My mum is quite a religious woman. During the summer, according to the Buddism religion, families prepare meals offering the family members who passed away recently on the 4th, 14th and 24th April, May, June in the Lunar year. That is why my family gathers twice a month (my mum skips one day) to prepare meals for our father. Yesterday was the 4th and my mum decided to prepare in the afternoon (often in the morning), her decision was influenced a bit by my suggestion (I think we have more time for the meal than in the morning). All my brothers and sisters and in-laws were at my mum's place except my 3rd sister who is living in Saigon. The main cook was my 2nd sister and my 1st sister in law. I also gave them a hand. We cooked ordinary dishes: sticky rice, grilled shrimps, boiled chicken, stir-fried beef with onions and celery, soup, noodles, sweet and sour pork chops, banana-flower salad.
It was so hot yesterday. I can put up with the hot weather quite well but I sweated a lot yesterday while grilling shrimps. A terribly boiling day.
After cooking, we put some dishes on the altar and my mum did some ritual procedures. We had dinner around 5.30. And then it rained heavily, cooling us down. However, we were kept at my mum's place until about 8.30 pm. We waited for the rain to stop and went home.
