shiokadelicious!

Zhu Xin Nian

Wishing everyone…

Happy Lunar New Year!

(click on greeting, turn up the volume and enjoy!)

New Year’s Eve

I know it’s New Year’s Eve today, because…

…my mum has hung up the bunch of Chinese leeks (suan). Every year, on the day before the start of the brand new year, nine stalks of Chinese leeks are tied together with red ribbon and a hong bao, and hung in the kitchen.

They are not hung before New Year’s Eve, as the leeks dry out and wilt fairly quickly, and it is not considered auspicious to have dried and wilted things in the house during the 15 days of the Lunar New Year celebrations. By hanging them at the last moment, they can usually last through the 15 days, before being taken down.

Since dawn the house has been a hive of activity. Chaos reigns! Last minute spring cleaning is still underway. Preparations for the most important dinner of the Lunar calendar has started since early morning… cutting, dicing, grinding, mincing… Yep, this is the big annual cook-out. It’s messy, it’s chaotic… it’s fun! Everyone gets in on the act, each with their designated duties… often unspoken, but simply understood. Almost poetry in motion.

There will be loh hei (but of course), fish, prawns, chicken, lamb, vegetables and soup… it will be a feast. I can barely wait!

Yay! It’s New Year’s Eve!

Raising The Red Lantern

After days of being covered in dust and surrounded by a chaotic mess of clutter, my festive spirit was starting to sag and was in danger of fizzling out. The upcoming New Year was beginning to lose a little of its shine. But, even as we rushed to try to complete the spring cleaning before Wednesday, we also started putting up the New Year decorations (yes, I know, we are extremely late this year). And with the added red and gold sparks in the house, the New Year cheer started to return.

There was a time, a few years ago, when I was still at that age when being “hip and cool” was so important, every year I would baulk and protest against the putting up of what I considered to be “cheena” (very Chinese) and infinitely “uncool” Chinese New Year decorations in the home. Everything was in bright ang pow red and kitschy gold. Yikes! But now, I love having these decorations up. They are what mark out this special celebratory period as being different from every day, normal life. Besides, I think chinoiserie is actually quite hip today.

Every year, we put up red lanterns at the entrance patio, together with a large string of cardboard firecrackers. (While Singapore saw its first fire crackers in Chinatown two weeks ago, after almost 30 years of absence, they are still not allowed in private homes). Traditionally, the letting of firecrackers was to chase away “evil spirits” and welcome new luck into the New Year. The hanging of red decorations at the doorway of your home always signify, for the Chinese, that the household is in celebration of some happy occasion. Therefore, when there is an impending marriage in the family for example, a piece of red cloth will also be draped across the doorway. It marks the declaration of a happy and auspicious occasion.

During CNY, it is also common to display pots of kumquats (small mandarin oranges) near the main door of the home. (By the way, the pots of pink flowers seen on the right are “fu gui hua” (flowers of blessings).

It is also customary to hang a matching pair of auspicious couplets (dui lian) on either side of the door. Strictly speaking, traditional Chinese custom also requires a third couplet to be hung across the top of the door, in addition to the pair at the sides of the door. However, in modern times, this is a relaxed “rule” which is largely ignored.

Couplets are chosen carefully for their auspicious meanings and both sayings should “match” each other.

Reading from right couplet first: tian zhen sui ye ren zhen shou - as the Heavens gain in age, so Man gains in longevity.
Left couplet: chun man chien kun fu man men – as Spring (i.e. Life) fills the Heavens and Earth (the Universe), so blessings fill the home. (Here, the word “men” or door is used to mean the home or hearth).
And so the couplets welcome the New Year and Springtime with the hope of abundant blessings, health and a long life in the coming year.

Another custom is to decorate all or most of the plants in the home with red decorations, be they red ribbons, red hanging decorations or even decorations fashioned out of ang pow (red packet) paper. This gives all the living things in the home an aura of “xi qi yang yang” – celebratory, festive cheer.

The golden orange color of the kumquats signifies prosperity and wealth, and this is a popular Chinese New Year gift given to friends, family and also business associates. They represent your wishes of abundance for those you care about.

