When I did A-level history, we had a class or two about the French reunion policy, about the reestablishment of the vassal states’ French-ness so as to buttress the French state’s glory.

But I can’t remember the rest of it, and it wouldn’t make a very good story either. All rise and fall, ascendance and gradual decline and stagnation type of thing. Typical historical example.

So anyway, it’s Chinese New Year weekend.

And I’m planning on my own not-so-little reunion dinner feast with friends on Saturday. No steamboat because some of the people coming are vegetarians (damn them!), so it’s going to be a dinner of at least 5 different dishes as I attempt to do my best Chinese-style cooking.

So far, I’ve already bought 4 packs of dumpling and wanton skins, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, dried mushrooms, towgay, straw mushrooms, chye sim, plum sauce, and wood ear. And I’m not done yet! I still have to buy mince pork, chicken, more vegetables and truckloads of tofu.

I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to coordinate all this cooking and all this shopping, and I’m seriously completely amazed at how my grandmother has been doing it for the past few decades. I mean, for our reunion dinner she cooks for about 25 or so people, and on chor yat itself she prepares enough food for about 50. That is some amazing logistics, I tell ya.

But I’m excited, even though I can foresee a whole day in the kitchen chopping, slicing, stirring, boiling, dicing, mincing, mixing, frying.

I just hope everyone turns up on time and that there’s enough food to go round.