Chinese New Year Day 7

Went to 2nd Aunt's house in AMK to visit in the evening, and then to Gim Tim restaurant to have our annual yu sheng dinner. My cousins and I occupied our usual 'kiddie' table, while the other relatives took up three tables.

The 'kiddie' table with Ah Ping as the ginna tao

Waste no time, serve us our yu sheng!

Only there were no salmon slices, because 2nd Aunt requested for abalone slices instead. Yoohoo! We began to fling around the contents of the yu sheng madly while Wee was enthusiastically shouting all the four-word New Year wishes. Then we all began to hunt down the abalone slices one by one.

Next was the shark fins soup. I was glad because Ah Ping and I were granted the privilege of being served the soup sans beansprouts, because it was soon discovered that the beansprouts were barely cooked! Hyuk hyuk!

Then came the mock roast chicken, vegetables with mushrooms and rubbery abalone slices (which I suspected were imitations), Monk Jumps Over Wall, steamed grouper (which, according to Wee, must be eaten with its JUICE), sweet and sour prawns (fresh!) and glutinous rice.

Some herbal goodness from the MJOW

A big yummy prawn

You will not believe these two muggers actually brought their textbooks there to study while the rest of us were basking in the lively cheer of the banquet. Henglip's medical textbook looks like it had gone through at least 5 aspiring medical students despite his claims that it is actually first-hand.

Wee and I were rocking the table with our stupid ideas about faxing and shredding little aquarium fishes. We even decided to pull the 'Tickle-the-Chin' stunt on Ah Sir. Wee's laughter is disgusting.



The star of tonight's dinner: yam paste with ginko nuts! (Anyone who detests those bitter ginko nuts, you can dump them onto Ah Sir's plate because she practically eats everything from Chinese mushrooms (yucks) to fish maw (double yucks))


After that sumptuous dinner, we returned to 2nd Aunt's house for (what else but) gambling. We huddled around a small round table with only a small fan offering minimal respite from the night's humidity. However, there was a small problem with the fan and my aunts thought that PUB was behind it.



Apparently, both the dealers and the punters were not having good luck.



In fact, 2nd Aunt was having such bad luck that whenever she was the dealer for hian niao, we would exercise our cursing power and she would indeed get shitty cards (just like Day 2).

Halfway through gambling, Wee and I were up to some mischief again.

It was Tickle-the-Chin for Ah Sir again!

We made fun of 2nd Aunt because she was such a good sport! Look at her blowing kisses at us!

Sexy 'Ah Ruan' Monroe

We tickled 4th Aunt too because she was slightly more challenging. Luckily she did not snap at us. She even fended off our pesky camera celebrity-style!

I started to get ambitious and wanted to make fun of fiery 1st 'Sound Machine' Aunt (who roars like a dinosaur), but I was not sitting near her and Wee was scolding me "crazy" for even thinking of that. Next time then.

What went on: I was defamed for being a bad girl just because I was holding a beer can which was actually shared between me, Wee, Henglip and Haoling. Wee had exceptionally good luck when being the dealer for see kee (only), and because of that, she refused to play other games (what an ass)! Ah Sir would always be a victim to our nefarious compulsions: Even though she had made some meagre winnings from being a dealer for a few rounds, we would goad her into continuing to play, and her meagre winnings would be gone within minutes.

Even though it was already 1.30am and the aunties were tired out, I still could not get enough of gambling. Looking forward to the final CNY gathering at 4th Aunt's house on Saturday!

Chinese New Year Day 6

Went to Slug's brother's house at Bukit Panjang to visit. He has two adorable nieces who kept me busy the moment I stepped into the house. One was showing me her collection of Roald Dahl storybooks and the other was pestering me to watch her colour the pictures in her Hello Kitty colouring books. Slug and I had fun playing with their three brown bunnies.

We were then taken to a coffeeshop to have a tze char dinner, and then went over to his other brother's house to visit. Busy day!

Chinese New Year Day 3

Had dinner at Ah Ma's house with Ah Sir, Wee, Ah Xian, Haoling and Ah Hao, and then went over to Henglip's house (which is just a block away) to watch Cabin Fever and disturb his two timid cats.

Wee and Ah Sir left after that, and we went on to watch a lame HK movie which nearly killed me.

Chinese New Year holidays are over! Sigh~

Chinese New Year Day 2

Went to AMK at noon to visit my Grandma. She had a playful Jack Russell which loved to lick my toes, much to my irritation. Then went to Toa Payoh to visit Godma, and finally back to Ah Ma's house.

1st, 2nd and 3rd Aunt, Ah Hoon and Haoling came up to my house to visit. 2nd Aunt brought Bobbi along, which was a serious invasion into Meow Meow's territory. Meow Meow was on high alert for any suspicious movement from the dog, but I think Bobbi's eyes were too clouded to see anything in front of her (except food). 2nd Aunt was afraid the cat would scratch Bobbi's eyes and Mum was afraid the dog would clamp and snap Meow Meow's neck. So they had to be kept apart.

We soon had dinner, watched a hilarious HK ghost comedy, and then proceeded with our gambling rounds again.

Four of the 五大赌后, looking at their cards with intense concentration

Me, Wee and Ah Sir just trying to earn some keep

6th Aunt was advising us not to be so immersed in gambling that we forget to go to the toilet. To which, 2nd Aunt began to dish out her philosophy about 'You can go to the toilet everyday but you will not have the chance to gamble everyday'. (See last year's CNY entry if you have forgotten)



And 6th Aunt actually changed her stand and agreed with her!



Hian niao is a fun game where we actually had the power to decide what cards the dealer is going to get! Poor 2nd Aunt had been getting a total score of 2 points for the previous 2 rounds, and in this round, she got an even better score of 1, (no) thanks to our evil chanting.



