Father's Day

Last night the now-grown-up children did us and their fathers proud when they hosted a dinner to celebrate Father's Day. Although two other families in our clan could not make it, excluding the ones in Ozieland, we had a good time. The food was good.

To us Malaysians, food is very important and it has to taste good too. Sometimes nicely done-up premises do not serve food that is palatable while lean-tos adjunct to a small house or coffeeshop dish up sumptious food.

Last night's food was good. We started off with a cold dish that had a four-combination of starters.
There was a dish of sauteed broccoli, mushrooms and taufoo with the latter hidden beneath the mushrooms.
The Yam Basket was on the menu but the waitress said that the yam that day wasn't nice so she asked whether we would like to substitute another dish and the concensus was prawns but without the shells as it would be easier to eat.
Crispy skin chicken embellished with prawn crackers (a great favorite with youngsters)followed. It is meant to be eaten dipped into a special blend of salt and spices which brings out the flavor of the chicken. The crunchy prawn crackers simply melt in one's mouth.
Next was a fish dish. The cod fish was sliced and half was deep fried while the other half was steamed with plenty of ginger.
We had spinach soup with century egg and egg yolk of salted egg which made it look pretty, floating in a sea of green spinach. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it. Too busy eating!!
The last dish was fried noodles fried with chicken and mushrooms.
Six fathers were present three of whom are also grandfathers. They sat together, regaling one another with their stories while my sisters and I had a good natter, with the youngest announcing that she will look into a cruise holiday next year for us sisters to enjoy as her older sisters are not getting any younger!
Big families are great fun when we get together but when we were young kids, our parents had a very tough time as we were a feisty lot. We thank the good Lord for our abundant blessings.

Thought I would share this with you. It's amazing to see the little ones performing so well. They are so accomplished it's a pleasure to see and listen to them play. Enjoy!

Mother's Day was last month and this month we'll be celebrating Father's Day. Somehow Father's Day is celebrated on a lower key than Mother's Day.

On Mother's Day we attended a dinner organised by our church to honour parents. I invited my old friends to join us, friends of long standing. My dear old friend and I were in the teaching profession while our spouses were civil engineers so we do have many things in common.

This evening they called on us to see how my spouse was getting on. He had taken a fall on Sunday morning, missing a step on his way downstairs and there was a cut just above his eye which required 5 stitches. Fortunately his spectacles did not break or cut his eye although the frame was badly bent out of shape.

The stitches were removed yesterday afternoon and except for his shoulder, he appears to be fine. The shoulder injury will take a while longer to heal as he has torn the ligaments. His arm was immobilised in a sling for the past few days but the doctor said he need not use it anymore since he felt better.

So he will be in fine fetter for Father's Day celebration. My friends' visit was the bright spot in an otherwise gloomy day, with the rain falling non-stop for the better part of the day.

The newspapers have been advertising massage chairs, Ipads and other electronic gadgets as eminently suitable gifts for the man in the family.

It is good that young people do care enough to take their parents out for a meal on this Day to acknowledge their father's love and guidance aside from the fact that he had been the family provider and funding their education.

It will be even better if young people recognise that their parents are now aging and there will be a reversal of roles whereby they ought to care for and provide for their parents in their twilight years. This is not just material needs but emotional needs where communication, compantionship and feelings of being loved and wanted are food for the soul.

Happy Father's Day!

Old is Gold

A few days ago I received a surprise call from my aunt who is now 78 years old. She said,"Peggy, I'm now in Kota Kinabalu. I want to see you."

Thrilled that she had really come to KK all the way from Johor Bahru, I shut down my computer and together with my spouse, we drove to where she was putting up, quite a long distance away.

She had come with more than 250 retired Chinese school teachers. They had chosen KK as the venue for their meeting and hoped to visit Mt. Kinabalu and its surroundings.
Most of them, according to her are in their late seventies and eighties.

She brought her friend along and we took them to see Yayasan Sabah building now known as Menara Tun Mustapha, and then to our house as she wanted to see where I stayed.

Then we took them out for a dinner where we dined on mud crabs cooked in salted egg, the special Sabah vegetable found only here in Sabah, a seafood soup and braised tofu. She said she enjoyed both the crabs and vegetables.

She was very excited as this was her first trip to Sabah, and outside Peninsular Malaysia ever since my uncle, her spouse, passed away a few years ago. They were looking forward to Mt Kinabalu where they would stay one night and would visit the ruins of an old fort, a rose farm, the market stalls and other places of interest.

It was lovely to be able to see her here in Kota Kinabalu as I hardly go to Johore these days. She is as sprightly as ever and her sharp mind belies her age.