There was plenty of fruit, which was great for Jac as she is still eating a low-fat diet as she awaits her surgery (due to take place on Tuesday).

Mum and Dad made a big batch of donuts using their donut maker, one of the gifts from Auntie T and Uncle S at Christmas, and Juji sugared them. The donuts are made with pureed pumpkin, I think. Sorry, with everything that has happened lately I haven’t had a chance to chase up recipes or anything like that.

Juji’s sugared donut, and my unsugared one. I thought they tasted yummy even without sugar.

There was also bread…

…and Koo Ma, my Aunt from Adelaide, made waffles!

As well as the fruit, there was also yoghurt, cream and maple syrup to go with the waffles.

My younger sister Juji’s boyfriend ate his waffle with maple syrup, mango, banana and cream.

Koo Ma painstakingly piled her waffle high with an assortment of fruit and a big spoonful of berry yoghurt.

Jac’s ate her waffle with maple syrup, banana, mango, strawberries and kiwi fruit. I had a few bites of Jac’s waffle and it was gooooood. Koo Ma‘s waffles are made without sugar and are relatively low fat, so it is up to each individual to decide how he/she would like to sweeten/fatten it up, with syrup, cream, fruit etc. After trying some of Jac’s I thought I might cut a waffle in half and have just that half to myself, with a little maple syrup.

As it turned out, I didn’t need to cut any waffles in half – the very last waffle was misshapened and smaller than the rest – and I claimed it for myself. I had it with a little maple syrup, strawberries, grapes and a slice of watermelon. Oh, and a warm, glarey ray of sunshine.

But wait, there’s more! (this is why I was reluctant to use up valuable stomach space on a whole waffle!) While the waffles were being made by Koo Ma, my sister Juji fried up some bacon in a pan on the barbie. I helped turn the bacon too – it was very spitty and smelled amazing. Frying bacon definitely has to be one of the best smells in the world. Unless you’re a vegetarian, I suppose.

Jac wasn’t allowed to have any of the bacon and eggs, of course. But I didn’t need to worry or be Constable TFP of The Bacon and Egg Police – she wasn’t even tempted to sneak some bacon …the memory of the pain of that gall bladder attack is still too fresh – she has been super strong in resisting fatty temptations.

I, of course, had some. With tomato sauce.

Unbelievably, there was yet another major dish to eat! Mum had cooked up a big pot of pork chok (rice porridge*). The chok had home-made mince pork balls and pork ribs in it. Mum very thoughtfully made a smaller pot of plain chok, without pork, for Jac to eat. (Thanks, J-S, for holding the ladle for the photo!)

To go with the chok, we had the following trimmings: L-R clockwise, chopped spring onion and coriander, fried shallots and fried minced garlic.

We also had yow char kwai, which is a kind of deep fried dough stick. These were purchased, not homemade. The origin and translation (oil-fried ghost) of this item’s name is interesting and kind of macabre (click here to read). In addition to all these trimmings we had soy sauce and sesame oil too, drizzled on top of our bowls of chok and then stirred through for a beautiful flavour.

I confess, I was a terrible glutton and had three bowls of chok! I love chok. I could eat it every day for breakfast and not get sick of it. Note: I only had yow char kwai in the first bowl of porridge – the yow char kwai is kind of rich in a greasy sort of way, and I can’t eat too much of it in a sitting without feeling a little sick.