Well-fed

Lunar New Year might as well be a celebration of good food, considering how much money is often spent procuring the finest ingredients (by those who cook) or the best festive set menu at popular restaurants (by those who prefer to leave cooking to the experts) during the 15-day festival.

Only those who take the effort to whip up dishes for the compulsory reunion dinner on the eve of Lunar New Year will know how tedious the process is.

To help make life easier for dad and mother-in-law, both experts in the kitchen, I bought pen cai from Marriott Singapore Hotel - one for each family. As pen cais are large pots filled to the brim with all things tasty, such as roast pork, braised chicken, fish maw, dried scallops, abalone, oysters and many others, a family could be full from just that dish.

But dad and mother-in-law still insisted on cooking up a storm.

Ah well. Abundance of food, especially when plenty is left over at the end of the meal, is deemed auspicious to the Chinese.

So three hours after stuffing our faces at a long lunch with Joshua's side of the family, we adjourned to my parents' place for dinner. There was hardly any time for the tummies to rest! Then again, the tummies needed no rest. Dad's star dishes - fried prawns in XO sauce and a potent stew with mushroom, oysters, roast pork and black moss - always get appetites going.

Reunion meals are just a taste of what's to come. Feasting went on today, the first day of the Lunar New Year. Apart from the main meals, which comprised of rich dishes, we also ate our way through relatives' homes.

Oh man. If one intends to keep to a strict diet, one will be safer staying home and not joining in the festivities.

Tomorrow will be another day filled with good food. Frankly, I can't wait. Heck the expanding waistline. Such celebrations don't take place every day.

Now, I wonder if mum still has her old maternity dresses. I could use a roomy dress. :)