Chinese New Year Eve

Days before Chinese New Year, my family would give the house a thorough cleansing and “makeover” to sweep away all the bad luck and make way for good luck for a new year. My mum loves to decorate the living hall with paper cutouts of zodiac of the year and upside down “fu” that symbolize luck of fortune has arrived. Various food and offerings are put up at the altar of god and ancestor as appreciation for their blessings.

Here comes the fun part, Chinese New Year cookies/snacks making. My siblings and I will help mum out in whipping out goodies; from deep frying crab filament sticks, arrowhead crisps and chicken floss spring roll to baking goods like almond cookies and groundnut cookies. Of course, some cookies that is pain stakingly tedious such as kueh kapit (love letters) and chicken flavour biscuit (gai zai beng) are bought.

The most important part of would be the New Year Eve cum reunion dinner among our families. My parents are so going to kill me if I’m absent from any of these dinners. Family members would gather around a round table, having the obligatory steamboat and a beer or two. Steamboat is less hassle to prepare where all various ingredients such as sliced meat, sea cucumber, fish ball, jelly fish, leafy greens and tofu are cooked in a simmering broth. To some people dismay, the leftover are use for some stir fry dish on the next day.

After the dinner, we often stays till the wee hour, as it was long believed that by doing so our parents would live a longer life. In return, our parents would give us some age suppressing money (ya sui chien) to be placed under the pillow to signify infinity good luck.Stay tuned for more Chinese New Year posting, then you’ll be able to understand the sudden bloatedness in me.