We received this plant a few days ago from a family friend, and it too has had red ribbons added to its luscious branches. The fruits are still a little green, so hopefully they will ripen in time for New Year’s Day.

Here are fishes (“yu” signifying abundance) made from ang pow paper, hung on some plants in the entrance patio. Some years we alternate and hang ang pows instead (with real money inside too!). Usually empty ang pows are not used. Token sums of money are put in all the red packets used for decorative purposes.

Even the curly fu gui zhu (prosperity bamboo) has received red ribbon buntings and 2 big fishes that have also been fashioned from ang pow paper!

These fu gui zhu are the larger versions of the potted and layered one I spoke about in my previous post on CNY decorations.

Ah! This is a perennial favorite of a lot of people. “Ying niu” or pussy willow. There is something very appealing about the small, white and fuzzy buds of this plant. Again, auspicious hanging decorations are hung on its branches. For me, this always sort of represents the Chinese New Year version of the Christmas tree! We usually tie red fuzzy wired ribbons and hang gold decorations of “jin bao” gold nuggets, firecrackers, auspicious Chinese characters and so on. (click on close-up below).

When placed in a pot of water, these cut branches can last for a very long time. In fact, they will start to sprout leaves (which is a good sign, heralding the arrival of Spring). (click on close-up below).

[I do apologize for the poor quality of the photos of the pussy willow. My small pocket-sized camera refuses to shoot indoors without a flash, and the flash simply reflected off all the gold decorations and white buds to create blurred images ]

Placing auspicious pictures and sayings on the walls of the home is also popular and common during CNY.

This pair of Chinese New Year dolls have “gong xi fa cai” (congratulations, and may prosperity be with you) and “wan shi ru yi” (may all things go according to your wishes) written on the “jin bao” that they are carrying, and they are placed so that they greet guests with well wishes as they arrive to visit us during CNY.

One can also put up decorations with auspicious New Year wishes. These do not have to match, and can be anything that the homeowners find appealing and/or appropriate.

My mum chose these two for this year. The top one says: chu lu ping an - wishes for safe journeys when one travels. (Our family members travel often for work and business). The bottom one says: xin xiang shi chen – may your heart’s desires be realized.

Here’s another one…

A picture of two mandarin oranges, and using the sound of the name of the oranges, it is written “da ji da li”, meaning abundant blessings and luck.

And so with splashes of red and gold throughout the home, it is indeed beginning to look and feel a lot like Chinese New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Amy

Fellow food-blogger Amy has written a rather flattering post on this blog. Amy and her blog, Cooking With Amy, are based in San Francisco, one of my favorite cities in the world, filled with great food adventures. So, take a look and enjoy!

Two Months Old

This blog turns two months old today. Still a baby by any standards. It has been a fun two months, during which time my perceptions and experiences of food have grown and expanded. It has been an enriching experience for my family too. We have become more aware, indeed even more enthusiastic, about the food we eat and cook. In that sense, it has also been a great bond-enricher too.

I have also inadvertently discovered a new side interest – food photography. While I may still be struggling to capture, with my small pocket-sized point-and-shoot Canon camera, the beauty and the pain-staking work of the chef (any chef) in all the food I shoot, I have become more aware of the visual aspects of food and how that speaks to us. My awareness of food presentation and how different ingredients look together on a plate has grown. Maybe, one day, I might actually graduate to a “pro-consumer” camera

When I started this blog, I did not think about who (or how many) might read this blog. As it is, it has turned out to be a wondrous opening and sharing of a small window into the Asian and Chinese food culture, as viewed through my family’s eyes. Just as I have learnt much and thoroughly enjoyed my glimpses of other food cultures and cuisines through the many food blogs I visit and read regularly, I am heartened that others have found my own food culture interesting. In many ways, by sharing glimpses of the Chinese cultural heritage, as filtered through my family’s interpretations, I myself, have become reconnected to and re-inspired by my own Chinese cultural roots. For this, I am very grateful to the friends and readers who have stopped by and expressed interest in my postings.

