A new lunar year has dawned. We usher in the Year of the Horse with great hopes of prosperity and luck and may everyone be blessed abundantly. Today we drive up north to hubby’s hometown. Let’s hope the traffic will be smooth.
Here’s wishing all a very Happy and Prosperous Lunar New Year or in Teochew, Hokkien, Mandarin and Cantonese respectively, ‘Sin Chia Ju Ee / Kiong Hee Huat Chye / Gong Xi Fa Cai / Kong Hey Fatt Choy!!!’
This is what the Lunar New Year is all about, the Reunion Dinner. The mass exodus by the working people to their hometowns for this all important occasion with the family. This year our Reunion Dinner will be with my mother and my only sibling and his family. The Dinner is all the more significant with the inclusion of my niece who came back after graduating from college.
We opted for the occasion to be at home instead of going to a restaurant. Over the years, dining out became an option to entice people with the idea of just dining with no hassle of cooking or cleaning up. We tried this before but the matriach of the family feels this is very rushed and not personal. In other words, too commercialized to savor the true meaning of a reunion in comfort.
So we will enjoy dinner with mostly home-cooked meaningful dishes and some pre-ordered delicacies. Bottomline, it is not just the food that matters but the family being together. Tomorrow we travel to hubby’s hometown to be with his family.
The new year sentiment and excitement finally kicked in! I think this is because I left things to be done until so late.
The decors to usher in the new year are finally up for good luck – the all important piece of red cloth hung over the entrance to the house, flanked by the pussy willows. The other necessaries, done and ready.
So, okay Horsey, you can gallop, no need to trot.
The Year of the Horse has galloped in so fast that I feel I am totally unprepared for it. We have been having festivities one after another within such a short period, there’s hardly time to recover from the merry-making and planning. From Christmas to New Year and several birthday celebrations thrown in and now, Chinese New Year, a mere four days away!
And for the first time for as long as I can remember, I have left things until this late to prepare the necessary for the coming lunar new year. Although I am not a traditionalist, there are some traditions I still follow through as taught by my mother.
Also, for the first time, we are having the Pre-Chinese New Year Yee Sang rather late. I recall previous years, we would have had a couple or more of this dish prior to the new lunar year. This must-do dish is an experience by itself. Asians love to toss the condiments of the dish as high as possible for its significant connotations. The higher, the messier, the noisier, the better it is for prosperity and luck.
Last Friday, hubby and I had the Yee Sang and I almost comatosed from the six people 8-course lunch because firstly, it’s such a heavy lunch and secondly, ever since my detox diet recently, my tummy shrank and well, there is only so much I can consume.
Well the Horse has trotted in, whether I am prepared or not, and it looks like the next two weeks is basically about eating and merry-making. So I had better prepare myself to face this and have many more Yee Sang occasions for prosperity and luck!
It’s been raining a lot these days and as such, Rooney, official pet number one, has not been exercising much. Either that or he’s been snacking too much. Looking rather pudgy than a studly dog, hubby is appalled how fat he has become. This reminded me of when we first brought him home and he was mistaken for a little pig!
He was a beautiful little yellow ochre, curly stubby-tailed puppy at seven weeks old when we adopted him from the pet shop. Coming from a champion line, we were so proud of our latest addition to the family then. One day, we brought him out for a walk and the part-time maid across from our house, from the balcony above, saw him.
“What’s that? Is that a pig or a dog?” the curious maid hollered loudly, obviously having never seen an English bulldog breed before.
He may be yellow ochre in color with a curly stubby tail but the pooch ain’t no pig although he may have or could have looked like one from afar with his color and short legs. Or it could be his trot or the floppy ears that had him resembling a little pig. I was too amused to be insulted.
Well, six years has gone by and my fat little pig then has grown up to be a fat big pig now!
This morning when I woke up and reached for my iPad, I discovered Candy Crush had an update. Hah! Finally… but I find this pointless as the update is only until Level 500.
I thought then maybe I should peek into Facebook and see if the game there updated as well, considering I have been sitting at Level 515 since December 31st, 2013. Nope.
So I remain retired from the game. Sigh. But I am not complaining, Farm Heroes with its cute cropsies are keeping me busy!
Call me Farmer Ange!
Ahh… Farming is so calming with the cute cropsies (and occasional animals) in Farm Heroes Saga although initially, the game plan looked complicated but I got the hang of it. Even Rancid the Raccoon is way much better than those darn zippy tornadoes in Candy Crush.
The cropsies (vegetables and fruits) all have big adorable eyes that tug at your heart and they are far more appealing than striped candies or wrappers; I’d say the cute animals in Zookeeper Battle are given a run for their money in the cute appeal category. Coming from a retired professional candy crusher and avid zookeeper, it’s pretty amazing.
Could this be the beginning of another addiction? By the way, I peeked into Candy Crush on Facebook and nope, still no update.
Before I became a professional candy crusher, I was a farmer. I was so into farming, managing three farms simultaneously: Tap Ranch (renamed and upgraded to Dream Ranch HD now), Tap Ranch Lite and Snowy Tap Ranch, on my first gen iPad. All very different from Zynga’s FarmVille which was very popular then in Facebook. These farms appealed to me because I did not have to play online or rely on others to send me crops and things. In other words, I was a full-time independent farmer. At least that was what the girls labeled me, a farmer.
Whenever I was engrossed in the iPad, they will dutifully not disturb me because I was farming and concentration was needed to tend to my alfalfa and other crops as well as my animals. Ah… Those were the days.
Then Candy Crush struck and my status changed (I was a professional candy crusher). The farms were neglected and ignored as I crushed my way to the top of the candy saga. But my status changed again (I am now a retired professional candy crusher) at the strike of midnight into the new year. Last Friday, I downloaded yet another game from King.com to occupy my time because suddenly, I stopped reading (I don’t know why), Zookeeper Battle has not been holding my attention as much and I had deleted Papa Pear because of launch issues.
A sense of deja vu has struck because it’s a farm app: Farm Heroes Saga. Another saga to march on, like Candy Crush, but a farm, thus making me a farmer again.
Maybe I should change my status again to be a full-time farmer this time? Hmm…
Of late, M2 has adopted a new approach to request for things. The persistency is what I call ‘Flavor of the Month’ whereby the star ice cream flavor is heavily promoted. In this context, the star item is constantly requested.
Whenever we go out, her persistent badgering never stops. So far, the ‘flavors’ that I can remember ranges from a hoodie jacket, Christmas lights, a beanie and a mini skateboard. The latest being a pair of sunglasses.
“Oh! Can I have sunnies?” she’d ask innocently and M1 would roll her eyes upon hearing this.
“Is this the flavor of the month?” I would ask.
She would beam at me and flash a grin, “Yup!”
I would then beam back at her and flash a grin, “Nope!”
Sometimes the cheekiness in her gets the better of her and she would point out, “Mommy, it’s flavor of the week! Last week, it was something else!”
How nice of her to remind me. Nonetheless, it’s a constant battle. I hope the request novelty wears off soon before I actually cave in.
Angieneering 
Remarks