Gong Xi Fa Chai

It's been a whirlwind of activities leading up to Chinese New Year this time around and we didn't have a lot of time to do the usual decorations. 

I went with a mini festive table utilising what I could scavenge around our home. Yay to Daiso for the cute chick pot to welcome in the year of the rooster.

And because I now have a slight obsession with bonsai, my dad's friend showed me his collection, some of which are more than 30 years old. The gnarled branches curled around rocks, the tiny, lush green leaves and the soft, springy bed of moss were all amazing. Even Hubs, whose eyes usually glaze over at the mention of plants, found them fascinating and trailed his finger along some of the stems.

I'm thankful that both my family and in laws are in Penang so reunion dinner each time is a breeze. Hubs, Bubs and I spent lunch at my parents' and dinner at his parents' place. Mum broke with tradition this time around and made chilli crabs, one of my favourite dishes.

During Chinese New Year, we got all decked out in new clothes. The black assymetrical skirt was a gift from Aussie Godma and is one of my favourite, plus versatile pieces. 

Bubs very helpfully pointed out a day before that his feet grew too big to fit into all of his shoes. Thankfully he had some hand me downs still in great condition from his cousin so Bubs was more than happy with this bright orange pair of kicks.

On the second day, we visited Kelly's place for the annual lion dance that her folks usually host. Happy Chinese New Year, folks!

CNY Shenanigans

Our CNY was nothing short of brilliant: family, friends & festive food. This year was extra fantastic because it fell on a Monday and Tuesday so everyone enjoyed the super long weekend. 

Bubs and I wore outfits lovingly handmade by my Mum-in-Law. She used to be a seamstress so we're exploiting fully appreciating her talents. Can't believe that Hubs said that he and his siblings preferred store bought clothes, pffffft.

Mum-in-Law is also an amazing cook. She actually made her own bak kwa (dried meat) which was so flavoursome that I made or made not have depleted most of her supply *shifty eyes* She also made muah chee (glutinous rice chunks coated with crushed peanuts). This was Hubs and his sister, busy churning out platefuls of the yummy morsels.

Bubs was deliriously happy lighting up sparklers and flinging "pop pops" with his cousin after reunion dinner.

Kelly invited us over to her parents' place for the annual lion dance that they always hire. Needless to say, the lil 'uns had so much fun playing together.

Bubs was a little teary eyed at the beginning, "It was too loud, Mummy" but cheered after I told him that he was a lot braver than me; when I was his age, I was so freaked out by how scary and gigantic the lion heads were, I refused to go near them, even for a photo.

Bubs made cards for his friends that were having birthdays in February. I cut out the shapes for him while he glued everything on and added in details. "Elephants have wrinkly trunks and BIG ears." he said as he carefully drew them on.

 

We made tang yuan (glutinous rice balls) again. This time around, I wanted to colour them naturally so we picked some bunga telang (butterfly pea flowers). I was puzzling over how to extract the blue dye from these beautiful blooms until Bubs confidently told me to steep them into water.

 
"At school, we soak them in water and the water turns blue. We use it to water the plants because they like blue water."

Since I'd some dragonfruit too, I used them to make red dye and showed Bubs how to get purple from these 2 colours.

The colours were very pastel: soft blue, lilac and baby pink. They looked really pretty and when Bubs accidentally mixed some of the colours together, they became rainbow swirly marbles.

I felt like a true nonya when making the dough. I didn't Google for a recipe and used agak agak (estimates) in proportioning the water to glutinous rice flour. Bubs was my tester, "Mummy, this is too sticky." he'd come running back to me and I'd then add more flour to the mixture. Back in the good ol' days, this was our Play Doh and it was such a treat to make this in the kitchen.

Just a Day More

Just a day more before Chinese New Year starts and Bubs is more than excited about it.

We've been feasting on snacks and our favourite this year is pineapple tarts *nom nom nom*

Bubs celebrated risshun at school where they made masks and threw soybeans, chanting "sickness and sadness outside, happiness inside!" He said he played the part of the ogre and went around collecting the soybeans in the room.

