This happened on Sunday, 25th May 2008. To mark the start of the 1 month school holidays, my MIL initiated something out of the ordinary-routine-family-gathering-at-her-house-on-EVERY-Sunday : Picnic at West Coast Park.

I love having picnic with my MIL. She often dished out yummies you seldom see on normal picnics. She is a talented cook. Without any hint, you could give her any dish, all she needs to do is take one bite and she could cook the exact same (or even tastier) dish without knowing the recipe.

Hence, it isn’t surprising at all to see long queues in front of her hawker stall all the time during her almost 30 years of hawker life.

I missed those days when I help her out at her stall, oooohhhh I was only Allan’s girlfriend then, not even fiancée yet…it was fun to serve non-stop till all the food was gone…only then the sore from shoulders to toes start to sink in.

Ache and pain were at every joint….but there I was back again, weekend after weekend…longing to have pain fun again.

So this time she prepared yao-mei-fan (Cantonese Language) – its rice steamed with chicken, pork strips, salted fish and preserved pork (larp-chiog). There was fried vermicelli too. Not forgetting the picnic-must-have – Sandwiches. There were sardines sandwiches and egg mayo sandwiches. Last but not least – Fruits: Juicy pineapples, sweet honeydews and tempting grapes.

It’s really a treasure to have 3 generations going out together, breathing fresh air, having fun and building a closer bond. This definitely beats staying in the four-walls on every Sunday.