Time passed by so fast under our merry-making that soon, it was midnight and there went our CNY Day 2. Well, we will still meet the next day to watch movies at Henglip's house!

Chinese New Year Day 1

Today is CNY Day 1! I had barely stepped out of my bed when Kar Cheng, Anthony and later Henglip and Haoling came up to visit. Poor Meow Meow was severely harassed by a sick Kar Cheng, who kept shaking and pinching it. I had to distract them from disturbing Meow Meow any further by playing Dude, Where's My Car?.

I changed into my best threads, and all of us went downstairs to Ah Ma's house to greet our relatives and collect the many ang-pows waiting for us. Everyone stilll looked the same, except for a pregnant Ah Ping. Not to waste time, we quickly rallied all the Blackjack addicts to officially launch our traditional festive activity.

Two pink pigs

After a couple of rounds, we took an intermission where we quickly usurped the mahjong table while the mahjong uncles went away for dinner.

Stupid Henglip was reluctant to pose for a picture and Haoling was more than eager to squeeze her face in. Also check out the hardcore 4D punters crowding around the TV in the living room. (The back view of Ah Sir's dad was unmistakable). Dad struck 4D AGAIN! Yoohoo!

Wee and Ru

Wee went into some violent fits after knowing my Mum did not cook her favourite bamboo shoots.

We had dinner which consisted of the standard dishes: chicken, duck, cabbage, goh hiong, fried prawns and fish, bamboo shoots, tapioca dough and my favourite braised sea cucumber. After dinner, we were about to resume gambling with the other kakis but guess what we stumbled across in the bedroom?

Two happy Sleeping Buddhas on the floor

That was 6th Aunt (bottom), 2nd Aunt (middle), Ah Hao (slouched on a chair) and Bobbi (the not-very-cute-and-friendly dog). 2nd Aunt was happily propping one leg on the other and shaking her feet when I took them by surprise. They were feeling lazy so we left them alone and went up to my house to watch Frankenfish.

After the movie, we returned to Ah Ma's house and we were all seated at the dining table in the kitchen, raring to start placing our bets (our new crisp two-dollar bills) and rubbing the poker cards.

On went the usual bantering and uproarious laughter while we played a variety of games from Blackjack to sa kee (three cards) to hian neow (literally flip the cat) to see kee (four cards). We were occasionally startled by the tacky 财神到 ringtone that boomed from Ah Sir's handphone. Henglip has a sterling track record of losing in gambling every year; even 4th Aunt was disgusted with his luck that she would not let him be the dealer on her behalf. Our plastic two-dollar bills kept flying across the table and 4th Aunt had this nasty habit of keeping whoever's bills that had flown into her territory. She would give you an accusing look if you tried to claim back your bills from her.

We tried to coerce 1st Aunt to join us but she would not, claiming that she had only four dollars in her pocket. When we said that we were going to play see kee, she immediately sat down with us and smiled "See kee 比较好玩". However, I think 1st Aunt is easily confused because even when we were playing see kee for her sake and had distributed four cards to her, she still asked "Eh, 玩什么?". Haoling and Henglip had an unhealthy partnership whereby they claimed that they got good cards whenever they 'combined power'. Haoling always takes forever to bee pai (reveal her cards).

When gambling with all of us and being the dealer, losing to all of us is not the worst fate, humiliation is. When playing Blackjack, there will definitely be someone who will curse you to draw a ten and bust your cards (to draw cards exceeding the count of 21). When playing sa kee and you unfortunately have a total score of 1 point, you will be overwhelmed by the laughter and mockeries from all of us.

Below are some snapshots of us in action (Warning: Loud laughter and shrieks can damage your hearing):



4th Aunt snatching her winnings and 2nd Aunt debating with her over some 18, 19 and 20 points



2nd Aunt handing out commands on not to feed Bobbi anything except fruits



2nd Aunt dared to challenge the dealer ...

Vicious 4th Aunt sucking our bets without even revealing her cards

We ended our activities unusually early tonight because the mahjong folks ended theirs early too. It was really hot and humid and I could not wait to get home for a bath. Looking forward to the next day!

Chinese New Year Eve

Today is Chinese New Year Eve! Made some last-minute desperate attempt to clean up my bedroom.

Even Meow Meow got a shower from Mum. You know how cats are super terrified of water? I bet this must be the most traumatic experience a cat can ever have in its life.



Meow Meow's pathetic cries

Our reunion dinner was a great dinner of steamboat, which left us sweating and bloated. I wanted to catch the countdown on TV, but when I finished bathing, it was already 12.15am. Argh.

Anyway, I am looking forward to the next few days of mingling with my relatives, snacking on junk food and hours of mindless gambling!

Valentines Day

Went with Slug to have a simple V-Day's meal in town. Woah, I could not believe my eyes when I saw the throngs of people at City Hall MRT Station: bored guys waiting for their girls, happy girls holding lovely bouquets of flowers, couples trying to sneak a smooch in between the crowds ... The V-Day concept wasn't really unique anymore because we are sharing this day with millions of lovers around the world!

Had dinner at one of our favourite hangouts, Changing Appetites. The cooking was not as good as that during the normal days, probably because the restaurant was unusually packed today and the quality of the food was compromised in order to rush the orders out. There was not a single shred of privacy as the tables were arranged so close together that any exchange of mushy words can be easily accessed by (and giggled upon) the other diners. Thoroughly enjoyed their fruity sundae with cookies'n'creme ice-cream (complete with rainbow sprinkles)!



Anyway, who cares about the awful cooking and the intrusive diners? As long as there is a chance to spend quality time with your loved one, everyday is a Valentine's Day!

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