Sunday Lunch is just ducky

The day started out with a torrential downpour. One of those tropical rainstorms - one minute, clear skies, and the next, buckets of water coming down from the sky. I recall a few years ago, when we had our steamboat at Siew Kai's house, it was the same tropical storm. Very soon, the rain stopped, and the sky cleared again, but of course, the puddles on the ground soon evaporated, and the steamy jungle heat is pervasive. Seng had the air-conditioners running full blast, so it was comfortable inside the house.

Seng busied himself in the kitchen, besides sending off and picking up children to and from the tuition classes. He chowed up the roast pork, roast ducks, and fried up the vegetarian dishes. Ann was busy in the kitchen as well, supervising (just kidding, Ann). I tried to help out, and was assigned to mince the garlic cloves. I was going at it, when Siew Kai arrived. Ann then assigned me to meet and greet Siew Kai, so there we sat, downing beers and eating Indian crisps, all in all, a good assignment.

Sui Fun and Peter arrived soon, and the house is suddenly full of noises. Sui Fun is our noise maker of the family. She is gregarious, vivacious, and always fun to have around. We exchanged a few jokes, and I settled down to more beer drinking.

Pretty soon, the food is ready. Sui Fun scooped out the rice, and I carried the plates to the table. One last call, and everyone was seated at the table, eager to dig in. Loon and Lilian have gone to another luncheon meeting, some RM10 deal at a hotel somewhere, so they won't join us until 2 PM, so we were going to start without them. Seng and Ann had prepared two large plates of (Chi) vegetarian dishes, a large plate of roast pork (Kai's favourite), two large plates of roast ducks (everybody's favourite), a plate of Golden Rods with shrimp (very nice vegetable we bought in Cameron Highlands).

Mom sat between Sui Fun and Sui Laun. I don't think Mom can be happier. She has just a broad smile on her face all through the meal, I am sure it is because all her children are home this weekend, and maybe she likes roast ducks.

The roast ducks from Kuala Lumpur is a tradition. Every time Siew Cheong visits home, he will bring home three large roast ducks, and roast pork, and all kinds of goodies. He is very generous to everyone. I think he should visit every weekend. The roast ducks comes with juices inside the stomach cavities, and also dark sauce on the side. I like pouring the duck juices onto my rice and eat the rice with just the juice. I was not much in the mood for duck this day, so I mostly have the vegetarian dish, and the golden rods.