年夜饭

The bff made the call to go with the familiar hotpot for reunion dinner. She was up first thing in the morning and zoomed into the kitchen to prep for ingredients. Her iPad was tuned to ahemm...some Hong Kong tv soap drama. The boys were busy being snipers and killing enemy soldiers on tv. I couldn't get a foot in! So I hung around to take silly photos and wash whatever the bff threw into the sink.

Then I left the kitchen to fiddle with my Macbook. Lots of chopping and stirring went on in the kitchen. Then there was silence. It was followed by the ominous opening of the kitchen door, and the chilling announcement, "We're out of soya sauce!" Of course we must have the soya sauce from Lee Kum Kee. So we bundled up and trooped out to the nearest Tesco.

Clearly, I wasn't much help in the kitchen beyond washing the vegetables, prawns, the dishes and whatnots. After realizing that I didn't know much about needing to peel clean (washed) lotus roots, the bff inspected my bowl of washed vegetables. She peered at them and lifted the top leaves. "Oeh. You didn't throw out the yellowing or blackish pieces?" Guiltily hung my head. "Nope..." She gave me THE look.

Finally, the hotpot was ready! More friends came over for a happy meal. Lovely yummy meal where there were many squid balls, fishballs, abalone, prawns, corn and many other edibles! The continuous badaboomboomboom of fireworks around the city accompanied us from last night till now and would probably continue all of tomorrow. The man and I totally enjoyed this 年夜饭 (Lunar New Year Eve reunion dinner). I'm fairly used to celebrating Lunar New Year with friends who are more or less equivalent to kin. You know some friends mean so much more than the traditional definition of 'blood ties'. Needless to say, it means everything in the world to me to be able to spend the festive period with the bff.

By the way, I did this mega double-take when I saw the table-setting. All of us ate out of rather dainty Hello Kitty bowls. I don't have any objection to them. None of us raised any eyebrows at it. Honestly. It's such a hilariously warm and pretty touch!

These bowls come in many colors. MANY.