PINEAPPLES FOR PROSPERITY?

But before we get to humongous pineapples, here is a flower that resembles a bird

when it is in the budding process. Magnolia liflor - a flock of birds to welcome Spring. Spring Festival or Chinese New Year is celebrated today, year of the Ox, the second of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs.

Shops have put up their pineapple deco weeks ago.

I am always in awe at how much bigger the pineapples get every year. 

    In the Chinese Hokkien dialect, pineapples are called "ong lai."     Ong" (prosperity, luck, fortune) "lai" (coming).  So hanging pineapples for prosperity is a play of words which the Chinese are very fond of. I am not so keen on huge pineapples hanging in my porch, 

so eating pineapple tarts for "ong lai" is close enough. 

But for assurance, I have pasted the good luck Mandarin character "fu" on my front door. 

 Fortune, good luck blessing,

 ALL COME IN PLEASE. 

"FU" in capital letters in English isn't exactly a blessing. Isn't it amazing how languages can have such different meanings and give rise to much misunderstanding! 

This "fu" comes with the Chinese God of Wealth and Money - "Caishen." We have a very popular song for CNY that is blasted repeatedly - "Caishen Dao," Money God has arrived. 

And yet another "fu" but with a FISH. Another play of words from the Chinese. 

In Mandarin, the same pronounciation can have many meanings - homonyms. This is the reason why Mandarin is a difficult language to study. The character fish is pronounced "yu" which rhymes exactly with "yu" which means surplus/in excess. Thus, the fish symblolises "nian nian you yu" which means abundance and surplus every year. 

 Peonies and 

any flowers in red or gold is accepted,

 including clothes. All black is a big NO NO, reserved only for funerals. Here is my Mandarin class mates having our Chinese New Year lunch, 2020.

We had our reunion dinner 

last night. Only the three of us. Opps... four of us since the man of the house

 (Thory) sat himself at the table while we were still getting stuff from the kitchen.

Xin Nian Kwai Le (the mandarin character is "chun" (Spring).

STEALING MY FRIENDS' FLOWER PICTURES!

Scarlet bougainvillea planted by Prof. Elizabeth's parents many years ago in the 1960s. 

A mauve display from Albert.

This is what I get up to when my garden is only GRASS and WEEDS with nothing to show off. 

Different varieties of Desert Rose 

from the Liews.

Lotus from Ah Con and her 

water lilies 

in her fish bowl, and her 

scarlet frangipani reaching to heaven.

 This rare unusual plant flowers only at NIGHT for Ms Puah Suat Moi. 

The flowers from the Epiphyllum oxypetalum or Night Queen tragically fade as dawn arrives.  

All the way from Melbourne , Australia is this Hibiscus Rio Clara  (rosa sinensis) in the Wees' garden which loves its position facing North in summer. The Wees, once Malaysians but who are now Australian citizens, are very patriotic as this species is Malaysia's national flower. More flowers 

from MelbourneI do have lilies in

 pots to show off. 

My only frangipani that bloomed once and surrendered to life as I over-watered it. 

Home-grown lilies from Australia, the pink is stunning.

Malaysians EAT WHAT, OK COOK?

       We Malaysians are a HUNGRY bunch. Twelve of us in my Mandarin class had lunch last Chinese New Year. It was a nine-course meal of (top left to right) crabmeat fake shark fin soup, fried fish, steamed glutinous rice with pork floss, steamed prawns, bean curd, broccoli with dried oysters and mushrooms, dessert, stewed pork and "yee sang."

      With a multi-racial population, our food is “rojak” (mixed and matched). Meal times can be a random of Indian curry, Malay sambal and Chinese stir-fry vegetable.

"Rojak" meals suit me real fine as I am just OK COOK. I seldom let the family know what I am dishing up cos’ it seldom tastes like what it is suppose to. Yesterday’s lunch was mee siam (spicy rice vermicelli). Gizmo Man went, “You used glass noodles. How can? Mee siam is with

mee hoon.” Savvy K exclaimed, “it’s the wrong colour, can you please learn from YouTube.” “EXCUSE ME, you two can EAT it or LEAVE it.” So they ATE it. But, not everyone is like OK COOK, many of my friends/family are Master Chef ingredients: 

Drum roll please ... coming at number one is my sister-in-law, Irene Fraude. Did you say you wanted Western,

Italian😋😋? Just ask Irene. You want M'sian "apam balik" pancakes oozing with cream sweet corn? Ask Irene 😍!

Her daughter baked this incredible masterpiece. Ha, this proves cooking genes are heritable!

  Ta-da, coming close at number two is Moo Eng, the 🐳 seafood 🐟 chef . She is equally good in the laboratory and kitchen.

 

Moo Eng even packs

 helluva gourmet work meals.  Wonder if a 😴 snooze 😴 follows such satisfying lunches? Compare this with 

my pathetic lunch. Coffee is not even on.

     My neighbour Sweeny is a patissieredisguised as a pharmacist. She bakes for her family - a good 14 b'day cakes yearly. 

 Prof. Elizabeth makes pretty decent Saturday breakfasts and salads.

Joan prepared a "nasi lemak" (coconut rice) feast which she coloured with "bunga telang," (clitoria ternatea/butterfy pea flower). The fried chicken, "sambal," fried anchovies and peanuts, eggs and "kangkong" (water spinich) complement the rice. A painstaking effort, good j👩‍🎨ob.

Malaysians use the "bunga telang" for a natural blue food colouring. It is a creeper and I have it on my back yard rails.      When any of my dishes come out real tasty, Savvy K advises, “Daddy you better enjoy it, she will never get it right again.” I am not grand on presentations, my food comes from pan to table.

Haha, when the 2 pests hassle me, OK Cook just throws everything in 😝.

     “Oh Mann ... Shhh Daddy, just eat little bit OK. Later when she watching Netflix I heat up pizza for us. Which one you want, Daddy?”

OK daddy, pizza's ready, "cepat makan" before someone eats it.