My Chap Goh Mei 2018

It is the end of the 2018 Chinese New Year celebration on Chap Goh Mei today.  Lots of fire crackers and fire works in our neighbourhood tonite from dinner time till almost midnight now.

I started my day by lighting a candle at the alter and say a little prayer asking the Lord to grant us with lots of love, safety & health for our family.

I had a lunch feast with my colleagues at a seafood restaurant just a walking distance away from my office today.  I pre-ordered the dishes yesterday to avoid the long wait because our lunch time is only 1 hour. I am the eldest among them in this photo. 

  A group photo after our lunch.  

We had a very simple dinner prepared by my better half at home tonite, 3 dishes : Chinese sausage, baked lamb, green amaranth with rice. 

It is a stay at home night for us, tomorrow is a schooling day for our girls, exams is just 2 days away.  We do not practice throwing mandarin oranges into the river or sea but it would be fun seeing people doing that.  We did not buy or eat any mandarin oranges this year because all of us in the house are prone to cough after eating it.  

Wishing those who read this post a Prosperous & Fulfilling year of the Dog 2018!!

立春 Lap Chun 04.02.2016

This was the 2nd year in a row we had "standing of the eggs" ceremony in the office on Lap Chun, 4th February 2016.  It is believed to have a good year ahead if our egg stands.  It is fun too where most of my colleagues joined in the activity.  It's a fine day to start the year of Fire Monkey.

This is my egg standing firm

Here's my colleague trying hard to get the egg stand.  Believe it or not one of  my colleague brought in unsalted duck eggs too..the 2 white ones are duck eggs.

The eggs remain standing when we left the office

Our eggs still standing firm till the next day morning.  One thing we can confirm is that our office is insects free, with the cockroaches and rats around, our eggs would have fallen. 

Wishing all a smooth, healthy and prosperous in the year of Fire Monkey.

Angpows for Chinese New Year

Red is an auspicious colour in Chinese festivities.  Chinese New Year is the time to give and receive Angpows 红包。

It is fascinating to see the various designs of Angpow packets from the banks, companies, hypermarkets and other organisations who give out Angpow packets (empty ones of course) to their customers.  They have different  designs each year. My collection of angpow packets has becoming more and more each year too.

I have collected so many that I have difficulty in deciding  which design to use to stuff the Angpows money.  

The eve of Chinese New Year 2015

I like the fragrance of pamelo leaves, it is so refreshing and full of Chinese New Year festive smell. 

It is a tradition in our home to shower with boiled pamelo leaves water on the eve of Chinese New Year to wash off the bad chi before our family reunion dinner.  I guess most of the local families do the same.  I brought together this tradition into my own small family after  marriage.  Clet will also splash our cars with boiled pamelo leaves water after washing them.

This year, we celebrated our family dinner at youngest brother's home..we were very disappointed that our papa admitted to the hospital the day before due to lungs infection.  Instead of having dinner at home, he had it in the hospital  with  the  packed dishes from home.  He generously gave away his hospital food to someone in the hospital as a gesture of good deed.

Thanks to the  effort of Albert and SIL Shirly for preparing nice and special dishes for us on this  eve of Chinese New Year.

Li chun 立春 04.02.2015

This is the first time I try to stand the eggs on Li Chun 立春。Said to bring good luck if one managed to make the egg stand on its tip on this very day.

I find easier to stand the eggs on the floor than on the table top..I managed to stand 3 eggs, the rest belongs to my colleagues..after that what should we do to the eggs, I asked my colleague, bring home cook and eat la..;)

Wishing all of us good years ahead from this very day..

Getting ready to give Angpows

It is the time of the year to give angpows to our loved ones, relatives and children of our colleagues and friends, and also the lion and unicorn troops that come visiting our homes.  It is a blessing and joy to be able to give angpows.

I encounter one problem when I am trying to prepare the angpows....I do not know which angpow packets to use because there are just too many choices that I have collected from the banks, and other organisations.  All of them are so nice and meaningful.  I am the kind of person who is selective of  the design and meaning of the angpows to whom I am giving to..that's make it tough right??  Shall get it sorted out because angpows giving time is just a few hours away..:D 

WISHING ALL MY DEAR BLOGGER FRIENDS 

A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS CHINESE LUNAR YEAR OF HORSE !!

