2nd day of CNY

The dawn of the second day of Chinese New Year came and passed, and my, my, how time flies. Today’s the day that my relatives would come and visit, and so my mum cooked up a storm. At least 10 different dishes were prepared to feed the “masses”, together with two different kinds of soup. I can only guess how tired my mum must have been to have cooked so many dishes. Some came as early as 10:00am, whilst the others subsequently after that. The house was once again filled with endless chatter, with some younger cousins playing around.

One of my uncles suggested visiting another relative’s place in Serian. The relative was my grandparents’ adopted daughter. Together with at least 3 aunties, we drove to my adopted aunty’s house, but she was not in (apparently doing visitation rounds in Kuching). My uncle then drove around the town with us in the car, and marveled at the various changes and reminisced on the “good old days” with my aunties. They were talking about how much things have changed, and who is or is not around any longer. They would use various words to describe such a person as “fallen” (direct translation from the hakka word “chon”) as opposed to the taboo word during this festive period as represented by an unlucky number.

Back at home, my dad suggested plucking the rest of the rambutans from the season for everyone to eat. We have two rambutan trees bearing yellow fruits, and one rambutan tree bearing the red variety. Personally, I like the yellow ones better. The meat is juicer yet firm in its texture compared to the red ones. There were not that many left though, but enough to fill half a big box full.

Then my uncle suggested catching some fishes from the pond below our house. He was considered very lucky when he managed to quickly scooped two fishes from the pond without much effort. Now I am personally hopeless when it comes to types of fishes, but one was a whopper, measuring as long as the tip of my fingers to my elbow. My dad guessed that the fish weighed as much as 2kgs! Don’t know what type of fish it was, originally thought it was a “tilapia”, but was informed otherwise that it was a “red eye” fish (translated directly from Hakka). There was a smaller yellow fish caught as well.

My education of fishes continued, as the fishes were brought to the wet kitchen area to be “prepared”. My uncle wanted the big one to be smoked, and thus, I learnt a new word – “Salai”. Never knew fishes have to be “gutted” in different ways” depending on how they are to be cooked. Here’s a picture of me “preparing” the fish….. (no seriously! Like I would know!). My “kakak” mentioned that in the kampungs, Salai and panggang are used interchangeably. Salai is an Iban word for smoked, and differs for panggang or more commonly known in West Malaysia as Ikan Bakar. To prepare the fish for “salai-ing”, the fish had to be sliced open on one side to remove the entrails. The smaller yellow fish was gutted from the belly for steaming purposes. Now that’s what I call fresh fish! Direct from the pond. Lastly, my uncle seasoned the fish to be “salai-ed” with salt and pepper, as well as some chicken stock to give it extra taste.

Then, some of us sat at the kitchen table to have some Chinese tea. There were various discussions on how Chinese tea is to be prepared, like “washing” the leaves first with hot water to clean the leaves. I was telling that when I am in the office, I have this big mug which I put tea leaves in, and drink from it the whole day without replacing the leaves. Yeah, I have heard about the unhealthiness of that, as the leaves may release some chemicals after being soaked so long in hot water, which my relatives “kindly” reminded me. What’s unique is that there is a tea pot warmer (as can be partially seen from the picture) which I have rarely come across in many homes. I think my mum has had it since I was young, and just noticed it again when the tea was being served.

Oh, after all the excitement, my dad asked me to pluck some longans from the longan tree which had been “protected” from the birds. One bunch was not riped yet, while the other one was ready for consumption. There wasn’t much left though, as most had been eaten by birds before we came back for the festive holidays. Maybe next time perhaps.

It’s evening now, and dark outside already. I can still hear fire crackers and fire works going off. My immediate neighbours are letting off some very loud ones. Some have an immediate loud “bang”, while others are like constant streaming missiles one after the other shooting up the sky. Well, I guess it’s only for this festive period. Dong Dong Dong Chang! Dong Dong Dong Chang! Dong Dong Dong Chang, Dong Chang Dong Chang!