The Rooster Rules! (Part 2: Happy Birthday, Mommy)

On Chinese New Year's day, we attended mass at St. Joseph's Church in Batu Gajah. Among other things, Fr. Robin Andrews said that the cock's comb is analoguous to the crown put on Jesus' head during His passion. Also, the cock shows us an example of being faithful by never failing to crow every morning.

This CNY's day is also my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom! So, upon returning home from mass, we had a simple birthday ceremony. She is seen here cutting a fruit cake given by Chui Ying's godparents.


[Birthday Mommy: I wonder if there's brandy in this fruitcake... *hic, hic*]

For lunch, it was vegetarian fare. Menu: 1. ham choy (salted vege) + beansprouts, 2. vege duck + vege fishcake, 3. beancurd puff (tiu foo pok), 4. vege chicken + moi choy (preserved vege), and 5. sweet and sour vege fish.


[CNY Vegetarian Lunch: Brings out the animal in us... *yum, yum*]


[Vegetarian Chicken with Moi Choy: Giving the Rooster a chance... for now]

My mom is a fan of the Menglembu CNY's day market. So, after lunch, off we went... roast pork hunting. There were quite a number of roast meat stalls there (roast chicken and duck included) trying to make a last ditched attempt to make the sale of the year. My mom shuttled from stall to stall checking to see if the meat was 'nice', i.e. the pork skin not detatched from the meat. Before making her final decision, a stall owner offered her a piece to sample... *crunch, crunch* Okay... QC passed.


[My Delightfully Delirious Mom: Such are the simple pleasures of the humble roast pork]


[Malaysian astronauts need to catch up: The Pin Sum Restaurant in Menglembu has already been sending countless ducks to the moon]

This was our menu for CNY dinner: 1. steamed fish in sweet, sour and spicy sauce, 2. waxed meat and sausages, 3. stir-fired long beans and brinjal, and 4. QC-passed roast pork.


[Chicken-free dinner: Giving the Rooster a chance... again]

After dinner, we went for CNY visiting to my aunty's (dad's elder sister) place. She had quite a big bunch of grandchildren. So, Niq and I had our first taste of parting with so many ang pows (red packets) at one go :o).

Are cicadas prominent figures during CNY? We had a green-coloured cicada drop by the house. We'll leave you with a portrait of our winged-visitor. Stay tuned for The Rooster Rules! (Part 3).


[Chinese New Year Cicada]