We dropped by Fairy Godma's relative's house and marveled at all of the gorgeous decorations. I especially loved the tree that had Xmas ornaments with red Chinese lanterns and pink blossoms on it.

Hubs and I attended Bub's school's annual CNY festival and this time felt so bittersweet. I can't believe this is his last year of kindy and he won't be able to sing and dance like this again in primary school.

Hub's mum lovingly handmade this Mandarin collared shirt for him using a cute dino print fabric I got from Fabric Fanatics. I'd no idea that she was such a gifted seamstress and my only regret was not thinking of this much earlier when Bubs was way younger! I love how quirky the print is so he could wear this during weekends and not just only on CNY.

Bubs was immensely proud of being one of the "big children" and they did a special dance, 凤阳花鼓.  It was fun seeing him play with his friends at school and a little bird told me that he now has a special gal pal at school ;) Apparently she even rests her head on his shoulder and once told him "I love you!" Awwww :D

January Activities

January flew by in a blink of an eye! Bubs is enjoying the last year of his kindy and so chuffed that he's one of the oldest kids there now. They've been learning to write Chinese characters and do counting by skipping rope so that's been keeping him busy.

I guess one of the biggest things I'll miss the most about Bubs leaving his kindy is the cute bread and paper bag that they make every week.

After close to 3 weeks, Hubs finally took down the Xmas tree with some help from a stray elf that Santa left behind ;)

As we transition from one festival to another, we've finally gotten the Chinese New Year decorations up in a tiny corner.

What better way to welcome spring than by sprucing up some pot plants. Bubs and I have fallen head over heels for these tiny Totoro plant charms. The water jasmine bonsai (on the right) has been with us for 3 years now and since it's still thriving, I added another small bowl of clover with "magic rocks" that Bubs pinched from the garden.

Bub's favourite treat this year: dragon beard candy where they're hand made live in front of you for RM8 a box at Queensbay Mall. I've tried freaking him out by telling him that they're actually little cocoons like the Very Hungry Caterpillar but that didn't deter him from popping them into his mouth :)

CNY Peek-tures

Just some random peeks into our Chinese New Year for 2015. This year's celebrations were especially good: Hubs' grandma (in her 90s) recovered from her hip replacement enough to be mobile on her walking frame. It was so heart warming to see Bubs rush over without prompting to help her lift the heavy metal walker patiently, step by step, that everyone kept quiet for a moment. A few of my closest friends whom I haven't seen literally in years flew back from abroad. All of Bubs' cousins came back just in time as well.

I'm stuck in a rut when it comes to decorating for festivals and I admit, I do it more for Bubs than for ourselves just so he'd feel happy. Bubs and I went around collecting fallen twigs and branches around our area for the centrepiece.

Poon Choy seems to be all the rage this year and MIL gave it a go this year for the reunion dinner. It was my first time eating it and I'd describe it as a high class claypot rice - but without the rice. Layers of broccoli, lotus root (my favourite), Chinese mushrooms, duck, prawns and random shell fish all braised in a stew.

Ever year, it gets blazing hot during Chinese New Year and this year was no exception. I ditched skinnies and pencil skirts in favour of this coral flowy maxi skirt, a white singlet and sky blue H&M fabric flats. Effortlessly cool - literally!

My aunt's friend invited us over to enjoy her apartment's pool and Bubs along with his cousins went bananas there. They loved the tiny stretch of sand along the kiddies pool and spent ages there building sand castles.

Bubs overcame his water phobia enough to be coaxed down the baby slide. Sun, sand and shallow water ... what more could we ask for? ;)

I got a Daiso chopstick training set for Bubs after he saw his cousin who's just a year older than him using chopsticks with ease. Bubs was thrilled to bits and used them a bit like tweezers to pick up his food, LOL.

Kelly had a lion dance at her place so we jumped at the chance for Bubs to watch one up close and personal. He's a lot braver than me at his age - I can still remember being petrified of the lions and refusing to even stand next them for a photo. Bubs gamely stood close to them and even petted their rump, LOL. He went through a growth spurt so he shot up quite a bit in height, becoming longer and leaner. His cheeks still wobble a lil when he runs so I hope he doesn't outgrow that too soon.

