First Day of Chinese Lunar New Year

For the first day of the Chinese New Year, I cooked a huge pot of vegetarian chap chye (mixed vegetables stew). This is a nyonya dish which my mother-in-law made on the first day of every Chinese New Year. It is a tradition carried down from her own mother. I used to assist my mother-in-law till she could no longer cook,  a few years ago. This dish could be cooked in advance and tastes even better after 1-2 days. It is delicious on its own or served with rice. We eat it all day long.

There are two versions to this dish, one using taucheo (fermented soybeans), more common in Malacca and Singapore. The other, using fu yee/nam yee (fermented beancurd) has Cantonese influences, more commonly cooked by Penang nyonyas. My mother-in-law's version uses both nam yee and fu yee. Other ingredients are mushrooms, black fungus, lily buds, tang hoon (glass noodles), beancurd sheets, gingko nuts, fatt choy (black moss) and meen kan (wheat dough or gluten).

As my family and I partake in this dish, I would like to make a wish for the peace and happiness of all beings.  Not forgetting the stray animals, and the less fortunate ones who also need our assistance and love. Thank you for visiting this blog and wishing you  love, serenity and a meaningful life. 

May you fulfill your deepest wishes and dreams. May Oreo. Sorren, Caramel, Checkers. Toffee, Ginger, Mimi and her brood be safe and well.

May ALL be Well and Happy!

shitake mushrooms

nam yee

meen kan

Happy Holidays!!

I would like to wish Chinese readers a safe trip back home.  Have a good break during the Chinese New Year. May you have a good reunion with your families.

Gong Xi Fa Cai 恭喜发财 to all of you. May you be blessed with good health.身体健康 and may you have a good year ahead!

The Annual Reunion

The Chinese New Year reunion dinner is regarded as a very important get-together for Chinese families. Through the years of modernisation, many traditional rituals have been done away with but the reunion dinner remains central to the Chinese New Year celebrations. In fact, it begins with the reunion of family members, some of whom travel long distances to be reunited with family for that important meal.

It is reported that in China, to have reunion dinner with their families on Chinese New Year's Eve, people scramble to leave for their hometowns by all means - train, coach, airplane, ship, self-driving, motorcycles and even bicycles, making the largest annual human migration in the world. A record 3.41 billion trips are expected to be made over this year's Lunar New Year travel rush. However, there are also those who opt to  go away for a holiday during Chinese New Year, giving the reunion dinner a miss altogether.

Traditionally, daughters who have been "married off" will not get together with their own families but have the reunion dinner with their husbands' families. However, this tradition too has become more relaxed. I observe that some of my friends take turns with their husbands to celebrate the reunion dinner, alternating between his and her home one year and the next. In the old days, this would have been strictly forbidden by the husband's family.

In the old days too, the traditional dishes of fish, prawns, chicken, mushrooms, to name a few, would be home cooked but now, quite a number of  families prefer to eat out. The restaurants enjoy roaring business on that day, many offering set meal packages.  Many Singaporeans are opting to have their Chinese New Year reunion dinner in Johor Baru as it is cheaper compared to restaurants in the island republic.

What is the significance of the reunion dinner? It can be a meaningful get-together especially if siblings and family members have not seen each other for a long time. Or it could be just another annual, obligatory meal. It all depends on how we choose to  regard it. To me, it is about spending time with family, over a sumptious meal and  the celebration of another milestone, a year gone by.

I have been having the reunion dinner at my in-laws since I got married. My mother was a fantastic cook. She could whip up restaurant style dishes such as sharksfin soup, four seasons, butter prawns, claypot treasure, steamed pomfret, etc for reunion dinner.  This year,  my mother will not be cooking.  My siblings will be buying food and converging at my parents' house. My mother is  the cement that glues my family together. I hope to continue enjoying my parents'  presence in my life for some years to come.

Chinese New Year Preparations

 

We will be celebrating the Chinese New Year soon in  February. Many people are busy making preparations, cleaning their houses, baking cookies or getting their hair trimmed. I was at the hair salon yesterday. I decided to try this new place called Spazio, recommended by my new friend, Lily.  I heard that the boss, Max is good but I could not get a last minute appointment to see him so my hair was done by his hairstylist, Jeffrey instead. The place was packed.

