Tag Archives: Chinese New Year

Of Cookies and Ang Pows

3 Feb

The Lunar New Year or more commonly called Chinese New Year here is all about family and food. For the adults, it’s about spending time with the family, going back to the hometown to visit the parents and relatives; it’s also about food, home-cooked meals and Chinese New Year cookies. One of the many favorites being love letters.

For the children, it’s learning about bonding with the family and the ang pows, collecting as many as possible. When I was young, besides the cookies, it was the ang pows that I looked forward to. The anticipation and the final tally was always a cherished moment. This feeling is the same with my own children now.

There’s 11 more days to celebrate Chinese New Year. Here’s to more cookies to savor and more ang pows to come!

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Wishing all a very Happy and Prosperous Lunar New Year

31 Jan

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!!!’

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The Reunion Dinner

30 Jan

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.

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Let’s Have a Good Time

28 Jan

The new year sentiment and excitement finally kicked in! I think this is because I left things to be done until so late.

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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.

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For Prosperity and Luck

27 Jan

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.

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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!

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