Every year for Chinese New Year, our family has a pretty unique tradition. We have 2 reunion meals - this is where we differ from other families because one is technically a reunion late-lunch and the other is a reunion dinner. The reason we have two is because we head back to Sitiawan for my dad's side of the family early in the morning, stay till after the reunion late-lunch and then rush back to Penang for the reunion dinner with my mom's side of the family. Mind you, its a 3 hour drive in between so its quite a hectic day.
Reunion late-lunch normally consists of my aunts home cooked fare with some restaurant ordered dishes. The must have Sitiawan CNY food would be the 'Ko-ru' which I love and is actually fish bladder cooked in a sour spicy soup with bamboo shoots. Oh so yummy. I'm so going to miss this in Aus. Reunion dinner back in Penang would be steamboat and every year I will go for the quail's eggs and sliced pig kidneys! Oh I love those. Properly cleaned and cooked just right, those are the best! CNY is the one time in the year where I allow myself to eat those kidneys and ignore the warning bells of cholesterol.
This year all travelling hears no complaints from me. It is after all my last year of receiving angpows :) I will happily meet every single member of the extended family and receive my dues. Haha. The shot above is one of my cousins from mom's side with sis and I.
cheryl
