Reunion Dinner at my house ... during Chinese New Year Eve

My grandmother/grandfather has 10 children - 9 males and a female.

As with tradition, the female will be following her husband to her in-laws. Not that women is treated unfairly, mind you. It is just a tradition.

So, how to hold a reunion dinner in such huge family circle?. My grandmother is pretty smart at holding everyone close together. She says that each of the 9 siblings will be taking turns every year.

As last year was my 2nd uncle's responsibility, this year was my dad's turn.

It is not an easy task holding a reunion dinner. House have to be cleaned ... like really clean. Then comes the food, soft drinks, beers, wines, red packets (ang pow), decorations, etc ...

I did the best I could ... cleaning whatever I saw ... doing whatever was needed to make sure the reunion dinner went smoothly. And thank God it did :)

House entrance ... checked!

Tables and chairs ... checked!

Spoons, chopsticks, oranges, bowls, etc ... checked!

Weirdly enough, my dad decided to cook porridge for teatime before the reunion dinner starts. No worries though as my dad is a great cook. The porridge is finished by the end of the day.

A huge pot of porridge

My father also dished out some other dish, namely ...

'Khak Bak' - grandmother's favourite 'must have' dish

... and ...

Chili padi chicken - quite spicy but yet delicious thanks to my dad's skill and the fresh chicken

... as side dish.

For the main dish, my dad dished out 'Lok Lok'. You can call it steamboat (Loh) too as it is very similar. The only difference is 'Lok Lok' has a special peanut sauce to go with and all the ingredients (diced/sliced meat, vegetables and etc) are skewered into bamboo skewers.

After porridge feast, everyone (cousins and aunties) start working on the 'Lok Lok' ... placing fish balls, meat balls, vegetables, squid and etc into the skewers.

'Lok Lok'

My dog - Max (which was tied up) looking a little bored there. Max had to be tied up for fear it might ran out and wander around unnecessarily during the night.

After dinner, ...

My dad and uncles (his siblings) chatted ... with beers, wines and teas of course

The children (younger generations) played cards ... mostly Killer ...

My aunties got the 'Lou Sang' ingredients ready

All of us 'Lou-ing Sang' ... meaning mixing the raw ingredients (coloured gingers, pamaloes, crackers, etc). While I like 'Lou Sang' for its healthy mixture, I hate gingers ...

Later on, my 7th uncle gave out red packets (ang pow). The fact was he was giving it out in the name of my 8th uncle who was unable to join us this year.

The catch here was that we were to dance in order to random-pick the ang pow. I danced and I chosed mine. I picked RM30 ang pow while my lucky sister picked a RM50 ang pow. Well, better than none. Its the act that matters after all ... not the amount of money inside.

My youngest cousin did a little hip-hoping by yo-yo-ing.

To my relatives and family members, may we remain close to one another like we always do. May we be blessed with good health, prosperity, happiness and etc.

Till my next post, Happy Chinese New Year!