Chinese New Year Visitation

In a flash, 5 days of Chinese New Year had past. Most people would have resume their work life.

After reunion on New Year's eve, we stay awake to "shou sui" 守岁. The purpose of doing this  is that Chinese believe children who Shou Sui will increase the longevity of the parents.

During the 1st day of Chinese New Year, we would visit homes of my in-law's relatives to "bai nian" 拜年 . The first stop would be at my in-law home, after that, we would went visitations from house to house. Children and elderly would be given "ang pow" 压岁钱./ 红包(red packets with money).

We would continue visitation to other relatives on the second day. Usually, married daughters would visit their parents during this time. Hence, we would visit the home of the mother's family..Usually, by the end of the day, we would be pretty worn out with all the bustling activities that had been going on

This series of photo is the highlight of visitations.

Typically, during "Bai Nian", one would use a pair of Mandarin Oranges and say something auspicious to the other party. During this time, ang pows are given to the children or elderly.

We were visit as an extended family to other relatives' home. The visiting group will get bigger and bigger.

Yusheng (3 plates on the right), an auspicious dish in Singapore. 

Lohei ( an activity in which we would toss Yusheng in the air to signify that the coming year would be a prosperous year) in progress.

New Year goodies

Lunch at a relative's place

Home made Dinner in buffet style

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Reunion Dinner

Happy Lunar New Year! The last day of the Year of the Horse had just passed.

Tonight, I shall be blogging on the most important dinner for the Chinese family- the Reunion Dinner. Reunion dinner is a must for Chinese during Chinese New Year's Eve. It is a time family gets united again despite their busy schedules. It is a get - together meal for the extended family.

Although we often meet our extended family to eat together during weekends lunches, it is much of to carry on the tradition. Traditionally, our family has steamboat for dinner. It is very easy to prepare. Just get all the ingredients (basically prawn, meat, fish, vegetables ,noodles and food that you like. Nothing sour or bitter)  ready and one can easier have a sumptuous dinner.

Getting ready for  Reunion dinner!

Woohoo! Now!
Usually, we would prepare auspicious food item such as prawn which means "having a happy new year", fish and abalone for having abundance in the new year, Noodles for longevity.

Put in the raw meat to cook by using slotted ladle

All the ladles are in the soup

Adding vegetables such as spring onion to wish for cleverness

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Chinatown by Day

This year is the year of the Goat/ Sheep / Ram according to Lunar Calendar. This is taken in Asian Civilization Museum

Today's New Year Eve, if you were to go down to Chinatown today, it is very likely to be overwhelmingly crowded. Goodies are likely to be cheaper today as the vendors try to clear stock. There will also be a countdown celebration at Chinatown tonight. 

Below series of photo is taken in Chinatown last week during a weekday. As you can see, there was already quite a crowd forming.

Lanterns with wishes written in Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Traditionally, Chinese love to hang lanterns at the door way. These red lanterns are so awesome!

Firecracker was used  to scare away the ferocious beast, Nian  Hence, the tradition of burning firecrackers during Chinese New Year. However, this practice is banned in Singapore. The firecracker you see here is for decorative purpose with the words 招财进宝 (used to wish for good luck in business) inscripted

Spot the rams!

The God of Fortune

Pussy willow is  one plant that Chinese like to buy during Chinese new year for decoration. It is decorated the same way as Christmas tree. Chinese ornaments will be hanged on the branches.

The other popular plant is Plum Blossom

Chinese ornaments such as these can be hang on the plants. 

Waxed Meat and Chinese sausages. Chinese Sausages only appear on our dining table during Chinese New Year although it is available all year round.

Chinese declaration and well-wishing banner are spotted outside Sri Mariamman Hindu Temple. Similarly, a banner is spotted outside Masjid Jamae Chulia, a Tamil Muslim Mosque. I simply love the racial harmony in Singapore

Preparation for Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is around the corner! Just one more week to go and I am not fully prepared yet. Spring cleaning is not completed! I have not got my new clothes and haircut! I am starting to stock some basic necessity such as toiletries for the new year because many shops do not open on the first 2 days of Lunar New Year. 

1. Stocking up of Red Packets

These red packets envelops are collected when I visited various museums and galleries. Aren't they cute?
Red packets will be given during New Year for the elderly and children. They will be given to the elderly together with a pair of Mandrain Oranges when we visit. We will say auspicious words when giving them. The elderly will return the favour by exchanging the oranges and red packets.

2. Decoration at home

Chinese Paper cutting. Chinese Word 春 (Spring) and a bat is incorporated as part of the design. Notice the word is placed upside down. By putting the word upside down symbolises Spring and Good Fortune arrives (春到福到 ).  I made lots of butterflies which means "hu die" in Chinese. It is a phonogram for 福叠 "fu die" which means loads of happiness. 
I am still thinking whether this design is too simple. Should I add more? 

This particular  春 (Spring)  cut out was done in a Chinese paper cutting  library programme.  

Little One wanted to decorate as well. And hence, this is up on our wall. She was inspired by this decoration at Westgate.

3. Goodies for the New Year

In the past, I only bought pineapple tarts, Nian Gao (Sticky Rice Cake) and nuts. This year, a lot more goodies as Little One would be eating them as well.

Top row: 2 boxes of almond cookies from Koi Kei Bakery (original Man made Almond cookies and Black sesame Almond cookies) and Pistachio (开心果) which literary means "happy fruit" wishing for happiness.
Middle row: a container of Pineapple tarts (which means "prosperity comes" literary in Hokkien wishing for Prosperity) from mother in law, a container of Oatmeal cookie  and a container of black sesame cookie (from Hung Huat Cakes & Pastries @ Sim Vista Market & Food Centre) and a packets of candied fruit (蜜饯) from the Chinatown Festive Street Bazaar to signify sweetness and smoothness in the new year.
Front row: Mandarin Oranges from library@Chinatown who happened to celebrate their anniversary last month end. (Mandarin oranges are auspicious because they are known as "Kum" in Cantonese which means gold. Gold is associated with prosperity too.) and Nian Gao which meant 年年高升 which means getting  promoted  every year.

