Happy 牛 Year! ~09~ (updated)

Finally back from such a packed and mere 4 days, I guess it's time I fulfilled my promise. So all the way we went back to our hometown, where Chinese New Year is taken as the bast celebration of the year and its traditions are taken seriously. Best of all, everyone's back!

DAY BEFORE:

Doing last minute decorations.

And keeping the stock high. By the way, my cousin handmade the awesome decoration above. Glad you're back from Australia!

Then eyeing the scrumptious meal as of tradition. SLURP! (Especially the EXTRA huge prawns brought all the way from Penang. Can you spot them?)

But as far as tradition goes, the main table can only hold that much as the family expands so we, the bunch of cousins, get the little side table.

We celebrated our Uncle's birthday as well. What luck when it always falls on Chinese New Year!

DAY ONE:

All ready to conquer the world... again.

Then comes the long awaited event : our barbeque dinner, as if a reenactment of the old days. Can't you just salivate at the sight of the food? (Yes, see the gigantic prawns!) Under the newspapers hide sushi rolls, sandwiches, salads and jellies! *all of us beaming with pride*

Burning hot!

YUM!

Then wash it all down with authentic roasted marshmallows. Instructions from experience: Bear the heat till slightly golden, quickly dip in melted chocolate, and let the crust of the marshmallow cruble within your mouth and allow the warmth to consume your throat like a lava flow.

DAY TWO:

Tradition does not escape the other side of the family! There will be numerous visits...

Though the main event is ganging up with our cousins!!

...and this year we watched 'Daisy', a movie which proves my theory : Movies with flowery names are usually horror. Or at least able to chill you to the bone.

Then we get to our highlight (which I stress is only done once a year!)

My winnings over blackjack gave me my bus fare for next week.

Apart from the cheer over good meals, there's the annual photo session.

Getting into place...

This year's photo is great! Even the little ones are beaming straight into the camera! This I should frame up somewhere.

I wonder when we can meet up again. Maybe at the wedding (suspence arousing?)...but that will be another day.

That's about it for me. Maybe I'll get other photos up next time, but for now, I've got to go.

Quote of the
day:

"Is it the year of the
prawn?"

~Christopher as we slurped the
living daylights out of the
poor prawns