Chinese New Year celebrations at my house is usually quiet because I spend my time at my parents or my in-laws. I am pondering whether I should celebrate it any differently this year but I think not. I look forward to a few days of respite from the the daily grind. However, New Year is usually a busy time meeting up with friends. This is something I look forward to. I also like the festive atmosphere.

I am getting worried about my dog Oreo though. She seems to be suffering from anxiety each time it starts to rain or hears loud sounds. Firecrackers will be the major problem soon. Recently, she tried to jump over the fence to the neighbour's again and chew herself out from her cage. I am at loss what to do. My cat, Toffee seems to have shifted home to be with her mother, two rows in front of our house. We drop by to see her now and then,  I think she left because she does not get along with the two male cats, Checkers and Caramel. Well, as long as she is well taken care of, I am happy.

I am feeling a bit depressed this morning. The mother of six-year-old William Yau confirmed that the body of a boy found in Port Klang yesterday is her son. My heart goes out to her and all the innocent children who get abused, tortured and killed. Life is so precious. Something is seriously wrong with this world. Let us all say prayers for him and his family, in our own way.

To  Sze, CP, KBT, KH, Cindi, Kok Piew, Teacher A, Kak Siti, Valkyrie, Micheal, Mike, Evelyn, Gan, Brother Lim, Justin  and other readers, I wish you an equally enjoyable time preparing for the coming Chinese New Year and if not celebrating,  a good time during these coming holidays.

Happy New Year 2013!!

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year 2013. May the New Year bring you an abundance of peace, wealth and happiness!

Merry Christmas !!

 

Wishing all  Christian readers and friends a very Merry Christmas!

I always look forward to the year end festivities because I like the air of merry making and fun. I also enjoy shopping around this time because the shopping malls are beautifully decorated and clothes are more glamorous. I hope it will be a joyful occasion for everyone!

Winter Solstice Festival

We celebrate Winter Solstice (Dongzhi Festival) tomorrow. When I was young, I used to prepare the tangyuan or glutinous rice balls for my family. It was my yearly duty rolling the red and white coloured dough into small round balls for the family. I would make a batch of  white ones, another batch of red ones for prayers and a mix of red and white coloured ones for fun.

 

After I finished rolling, I would throw them into a pot of boiling water to cook them. My mother would then use them to make a sweet dessert of tangyuan in sugar water flavoured with pandan leaves and ginger. My father, however, loved them in a savoury soup of meat and seafood. We would have them for our lunch. I loved it too.

Though I looked forward to this yearly festival, my parents never did share what Winter Solstice was all about. So, I associated it with eating tangyuan and a special feast for dinner. My mother said that after eating tangyuan, I became a year older but I could not see why. I think it is quite a shame not to know the history behind our rich Chinese culture and traditions. Over time and with the younger generation, more and more is lost if we do not make an effort to impart to our children.

The Winter Solstice is the day when the distance between the Tropic of Capricorn and the sun is the shortest. Because of the earth's tilt, the Northern Hemisphere is leaning farther away from the sun than at any other time during the year. This makes the Winter Solstice the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere. The Northern hemisphere on this day experiences the shortest daytime and longest nighttime and marks the arrival of winter. The Chinese characters for Dōng Zhì are 冬至. The first character means “winter” and the second character means “arrival.”   In traditional Chinese society, the arrival of winter meant that the farmers would lay down their tools and celebrate the harvest by coming home to their families. A feast would be prepared to mark the occasion.


Also, because ancient cultures were unaware of the changes in the Earth's position, they feared that the sunlight would never return. To bring it back, they engaged in many celebrations and ceremonies. In fact, there are more ceremonies and "rituals associated with the winter solstice than any other time of year" .

Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. The glutinous rice balls symbolize reunion. The festive food is also a reminder that we are now a year older and should behave better in the coming year. Even today, many Chinese around the world, especially the elderly, still insist that one is "a year older" right after the Dongzhi celebration instead of waiting for the Chinese New Year.

I will be celebrating with my parents and siblings. As my parents are now old, the grand feast has been replaced with packed restaurant food as the younger generation is too busy to cook. Maybe that is the price of progress.

