Time for Reuninion Dinner again

Today is the day when the Chinese will hold the annual Reunion Dinner or Tuan Yuan Fan in Mandarin. It is the eve of Chinese New Year and all family members who work outstation will come back to dine together, exchanging news and maintaining the good bond among them.

I can still recall how I boarded the train from Kuala Lumpur after a bus journey from Jerantut, collecting soot on my face just to be home for this occasion. The train was so packed that I had to stand allowing the soot carried by the wind to be deposited on my exposed face. I didn't notice this until my mum asked me how I got a blackened face.

Steamboat is the favourite for the feast. We will throw meat balls, fish balls, bean curds, bittergourds stuffed with fillet, crab meats, vegetables, cuttlefish and sea cucumbers into a pot which is then heated. When it is steaming hot, we will be 'fishing' with our chopsticks. I enjoyed savouring food this way. So do members of my family.

Happy having reunion dinner to Chinese all over the world.

All the ingredients to be put into the steamboat pot



These are the edibles to be 'fished'