I don't celebrate Christmas. But I do enjoy the season of giving (and taking), for all the creative decorations at the malls, the beautifully wrapped gift items, the sales, etc. And most all, I love this Christmas all the more because i have 5 and half days off!! which is a very rare occurrence at my college.
My Christmas presents from M and his family.
My holiday mood only filled the air at noon on Christmas Eve, immediately after my case presentation on a preterm twin baby. It was the fear of the unknown (or not knowing enough) that made case presentation a stressful routine. But that morning came and went like a breeze, taken by a wonderful teacher and paediatrician, Dr. J.After that, it was just countdown until 4pm to start our journey home. 3 of us carpooled with R to Ipoh. I am a regular with R. And parents usually have to come down to Ipoh to pick me up, but not this time....
Why?
This is how my holiday begins.
I put a night at 3 Kor's place in Ipoh, as parents and the rest of the family were coming down to have dim sum for breakfast and shopping for CNY. But what they really came to Ipoh for was the dinner. A course dinner so-called "Monk jumps over the wall" (directly translated from Chinese). I have no idea what monk or which wall. But what I do know is that it costs RM200 per person. And there were 33 of us!
So what's so great about this dinner?
Dish 1.
Abalone and huge mushrooms with broccoli.
Each mushroom was proximately from the tip of my finger to the base of my palm. I'm not exaggerating. And meant to serve one for each person.
Separated into individual bowls.
Served sizzling hot.
Dish 2.Herbal ginseng soup with some extensive ingredients.
Huge enough to serve 3 separate times with all different ingredients for each person.
Dish 2, Soup serving 1.Shark's fin with some salty stuff (don't know what it's called. But it's something people usually put in porridge)
Btw, I did not eat the shark's fin. I gave my portion to sis.
Dish 2, Serving 2.The white piece is some huge fish's stomach and the brown one behind it is sea cucumber.
Soup 2, Serving 3.
Some deer's cartilage or something.
Abit soft and gooey.
Dish 2.
This was the ginseng that was used to boil the soup.
Dish 3.
Assorted dish.
Dish 4.
Remember the earlier ginseng from the soup dish?
Fried ginseng roots.
Taste like crunchy chinese medicine.
Dish 5.
Fried noodles cooked with abalone gravy.
Dish 6.
By then, most of us were too bloated for anything else. And we were yet to have our individual mushroom. So instead, we told them to serve ONE mushroom for EACH table. Even with that we had difficulty finishing it! So imagine how full we were, or how big the mushroom was.
Dish 7.
Fruits with blended ice for dessert.
My niece No. 2 and her granny
The dinner would not have been possible if it wasn't for the great generosity of my cousin PW and hubby WW. Thank you both for the wonderful dinner!
For the rest of the holiday, it was all about food! One big family dinner after another. Although there's strong family history of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and other closely associated diseases, nothing could stop this family from enjoying good (but high in cholesterol, salt, ajinomoto, etc) food. There were attempts to "neutralise" the dinner food load, by cooking porridge for lunch! Like it'll make alot of difference.
One personal favourite was at the outskirts of Taiping, called Parit Buntar, about 30 minutes away. The road leading to the "restaurant" (not sure if it's appropriate to be called as one), is not fully tarred and only wide enough to accommodate one car at a time! It's the kind of place, where you would not have gone to or would not have imagined having an eating place. I did not take any pictures, but will do the next time we go (probably during CNY). The place was recommended by me Dad, who had been there once with his friends some time ago. He never fail to amaze everybody on the different places to eat or anything related to food. If you believe in the phrase, "You are what you eat", then me Dad is a living prove!
Anyway, that place serves the freshest seafood, and probably one of the tastiest I've ever had. Having only one cook, who's also the boss, an old lady (probably his mom) to help set up the table, and a foreign helper to catch the seafood from the tank, the place functions like a well-oiled machine. Quite a fast service actually, considering the fact that my family alone used up 3 tables full. And the price was rather reasonable too, I would say.
And this dinner was thanks to my other constitutionally (sometimes, pathologically) generous Tua Kor!
That very same night (27 Dec), we celebrated sis birthday, as she was leaving the next day. PW and I went to order the birthday cake at Secret Recipes. Sis had 2 birthday cakes this year! (Not to signify your increasing age sis, just simply because there were too many people at home!). One chocolate moist cake and one mocha cheese cake. So to avoid suspicion, Y helped collect the cakes before dinner instead, and bring them home to keep them refrigerated. It somehow caused some delay for them to reach the dinner place. After giving directions to them through the phone, Seh Han Chek accidentally let the cat out of the bag, saying something about "collecting cakes". Sis, being a thick skin that she is, caught the cue, and said, "Wah! You all bought cake for me? Thank you ah!" I was too shocked to think of something to cover up. And SHC was probably wondering what was actually going on. We were all dumb founded.
But anyway, by the time we reach home, her thick skin was too prevailing.
While everybody was occupied by this cute little girl, and busy trying to catch her attention, a funny dialogue between a hubby and his wife overrides it:
WW: Ah Wen ah!!
PW: Yes?!!
WW: I need toilet roll!
PW: Ha, ok!
Everybody burst out laughing!
Tua Kor: Pang sai is it?
2 Kor: The elder one?
Mom: Constipated.
Tua Kor: The elder one is constipated hor?
The rest was too blur, I can't remember what they were saying either.
It was a wonderful holiday. And truly, truly a family affair.
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