My yearly negotiations with Mummy about Chinese New Year cooking
Every year I tell her it's not necessary to cook for Chinese New Year. Every year I fail. Yet I keep trying. Points for effort?
The conversation almost always begins on Chinese New Year eve.
Me, in the morning: Mummy, seriously, can't we just go to a restaurant and not cook for once?
Mummy, looking baffled at such a suggestion: How can I not cook? We have to pray!
Later in the evening, after slaving over the wok for hours, and producing a few days' worth of food, Mummy: "Next year I will not cook anymore!"
Me: "That's what you said last year."
Mummy: "I will not cook next year! Tired already!"
Me: "You promise? Promise?!"
Next year, the same conversation will repeat, like some Chinese version of Groundhog Day.
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