It was the last weekend for Chinese New Year shopping at Chinatown Bazaar. Unfortunately, it rained for most of the day and I was unable to finish my shopping. I will have to make another trip in the next two days.
There was a long snaking queue at Singapore's famous BBQ pork jerky, Lim Chee Guan's Bak Kwa (肉干). Expect to queue for long hours and price will increase progressively as it nears Chinese New Year. The heavy downpour did not stop customers from joining the queue. I passed, not wanting to waste my time standing in the queue.
I bought a couple of traditional Chinese decorative cuttings. It was fascinating watching the skilful young stall owner cut out a beautiful design with only a pair of scissors and from memory.
During Chinese New Year, it is inevitable to shop for foods that symbolize abundance, wealth, longevity and good fortune. :D
I discovered several speciality stalls that sell melon seeds and groundnuts. Unbelievable they are selling Taiwan's top-grade groundnuts here. We can find practically everything on this little island.
Traditional preserved fruits with auspicious names to 'sweeten' the new year. In the olden days, there was no sophisticated range of titbits like the chocolate, candies, nuts and crispies we see today, so these sugar coated fruits (Cantonese style sugar winter melon, sugar coconut stripes, lotus seeds etc) were our favourites during childhood days.
Bought some waxed meats for my elders. The children and elders in the family love to eat these waxed meats on hot steamed rice. They make quick and easy meals.
年糕 (年年高) 象征收入、职位或小孩子都一年比一年高.
This sticky glutinous rice cake (Nian Gao) is our traditional Chinese new year cake. It is considered good luck to eat Nian Gao because it symbolises increasing prosperity every year. The New Year greeting 'Nian Nian Gao Sheng' (年年高升) means "advance towards higher positions and prosperity annually."
CNY is just around the corner. Happy CNY!
ReplyDeleteNot feeling as excited as when I was a kid. haha......
DeleteHow wonderful to be encouraged to eat cake :) Happy Chinese New year looks very fun and festive!
ReplyDeleteThe sticky cake is a yummy snack that is eaten once a year. Chinese New year is the most significant festival of the Chinese in Singapore.
DeleteEverything looks so colorful and cheerful !
ReplyDeleteYes, the festive mood is contagious.
DeleteMy husband agrees with u, my monster is not fierce.
ReplyDeleteWhat should I do to make it fierce?
U gave me an idea to buy chocolate coins for my old hongbao packets. Will be using the same props for my classes.
You need to redraw it. The Chinese dragon is a symbol of strength, it cannot look like a caterpillar. LOL
DeleteYou can find a good picture of the dragon on the web image of Google.
The chocolate coins are good gifts.
Awww...very pretty and very red ECL. The good luck cake sounds good. I grew up in the rural southern part of the U.S.
ReplyDeleteI was also raised by older parents. It was and still is our family's tradition to eat black-eye peas on New Year's Day for luck!
Maybe next year I'll try both and have twice the luck...hey?
Happy day to you! :-)
It's interesting to know your family's tradition of eating black-eye peas on New Year's Day. I could send you some sticky cake next year for extra good luck. haha....
DeleteHe cut those out with just scissors?!!! What a great talent!!
ReplyDeleteYes, the festive paper cuttings was cut with just scissors.
Deletei love bak kwas but hard to find real good ones in Penang. I usually get them at Imbi Road in KL. i'm not a fan of lap cheongs, they are too salty for my liking.
ReplyDeleteGo all the way to KL to buy bak kwa? That's out of the way for me. :)
DeleteGreat shots! Happy Chinese New Year!
ReplyDeleteMy entries:
Liz (mcn)
Liz (mot)