Reunion Dinner 2010

A long time ago, reunion dinners were eaten at home. For my family, it is customary to cook our dinners. I remember our table laden with dishes and dishes of meats and seafood and vegetables. The must-haves include fish maw soup, meat rolls, and an assortment of meats. As the family expanded, one table grew into two, and both tables were filled with lots and lots of food.

But reunion dinner meant a lot of work - the cooking and the cleaning really takes a toll. Mom and aunts will start cooking early in the morning. After dinner, the washing up takes a long time. At the end of the day, it is really tiring.

Hence, my family has resorted to eating out during the Lunar New Year eve. I remember our first dinner outside years ago. It was held at Thian Court at Crown Square here in Kuching. We paid lots of money, and so we expected good food. However, it was really disappointing.

Over the years, we had other reunion dinners outside our homes, and every year, we learned to lower our expectations.

Tonight's reunion dinner was held at Dong Guan Seafood, at 3rd Mile Kuching.

For RM499 per table, we got 9 dishes.

First up was the customary dish of yee sang. It was a symbol of abundance and good luck, and we were supposed to toss the ingredients as high as possible. Anyway, much of the ingredients used in the yee sang were unknown to me. I could only identify pomelo pulp. I did not like this dish at all.

Yee Sang

Tossing the yee sang

Next came the cold dish. It had siew mai, baby octopus, a meat roll thing, popiah, and the centre made up of an unknown item. Aunt said it was thinly slices of abalone. I thought it was some kind of fish cake thingy ;)).

Cold platter

There was a kind of sticky soup. It was served lukewarm.

Unidentified sticky soup

Steamed pomfret. It was cold. It would have been yummy had it been served piping hot.

Steamed pomfret

Next came the piggy rolls. Piggy inside and piggy outside. Lol. It's basically minced pork wrapped in pig skin and then braised in sauce.

Piggy rolls : piggy in and out ;)

The yam basket was quite tasteless, and I did not care much for the vegetables in the basket.

Yam basket & assorted vegetables

However, I liked the next dish, which was braised duck in sea cucumber and snow peas. The duck was soft and tender, and the sea cucumber juicy. At least this dish was hot!!!

Braised duck with sea cucumber & snow peas

The lotus leaf rice was also a favourite. Although the ingredients used for this dish were meagre, we could find some preserved meats and lotus seeds in there.

Lotus leaf rice

Anyway, reunion dinner was done and over with, with grandma missing in action. She was not feeling quite well and so she did not want to join us. For me, it felt a little funny not having grandmother around, for she was there as long as I remembered.

I wish all friends and family, and of course, my readers, a very happy and blessed lunar year of the Tiger. May the year ahead be abundant with good health and prosperity.