If you are looking for fresh home made pasties and wish to avoid the crowd at Chinatown, you may want to visit Sims Vista Market and Food Centre instead.

There are 2 stalls selling New Year goodies. One is Hung Huat which I purchase Oatmeal cookies and black sesame cookies while the other is Jia Confectionery, which Ai from Sakura Haruka had blog about in her post. 

This is the first time I bought from this stall. I happened to around the area for a workshop and found this place. We were looking to get our dinner fixed but many stalls were closed then. When we passed by Hung Huat which was 2 doors away from Jin Confectionery, the nice aroma from the stalls tempted me to take a closer look. For no particular reason, I choose Hung Huat first. I was allowed to sample their cookies and it is up to me to decide whether or not to buy. I did not buy the pineapple tarts although it is the best seller simply because my mother in law had already given me some. I particularly like the oatmeal cookies which the seller told me goes well with coffee. I also picked the black sesame cookies because it is my favorite kind of cookies. The seller told me they have been in business for 30 years. 

Hung Huat Cake & Pastries @ Sims Vista Market and Food Centre

I will continue to buy auspicious food items for the family, get myself new cloths and haircut if there is time. This coming week, I will probably be too busy with spring cleaning...

What about you? Are you done with your new year preparation?

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Light- Up of Chinese New Year Decoration @ Chinatown

We will be ushering in the Year of the Goat in less than a month! For those of you who may not know, the Chinese zodiac is a repeating cycle of 12 years. Each year is represented by an animal. The 12 zodiac animals are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. How's your New Year preparation? I still have loads to do!

Wishing tree

This year is the year of the Goat

Chinatown is always very crowded on its official Light-Up and Opening Ceremony and  Chinese New Year Eve. We spotted Lion Dance troupe. It seemed that they were waiting for their turn to perform. We left after waiting for a while.

I particularly love the neon lights of this building

Festive Street Bazaar. Basically, you can find Chinese goodies, plants and decorations in this place. 

Various ornamental plants that have auspicious meaning are being sold here

Notice it's RED, RED and more RED everywhere? This is Chinese auspicious colour.

After walking through the crowd for an hour, we decide to leave but not without my favorite almond biscuits from Koi Kei Bakery.

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A night of NanYin at Kusu Island

Have you heard of the legend of Kusu Island?
There are many versions if you were to google it. The most common belief was that a giant tortoise turned itself into an island in order to save 2 drowning fishermen, a Chinese and a Malay. That was why Kusu Island had the shape of a tortoise. However, if you were to google the shape of the island now, it looks nothing like tortoise because this island had undergone reclamation.

The Singapore Heritage Festival (SHF) took place in July, the theme this year was Our Islands, Our Home. I wanted to go for Nanyin (songs from the South) at Kusu (Chinese Hokkien for Tortoise) Island. However, it was fully booked and due to the overwhelming response, additional tours was conducted in September. I was lucky enough to go after balloting.

Participants would visit the Tua Pek Kong's (Da Bo Gong) temple on the island and if they want to, they could also visit the 3 Muslim keramats on top of a hillock which was located just next to the temple. However, visitors would need to climb 152 steps to visit these Malay shrines. The night ends with a Nanyin performance, a special arrangement for SHF, by the Siong Leng Musical Association (established 1941) at the temple. This musical  performance is usually held during the Kusu pilgrimage (which occurs in the ninth lunar month)

I was truly excited when I got to know we could visit the island. It would be my first visit. My sister who had been there when she was very young, remembered getting sea sicked and vomited! Good gracious! As my husband and I would be bringing Little One along, we are naturally worried whether the same would happen to her. I tried find anti seasickness band in pharmacies but could not find any. Hence, we crossed our fingers and hope every thing would go well. I did prepare plastic bags just in case. We also brought light food to be eaten for dinner that night, another precaution for sea sickness. The journey from Singapore to Kusu Island is about 30-45min depending on the condition of the waves. We were glad that my little girl survived the ferry trip without much problem. I guess my sister could have traveled on those small and unstable boats that were used in the past.

Facts about Kusu Island
Kusu Island is about 5.6 kilometre to the south of Singapore. It was initially 1.2 ha but due to landfill and reclamation in 1975 joined it with another coral outcrop, it had increase to  8.5 ha island.

Pilgrimage to Kusu began as early as 1813, the year of Syed Abdul Rahman's death. Hence, the tradition of the pilgrimage had started before Sir Thomas Raffles arrived Singapore in 1819. When the island (known as Peak Island then) became the burial site for immigrants who died in quarantine on St. John's and Lazarus Islands in the late 19th century, many of the devotees were unhappy about the use of the sacred place as a burial ground,

It is noted no overnight stay is allowed on the island. There is no street lamp on the island.

Our trip
This is our second family trip exploring islands of Singapore. The first one was just a few days ago to Pulau Ubin.

My daughter's excited about the trip. The tag she had on is our group name. SHF utilised many guides as there  were more than 100 people on tour that night.

Cheng Ho Cruise Ship, a replica of the actual ship that Cheng Ho comes to Singapore in! It tours around the southern coast of Singapore as well as provide a landing on Kusu Island. I wish to board this instead!

This was the cruise ship we boarded. 

Welcome to Kusu Island!

A rather serene view of the island