Chinese New Year cards

I haven't been sending any Chinese New Year cards for many years now.  With the advance technologies, we could send wishes through the internet and hand phone devises, fast and convenient.

But this year, I am trying to send Chinese New Year cards to friends.  The occasion is near, I will have to rush to send them out.  

Dragon Mooncake

It seems we just celebrated Moon Cake Festival not long ago, here comes Moon Cake Festival again. Time really flies for busy people like me. Sometimes I feel a little scary thinking of so much yet to be done with no time to really enjoy life.

Let's come back to the Moon Cake. This is the dragon image double yolks moon cake that my girls asked their Daddy to buy that day. I like the dragon image, while the moon cake is always too sweet for my liking.  We buy, eat moon cakes and celebrate Moon Cake Festival every year to ensure that our girls do not forget they have partial Chinese "root" from me. ^.^

Moon Cake / Mid Autumn Festival 2012

It's the time of the year we celebrate Moon Cake / Mid-Autumn festival.  The Chinese Lunar calendar of 15th August falls on 30 September  this year, that's this coming Sunday.

Moon cakes has becoming more and more expensive. My better half received 2 boxes of moon cakes from his company's service provider that day, single egg yolk in lotus paste and double egg yolks in lotus paste, 1 box each.  We do not have to buy any more moon cakes this year.

Our girls like to eat moon cakes especially the egg yolks, they really know how to pick the most expensive one.  They serve themselves moon cakes whenever they feel like, I have to keep reminding them to control the consumption.  Moon cakes are not only sweet, too much of that will cause heatiness thus sore throat to some people.  I guess that's why moon cakes are best served with Chinese Tea.

Double yolks moon cake is so tempting.

Chinese New Year 2012

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

GONG XI FA CAI

MAY THE DRAGON YEAR BRINGS GOOD HEALTH, 

SAFETY AND PROSPERITY TO ALL OF US, 

AND PEACE TO ALL MANKIND. 

Not much decorations have been put up at our home this Chinese New Year, have been busy with works and other daily chaos.  We have just put away our Christmas trees on the eve to make way for some Chinese New Year decorations.  Lanterns are up few days earlier but the Dragon figurine is still very much lying on the table.  

The Chinese believe that there should have some food on the dining table to welcome the brand new year, symbolizing the abundance of food throughout the year.  Here are some of the goodies I placed on our dining table to attract the good chi to our family.

Gong Xi Fa Cai 2011

It's really been a while since I last posted on my blog. I have been and still pretty busy on my daily chaos that I have to set aside my beloved blog. It's going to be days long Chinese New Year holiday, I have got to make a point to update this special occasion and to wish all a very happy and prosperous Chinese New Year 2011, let's all of us enjoy a healthy and fruitful Rabbit Year ahead.

After having a half day work in the office on the eve of Chinese New Year, I came back home to find a registered post waiting for me on the table, it's a little Angpow that I claimed from taking surveys from one of the survey companies. I received 2 KFC redemption vouchers worth RM10.00 each. Taking surveys are fun and rewarding.

We had our Family gathering dinner at brother, Alfred's house, where my mum and SIL, Catherine cooked a table full of dishes. I did not help cos I am not a good cook, scare to spoil the soup :D, my usual task is to help clean up after the dinner, so I took a nap at home to refresh myself before the dinner.

Mum busy arranging the dishes even after long hours of cooking

We had a good dinner and looking forward to more food and gathering with family members and friends in this Chinese New Year!! Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!!

On the eve of Chinese New Year 2010

I woke up before 5am on the very day of the Chinese New Year's eve; went over to my brother's house to wake my mum up. She was shocked and asked me what's going on. :D I smiled and asked her whether she wants to experience early hour shopping at Lido market with me. She said yes without second thoughts. It was her first time been to Lido market early in the morning, and she was very excited to see so many people there.

We bought all the food stuff that we need for the eve's dinner. My mum did all the cooking for us. There were only my brother's family and my family joined my parents for the dinner while the rest of my siblings have gone back to their in laws.

getting ready for dinner

Mum & dad