Ang Moh Preparing for the CNY

Hello you! And thank you for your patience! :)

It's been an exciting first month at a new job and this week we will also celebrate the Chinese New Year (CNY) for the second time here in Singapore! There are a variety of traditions of how to celebrate it. Last weekend we had a reunion dinner with my husband's relatives, and this weekend (starting from Thursday which is a half-day at most offices), we will start visiting friends' and relatives' houses, giving ang bao (direct translation is 'red packet' - these red envelopes include money (no odd numbers allowed, they bring bad luck) and they are given to the younger ones by married couples). We also give oranges, they go in twos and they symbolize prosperity.

Decorated oranges are a big hit every year and they are available at every wet market or fruit store.

More about the many traditions coming up once I have it all captured in my camera!

This is how we've been preparing for the CNY:

We went to eat in a Western place first :D There will be so many Chinese foods later on ;)

There's a new restaurant near where I live and they cater for allergic people. First time for quite a while we were able to share the dishes :) The chorizo pasta was perfectly cooked and spicy enough and the sauce on the fish, made from egg yolks, was delicious! Just that we could have eaten bigger portions :D haha

My MIL and some of my relatives are buddhists so we showed respect by participating in the traditions. My husband used to do this every time before dinner at his home.

Card games are a huge part of the daily activities during CNY :D

Vegetarian duck rice, sambal sotong mixed with other Chinese food and a bamboo-wrapped fish dish (I can't recall the name). More food and other traditions coming up soon!! Have a great CNY everyone! Gong xi Gong xi!

This is the song that will play for the next two weeks in EVERY (literally every) shopping mall!

X Ang Moh Chick