eurasian xmas lunch
@ jalan mak'mor


every year, without fail, for the past two decades or so, we have been attending this christmas lunch hosted by magdalene and michael. magdalene is a eurasian and michael is chinese. magdalene's sister, mary gomes, is the author of 'the eurasian cookbook'. she - mary - prepares some of the dishes for the christmas lunch.

there is always a good spread of mouth-watering food which includes the eurasian chicken pie, chicken chilli garam, fried chicken wing, meat ball, stewed beef, prawns, turkey, ham, sausages, salad, cakes, tarts and agar-agar.

eurasian food is an exotic blend of east and west. eurasian have spiced up much of their food with both fresh and dried chillies, and given many of their dishes a typical piquancy by adding tamarind or vinegar.

the crowd comprises friends and colleagues of michael, magdalene and another of her sister, doris. i am with the group from the former may primary school. this group includes people like mdm huang, lilian, kay poh, christmas, mary and mrs yanis.

at this party, i always meet one of my former students and his sister margaret who was, until her retirement this year, with qihua primary school. i used to meet another of my former students, lian seng, but i have not seen him for quite sometime. another person i have missed seeing at this gathering is a former neighbour of mine, eng tuan.