Bub's CNY Celebration at School

Gong Xi Fa Chai everyone and may the year of the goat brings everyone love, health and wealth! Here's a quick post of the Chinese new year celebration that Bub's school had last week.Hubs and I are beginning to see the rhythm to each festival.

The children started out with songs and dances. They particularly loved this one called the "scarf dance" where they swished around little fabric squares of pink and yellow.

Bubs, to our surprise, burst into tears during the dance and started sobbing for Hubs. It took quite a lot of cajoling for him to complete his performance.

During the break,  all the parents were invited outside for some CNY goodies. See the small basket of ribbon kuih in between the mandarins and kuih kapit? The children proudly made it themselves while the Auntie helped them to fry it.

The festival was concluded with a puppet show by the teachers. I've to admit, I'm always impressed by the miniature props they manage to do. Look at that intricate lion and the tiny decorations on the house!

All Geared Up for CNY: Bub's Version

Bub's guide to getting all prepared for Chinese New Year *ahem* prioritised by importance according to a 5 year old.

Mummy and Daddy talk a lot about new clothes (boring), spring cleaning the house (I don't think they appreciated me helping out by pouring soap on the floor) but what SHOULD be important would be new toys to bring in an abundance of even more toys in the year of the goat.

Mummy says her friends even got new bedsheets (every kid knows that you only need bedsheets when you want to play at camping) but you know what you REALLY need during bedtime? A warm cuddle together with a good bedtime story. I like it best when Daddy pretends to be the bad guy and I get to be the hero who saves the world. Daddy says Mummy is weird to get a Christmas book for Chinese New Year but Mummy pointed out that it's a cool pop up book which is my favourite kind.

This year, I'm a 5 year old big boy so I'm really good at counting ang pows. Let me show you: twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, twenty ten! Mummy reminds me to say thank you after receiving them. Mummy and I have the best partnership - I get all the colourful, fun packets (look at that Lego one!) while she takes away the paper slips inside them. Daddy says it's not long before I become wiser. Hmmm, I guess it means next time when I'm an even bigger boy, I get to eat the Chinese New Year cookies and keep the red packet envelopes?

CNY Snacking

With just a couple of weeks to go before CNY, we've been indulging in our favourite CNY activity: the endless snacking, mmmmm ... Apart from baby mandarins, our favourites this year are the perennial pineapple tarts and meat floss nestled in kuih kapit.



If you thought kuih kapit alone was perfection, you HAVE to give these with meat floss tucked in a try. It's sweet, crispy on the outside but salty candy-floss texture inside, kind of like salted caramel but way more addictive. I may or may not have finished an entire tin by myself *shifty eyes*

My brother's gf's mum makes the best-est pineapple tarts that I've tried this year. They are the right mixture of butter-y egg-y goodness and so bite-sized that each time we walk into the kitchen, we can't help popping one ... or two ... or more ;)

Getting into the Mood

I've been taking some little pockets of quiet time recently just to get away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. SSG sent me a text which I kept re-reading and brought me to my senses: she reminded me of that slippery struggle for balance that no one ever tells you about in antenatal classes. I thought that giving birth was the hard part but it turns out that it's all too easy to get a bit overwhelmed with work, house and family commitments.

I stocked up on a pile of new paperbacks that I devour greedily whenever I can find the time. I'm only into a couple of chapters of Amy Tan's The Valley of Amazement and it's been such a pleasure to snuggle up in bed, a bag of crisps (or two) and with the air con offering respite from the heat outside.

Sad to say, these days whenever I step into a retail outlet, I keep thinking to myself ooooh, get this before GST starts in April - which is how I justified these pair of silver glittery sandals. Hubs wryly remarked that I could perhaps click my heels 3 times in these and be whisked away to Oz. Hardy har har.

I stole a bag of these baby mandarins from my parents' house and they have become Bub's and my favourite quick snack to go to, especially when fresh out of the fridge. I find the flavour of these to be more intense than regular mandarins and they are pretty darn cute :) The tart citrus-y scent is perfect with a cup of iced, ginger molasses tea that my ex-boss brought back from Taiwan for.