The tickles & tumbles, trials & tribulations of a 30-something on a quest to conquer the stove & scale iron-pile mountain while tending to a pet monkey, a guinness-guzzling buffalo, and an impossible derriere that no longer defies gravity. But THAT, is a different story...
I'm almost tempted to put this down as a serious case of conjunctivitis - seeing how we've been subjecting our eyeballs to so much red lately they've turned quite scarlet.
It's the crimson-hued festivals we've been celebrating, you see. Red banners, posters, hearts, roses, chocolate boxes, lanterns, firecrackers, balloons - everywhere is splashed with ruby red or dazzling gold. They're hard to miss, much less ignore.
We're not griping the fiery hue though. How can we when it's brought us through 2 very joyful and abundant occasions filled with friends, feasting, but most of all, Love.
Seeing how Chinese New Year is celebrated over a 15-day period, I guess this post isn't that dated?
Pop Quiz: Q: If you're more than a thousand miles away from home during an important & auspicious festival in the Chinese calendar, whaddya do, whaddya do? A: You try to replicate the raucous atmosphere & 'fweeeling', of course!
Here's a checklist of customs & traditions which we took 'pains' to observe during our 1st CNY in London:
1) Clean the house before the CNY On Fri (16th Feb), I took on my haus frau duties with unbelievable gusto. I cleaned, washed, Dettol-ed, vacuumed the whole house. And it wasn't even Monday!
2) Don something new Danielle wore a new chinese 'samfu-like' garment, all set to show off some nifty gungfu manoeuvres! Kee-yak! In stark comparison, the only new thingamies the Mister & I had on us were... our underthongs.
Can you tell? Heh heh heh.
3) Stock up ye CNY goodies Meiling made delicious pineapple tarts & kueh bangkit one weekend and graciously gave us her 'best' batch! My mum sent us GLORY pineapple tarts which we're still savouring ever so slowly. They arrived all crumbly but the buttery pastry goodness was left intact. My sis sent Bee Cheng Hiang 'ba hu' which was walloped in one sitting! CNY is all about gluttony too, in'it? :P
3) Steamboat No CNY is complete without the proverbial steamboat dinner. Lucky for us we brought along our steamboat appliance, perfect for an occasion like this. We had 2 kinds of soup - the clear meat-based one, and spicy Taiwanese mala. Our dishes consisted of home-made dumplings (Meiling), luncheon meat, golden mushrooms, assorted fishballs, prawns, thinly sliced chicken/pork/beef, tung hoon etc etc. It was a most scrumptious spread!
4) Gambling Dee played the 'banker' & we played '21' into the night (well, the other 3 did. I was completely knackered, & slept together with Danielle). Everyone was a winner... we played for kicks not money.
5) CNY music What is CNY without the cacophonous sounds of cymbals clashing and drums pounding?! We tuned into FM95.8 on Meiling's laptop, cheered as Singaporeans did the CNY countdown & shimmied to the 'dong dong dong chang' music.
6) Roll in an 'ong lai' for good fortune Ahh yes, we did the whole 'roll in a pineapple thing' just for laughs. With a nice, ripe pineapple waiting at the door, we cued the lil one in for the 'ong lai' ceremony! She took it very seriously, she did.
7) Mee Sua for breakfast An age old tradition at my in-laws. Meiling played matriach for a day by cooking us steaming hot bowls of mee sua with dumplings & egg, eaten with red cut chilli. Oh Mummy!
8) Ang pows Lucky Danielle got ang pows from 奶奶, 公公/Grandma, Ah Yee/Ah Teoh, and her 1st London ang pow from the newly-weds, Mr and Mrs Andy Lane! Keerr-ching!
9) Bring on the bubbly! *hick* We popped champagne, guzzled Guinness, emptied our wine glasses and... drank copious amounts of tea?!
10) Be with Family The most important thing about CNY is spending it with family. And on Sunday, we (together with the Lanes) made our way to church to thank our Heavenly Father for His grace and blessings for another year!
On our right, we have 編號一 ... Joooo-yce Tay! Joyce is a vision of pink in this cute cheongsum with matching pastel slippers. Joyce turns 4 in February and is not only a voracious reader, but a keen swimmer. She is a brilliant orator and hopes to channel her talent to helping philanthropic organisations such as Kids Who Speak Like Their Parents, Help! My Dad Burps in Public, and Potty Training Blues. She feels her experience in these areas will contribute to the lives of many children. In her spare time, Joyce enjoys playing with her younger sister, Anna. She also enjoys regaling others with her dulcet singing voice.
Our next beauty contestant is 編號二... Daan-ielle Chan! Standing over 90cm tall, Danielle looks stunning in this dreamy gold cheongsum with delicate peony embroidery. Danielle is 2.5 years old and her hobbies include singing nursery rhymes and doing the chicken dance. She also enjoys whipping up exotic culinary delights in her kitchen. A freshman at nursery, Danielle pays her way through school by working part-time at a green grocer's and the local library. When she grows up, she aspires to be a human rights barrister. She feels strongly about standing up for the rights of others', but more importantly, her own.
