Twas the day before Christmas

Ah! Who does not love Christmas Eve? There is always such a feeling of anticipation on this day. Ever since I was a child, I have always loved celebrating Christmas. It just gives me such a feeling of thrill.

As I grew older, I learned to appreciate the deeper meaning of Christmas. We come to celebrate what Jesus has done for us. This is the reason for Christmas.

This morning, I brought to my office a walnut cake that I had baked last night (actually, by the time I was done baking, it was already past midnight). As I had decorated the cake with "toys", I did not slice the cake and instead brought the cake whole to the office for my secretary to cut to be shared among my colleagues.

My office has a tradition of Christmas gift exchange. Each year, the number of presents that I give and I receive seem to get more and more. What a blessing!

My colleagues very thoughtfully saved 5 slices of the walnut cake for me. I ate a slice of the cake in the office. When Da and I met for lunch after work, he ate a slice of the cake. The remaining 3 slices were subsequently eaten by FIL, MIL and my mother during dinner today.

My company's management had declared a half day off for us. However, as in the past years, I had urgent work to clear and I did not leave the office at 1 pm. I managed to leave the office at about 2.30 pm and I met up with Da to go to Lau Pat Sat at Boon Tat Street for lunch.

Da ordered a century egg porridge for lunch.

I ordered a sliced fish soup for lunch (without noodles nor rice).

After lunch, we decided to go home to rest. I did some last-minute packing for our trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia tomorrow.

Da had made a booking for 5 persons at Straits Chinese Restaurant located at UIC Building along Shenton Way for dinner. We had invited Da's parents and my mother for a Christmas Eve dinner.

Straits Chinese Restaurant is renowned for their peranakan cuisine.

The restaurant is currently having a promotion for a-la carte nonya buffet.

In the evening, we drove to Da's parents' home to fetch FIL and MIL. Thereafter, we went to my mother's home to fetch her. When we arrived at the restaurants, there were already other patrons having their dinner.

We made our selections from the buffet menu. While waiting for the food to be delivered, we snacked on prawn crackers with belaccan. MIL was very tempted to eat the balaccan but she is under certain dietary restrictions due to her recent surgery. Notwithstanding this, she managed to sample a bit of the belaccan when she thought that FIL was not watching her!

I like peranakan cuisine. Some of the signature dishes would include nonya chap chye (mixed vegetables) and chilli prawns.

Da likes to eat ayam buah keluak. I tried buah keluak once 13 years ago (during a Christmas dinner at the home of MIL's eldest sister) and it was my one and only time. I did not like the texture of the buah keluak and I have avoided this dish ever since.

The dishes kept appearing at our table non-stop! The fried spring roll, pie-tie, ayam goreng (fried chicken) and babi satay (meat in satay sauce) were delicious!

The peranakans are also famous for their otah-otah. Malaysians will, however, tell you that the otah-otah from Muar is nicer! *grin*

Gosh! We were full! However, when the dessert menu came, we grinned at each other and proceeded to order the chendol and chin chow (grass jelly).

FIL, MIL and my mother also ate the 3 remaining slices of the walnut cake that I had brought back from my office.

Yawn! As we were sending the parents home, I could feel my eyes starting to close. This often happens when I have over eaten.

Da and I will be leaving tomorrow morning on a 3-day vacation to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We will be flying there and back via Jetstar Airways, a budget airline. We have managed to book a hotel room at Novotel Kuala Lumpur City Centre through Da's brother-in-law (DT) at corporate rates.

We have finished packing our luggage and we are ready to go!

We packed minimal sets of clothes, with the intention to shop-shop-shop while in Kuala Lumpur. Oops! I meant that I intend to shop-shop-shop while Da will (as always) patiently carry all my purchases for me.

I shall update all of you on our vacation when we are back.

In the meantime, have a blessed Christmas!