Grandpa's 71st birthday

This was a very formal event. Here he is wearing the formal attire of a royal offical of the Ming Dynasty. It was a black silk top on top of a black silk gown.

Mum made his cake. An aunt brought some red chinese cutting of auspicious words. Making it a perfect fusion of East and West. For beakfast, all of us were served with sweet long noodles. yes, you read it right, the sweetness signifying a sweet life, and long noodles for long life to all who ate this noodles.

There was great feasting, and hundreds of guest were invited. My dad told me that at the birthday of a very healthy and successful person, people like to come to these parties. Some even gate crash. They believe in taking away a bit of the luck of this birthday boy. They will take away uneaten food to share with their family at home.

Vice versa, if the birthday person was a sickly person, people will avoid going to the party. It is seen as taken home the bad luck of the sick person.

Chinese Full Moon Festival.

The Chinese lunar calender as the name says follows the moon.

When a baby is a "moon" or one month old, this full moon is marked with a great feast. To invite the friends and relatives, the proud parents deliver a hamper of cakes and red eggs. Egg signifies fertility, and red prosperity. The red cake or Ang Gu Kueh, shaped in tortoise shape signifies longitivity.

Usally traditionally, it is the maternal grandma who prepares this.

When I was in Primary school, I lived in Padang. We lived among Foochows, Malays, Ibans and a Henghua family. On festivals, we gave each other special food and kueh. That Henghua family, no matter what festival always gave Ang Gu Kueh. I got sick and tired of it, that I stopped eating it.

It was only recently that I started eating them. Connie my Kuala Lumpur friend made hers. Hers was nice. All these wasted years.