*dimsumdolly* - the different morsels of the life of a foodie

新年快乐！

万事如意！ 大吉大利！年年有余！猴年行大运！

Happy New Year and wishing everyone a year of good luck and prosperity in the year of the Monkey!

Last night's reunion dinner with my family, grandmother and cousins who are over from Sydney was a sumptious one. We had Yu Sheng, lotus root soup, chilli chicken, braised mushrooms with sea cucumber and dried oysters, vegetables and Kueh Pie Tee which is a traditional Nonya dish. The food was delicious, and I must credit that to my mum's wonderful cooking! We were like stuffed turkeys at the end of it. Chinese New Year is really not the time to go on a diet whatsoever. All the goodies around this period of time are just too good too resist!

After dinner, my cousins, sister and I headed to Chinatown to jostle with the crowds and soak in the New Year atmosphere. The many stallholders were selling all their new year goods at low prices in their last efforts to sell off their goods before the new year.

This year's countdown to the Chinese New Year in Chinatown was different because the government allowed firecrackers to be lit for the first time in 34 years! 88 rows of firecrackers were let off and I got to hear the crackling of firecrackers for the first time! There were also colourful fireworks and sparks to decorate the nightsky! My cousins, sister and I were thrilled and we squealed in delight like little children!

After that, all six of us headed back to my second cousin's place to play mahjong. Last night under the tutelage of my younger cousins, I finally learnt how to play mahjong. As a tradition, children are supposed to stay up as late as possible on New Year's Eve to ensure that their parents live long lives. This practice is known as 守岁 [shou (3) sui (4)] and I think our respective parents will live very long lives as we only stopped at 5:10am!

Anyway, today's the first day of the new year and I'll be going to my grandauntie's home soon. It's where all the relatives congregate - saves everyone the trouble of having to go around visiting many homes. I'm going to wear the new clothes I bought!

And oh, yesterday's newspapers came inside a big 红包 [HongBao]! Such a novel idea!

Before I sign off, I thought I would perhaps show a little of the food I've been eating and the new year decorations around my home.

Food I've been Stuffing myself with

Last night's Yu Sheng

Loveletters and pineapple tarts. The latter is my favourite. I've got a terrible weakness for it. Bribe me with it.

Walnut cake - soft, fluffy and spongy with lots of walnuts! Yummy!

New Year Decorations

金童玉女 [Golden Boy and Jade Girl] greeting visitors at my home's red door!

My mum's pot of heliconias

Mandarin oranges in a Peranakan basket. Incidentally, that wooden chair the basket's placed on is my baby chair! I refuse to let my mum throw it away and it's now a fixture in the home. These days, it's difficult to find a wooden baby chair and it's something I want to keep for its sentimental value as well.

New bedsheets my mum bought for me. It's yellow and red colours are so appropriate for the new year!

Red ginger flowers

恭喜发财！ 心想事成！

Posted by DSD at January 22, 2004 12:31 PM