This year marks the first time i didn't wake up at my parents' place for the most important event in our Chinese culture; Chinese / Lunar New Year (CNY / LNY)!
In a way, i wasn't too far away since my parents' home, the place that i stayed at since 1986, was just a mere five minutes' walk from my flat. It's comforting to see the usual elements of the new year; festive decorations, bottles of drinks and boxes of snacks and sweets on the altar and cartons of mandarin oranges!
There's a need for me to include something from my own kitchen; the osmanthus jelly with wolf-berries and red dates in a fish mold. p.s. it's really simple to make your own osmanthus jelly.
The one thing i die die must have on the first day of CNY; mom's cheng tng that's extremely generous with lotus seeds, longan, snow fungus, red dates and ginkgo nuts! As per our family's custom, a hard boiled egg would be added.
Arrival of my elder sister and her boisterous two kids!
Apples of the grandparents' eyes; it's rightfully so that i pulled them together to take this picture while everyone was still fresh. Towards the end of the day, you would likely see everyone looking tired.
Stole a shot of my sister taking picture of her beloved family! Joyvn might have appeared to lose some weight recently but she had in fact grown taller over the year. Her appetite remained ravenous and in this picture, she was happily indulging in a banana!
Since last year, my sister had started on the age-old tradition for my parents to sit on the sofa while they articulated their blessings and passed them the red packets.
In reciprocal, the parents would also pass them a red packet. The essence of the red packet was for good luck / fortune for the new year and it's unfortunate to hear of a rate card for the amount to give. If there's a need to be so commercialised, save the earth and don't bother on using the red packets; give hard cash would do.
Now for the sister to give to her kids! I actually didn't quite bother with such "stringent" practice and had in fact passed the red packets to my parents shortly after i opened the door to their house.
Nevertheless, it's good to have the kids starting on the tradition so that they can continue to do so for future generations. It's quite a funny version that they had though.
After spewing out their wishes in rapid speed (with a few splashes of saliva), they would end by screaming "huat ah"! In the case of Jovyn, she looked like she was about to throw the mandarin oranges at my parents for good luck!
After the hooha, it's time for lunch and selfie time! Our family just recently got hold of the apps known as SnapChat and Snow and they were so fun!
Like this amazing picture of Jovyn with two hair buns and freckles! After lunch was a frenzy of visitations at relatives' houses! So how's your first day of CNY / LNY?