until I was involved myself.

We started cleaning the ingredients, but I think, the worst was the daun kaduk. I had to individually clean each leaf (several times) before rolling them up and slicing them into fine pieces. Just that one part (but essential) of ingredient already took up almost 2-3 hours I think. By the end of the daun kaduk session, the balls of my feet are already aching from standing too long without support.

Scribbled on an old-fashioned calendar page... So important this! Perut ikan is soooo tedious to make that I will think twice before embarking on this tiring adventure. I might do it if I have like a hundred helpers :D

By 7:30pm only the perut ikan is simmering properly...

But my orgasmic moment approaches!

Ahhhh.... bliss! I could do with just white rice, and sambal petai. Drooling!! Used my hands to gobble this up, and then went for a second helping, no hesitation. Pants got a little tight around the belly but it was so worth it.

And the immensely complex bowl of goodness. The taste is good, though there is a raw-ish quality about the countless ingredients in it. We all reckon the perut ikan will be heavenly overnight, with everything absorbing the flavour of everything else.

I received a bit of a shocker when Mom jio me to puak. Lol! Can't remember the last time I gambled with Mom!

Puak like only gor puat each round hehehehhe but it's all for the fun of it! Didn't win nor lose though. Notice the foreigner? Pickles was hiding where it thinks is safe from all the loud fireworks :)