Rathi's Thots .......: Chinese New Year

Chinese New is a celebration that I look forward to. My kampung cums Taman is full of Chinese people. The celebration here is very grand. All the town folks will balik kampung no matter where they are. We too headed back home to be part of the celebration. We were caught in the jam although we started our journey at 6 a.m and reached KK at 10.00 a.m. Just in time to eat the curry mee.The old traditions are still followed in the small towns. The exchanging of cookies is still very much alive here. I remember, last time the cookies used to be sent in a tray. We will reciprocate by giving them sugar. The same goes for Deepavali. Nowadays, the cookies are packed in the plastic bag and delivered to the house by the house owner. Nothing beats the kuih bakul and kuih bangkit from Tauke's shop. The kuih bakul in his shop is still sold in the banana leaf. Chinese New Year is not complete without the dragon dance. The dance troupe will make their grand entrance to the Chinese houses on the second day. We, without fail would join the celebration by inviting the dragon dance troupe to our house. Accompanied by the loud drum beat, the troupe would dance away to the pillayar statue in our living room to get the ang pow. We have been doing this for quite some time......parallel to the 1 Malaysia concept, I guess. Divinaa enjoyed herself very much, so much so, she wanted to follow the troupe. My girls didn't enjoy watching the dance, saying that it was too loud and scary. I remember, my brother, was part of the dragon dance team when he was in the upper primary. The Chinese took him in coz he could dance well according to the rhythm of the drum beat. His foot pacing and the movements were awesome. He was also able to play the drum well. He would be either dancing or beating the drum in the troupe. He would practise his dance by cutting out the grocery box to make it look like the dragon's head. His drum was the cannister we had to fill in the rain water. He will use that to practise his drum skill. He was in the team for 2 or three years till my father disallowed him fearing for his safety coz the area they were covering became bigger.

The "dum dum che" fellows making their way into our house

.....dancing gracefully in front of the Pillayar statue to take its ang pow

BBQ @ 32 Taman Syeikh Tahir,KK

During that break, we had a small bbq party. The menu was homemade burger, sausages and chips. Suresh did the homemade burger and it was very delicious. It tasted better than the ones sold commercially. It's healthy too coz it has been prepared using all the fresh herbs and fresh ingredients. No preservatives added. We can make the patties and refrigerate them to be grilled the next day for school. Very easy way of doing it and it doesn't consume a lot of time in terms of preparation. Must thank my mum for the recipe. The kids enjoyed eating the burger so much. Since my mum, and grandma do not like to eat burgers, the guys did grilled brinjal for them. It tasted good too.