It is also one of my hopes with this blog to share some of the places for good food in Singapore, the region and wherever I may have stopped, eaten and tasted a gastronomic experience. I of course recognize that “one man’s treasure, is another’s poison”. Food is such a personal experience. I have many times eaten food that came highly recommended but which I personally found “okay”. By the same token, I have raved about food which friends have found to be “run-of-the-mill”. Similarly, I have tried recipes that gave me experiences other than what was recommended to me. And I do expect that there will be people who try my recipes and decide to improve them. And this is the exciting and exhilarating part of any sharing of food experiences, is it not? The exploring of new ideas and recommendations. The discovering of new taste sensations, and the resulting growth and expansion of our own ideas, perceptions and understanding of food and different cultures.

I love receiving feedback about the recipes on this blog that some of the readers have tried, how they have made it “better”, or how they have their own variations to a similar recipe they have always cooked from. It makes me (hopefully) a better cook in the process. It’s a joy to be learning something new every single day.

It would be nice to have fellow Singaporeans (or anyone who has eaten in Singapore) share their own experiences of good eats on this blog – food even tastier, yummier than what I have experienced and written about. I love discovering great food-finds. Indeed, I welcome the sharing of great food venues anywhere in the world. I personally feel strongly that good food establishments should be supported. It is the diners who eat at restaurants, small eating houses or just the neighborhood hawker stalls that enable their owners to stay in business and to continue to hone their skills, talent and passion for food. The food and beverage industry is not an easy industry to survive in. Speaking from the point of Singapore’s food industry, an owner has to contend with high cost structures, a finicky eating public and intense competition. Every village, town, city and country has its share of excellent dining. There will always be more than one great eating place, and there is room for them all.

I realize the impossibility of eating at ALL the eating places in any country or society. And so my perceptions and understanding of its food will be colored by my personal experiences, for better or worse. Through reading the food blogs of others, I have gained precious nuggets of information that can and will only enhance my next experience of their food and culture. It is my sincere hope that this blog can do the same, in some small way. Each society, culture and geographical region has its own culinary gems – each unique, different and special in its own right.

There are countless food blogs in the blogging world. Many have provided me with great moments of inspiration and learning and have entertained me with wonderful and humorous joie de vie, and even more remain to be discovered and enjoyed. I am happy that there is a place for everyone, a place filled with so much diversity, creativity and imagination, and free of competition. Each blog is unique, special and highly personal. I celebrate that.

Finally, in a world that is already so divided by competition, hatred, intolerance, discrimination and misunderstanding, I would like to think that food blogs can be places where people come to freely share in a common love and passion for food, places which celebrate the incredible diversity that makes this planet of ours so beautiful and special.

I hope to continue writing this blog for as long as it remains an enjoyable, happy and interesting experience for both myself and those who take the time to stop by to read it.

I know two months is not a long time, but I would like to thank the many numbers (200+ - and rising - daily visitors) who have stopped by during this time. Thank you too to those who have taken the time to show your support through emails or in the comment boxes. They are all truly appreciated. I would like to make a request: please do not leave remarks that are potentially sensitizing and/or discriminatory against other races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, cultures, societies and social sectors.* Thank you.

I dream of a world filled with greater love, understanding, acceptance and thus peace and harmony.

The Master painter uses the full arsenal of paintbrushes at his disposal to create his masterpiece. There are big brushes to paint the sweeping landscape, then there are the fine and delicate bristles for drawing in the refined details of human feelings, emotions and experiences. Let us not paint the world with a limited brush of ignorance and prejudice. For it is in the diversity of details where we will find the true beauty and glory of the human spirit. Let us step outside of ourselves and enjoy the sprawling landscape that is humanity.

* Such comments made on this blog prior to the date of this posting, which have remained unedited and in their original forms, are the views expressed by the comment’s authors, and do not reflect my own personal views and opinions, nor do they indicate my agreement with or my support of such views.
Any such comments made subsequent to this date will be edited and/or deleted, without prior notice to the comment’s authors.