Bites of Delight

I watched  Bites of Delight tonight with a group of  friends and my daughter at The Temple of Fine Arts in Brickfileds, Kuala Lumpur. It is a musical extravaganza told through acting, dance and gamelan. Their interpretations of Asian folklores and contemporary take of gamelan, performed by 26 children had a very fresh appeal.

I found it thoroughly entertaining and was impressed by the professionalism and excellent timing of the children. They worked very hard for this production and are a talented lot. My daughter was wonderfully delighted throughout the show. It was a great ending to a wonderful day because she obtained good results in her public examination and exceeded my expectations. It was a musical treat for us. It was unanimous. We loved it.

 If you are in Kuala Lumpur, don't miss it! Visit the twirly whirly world of bopoluchi, jackals, crows, goose, camels and busy bazaars amidst exotic music and singing choruses all in little ‘bites’ featuring original music compositions. Whether you are young or young at heart, you will be enchanted as these magical stories from the Spice Route takes shape through the eyes, passion and talent of our young performers. You will be charmed.

Happy Diwali

 

 
  

Happy Diwali and Happy Holidays to everyone!!!

Full Moon Baby Blog

Today marks the "full moon" of my baby, this blog. It has been a full month since I started this blog. To me, it is an achievement. I wish to congratulate myself for my perseverance and making time to blog even though I am working and taking care of my family. We all deserve a pat on our backs now and then and I shall give myself one today. Pat Pat. To all of you who have been working hard, maybe on your job, family duties, or just being a good person, give yourself a pat on the back too. If you have overcome a crisis, learned from a mistake, gained a little awakening, give yourself another pat. You deserve it. We need to give ourselves that acknowledgement, not out of self-centredness or pride but to accord ourselves the same appreciation which we also bestow on to others.

I don't know if you have noticed that I now have pretty pink lotus flowers on the top of my page. They were from a photograph taken when I visited the Summer Palace in Beijing, China. The lake was filled with them and I just could not resist taking a few shots.

Break, break, break

Last weekend my family together with four other families decided to take a short retreat not too far from the city, to Port Dickson. There were 10 adults and 9 kids who made this trip. We left early Saturday morning to have breakfast in Seremban along the way. However, there was an accident along the highway and it took us an extra hour to reach Seremban.

Our holiday bungalow

We arrived in Port Dickson before lunch in the pouring rain. Well, our day at the beach looked  like a dismal prospect unless we intended to play in the rain. However, around 2.30pm the rain came to a stop and everything proceeded smoothly from then. The first event was the telematch where all participated. I hadn't played "carry the pingpong ball on a spoon" game since schooldays! After the games, the kids played on the beach and rode on the banana boat float at RM10 per head. We had a really swell time.

Site of The Hibiscus Project in Port Dickson

During the period that Chang was dying, my daughter and I were also preparing for her public examinations.   It was a stressful period. I could have chosen to focus on my daughter instead of completing his blog. It was my spouse who encouraged me to complete his blog after a visit to Chang. So, it is not me who is kindhearted but my spouse. The almost daily visits to his house and the blog did take quite alot of time away from my daughter but I think it is also a matter of priorities and whether we choose to help. Whether we are willing to sacrifice our time to take care of another person's needs, when it is appropriate to. His death was followed by my mother's illness. She was hospitalised and now needs homecare. So, a break was overdue.

a hermit crab from the beach

For many years of my life, I did not know the meaning of the word relaxation. I heard people around me telling me to relax and thought it meant to take more holidays. However, after many holidays, I still did not feel "relaxed." It was only on one particular day, some years back at Port Dickson (again) when I fell asleep on the beach that I realised that I had really relaxed and what it felt like to be "relaxed." After that, that same feeling became my barometer for relaxation!

I realised that it was not which holiday destination I went to but rather the state of mind I brought along with me, wherever I went. I could be at The Datai Langkawi but if I carried along a harried and hurried attitude, a head full of thoughts and worries, my body and mind would not get any break. How simple yet why did it take so long for me to realise that? 

I grew up with a family of anxious, fast moving people whose motto was to "walk faster, eat faster and everything faster" It was so ingrained in me that it became my way of life. (I shall write on childhood conditioning and baggage in a separate post). That was the only pace of living I knew. Being fast was going to keep me out of trouble so naturally I hurried. If I kept everyone waiting, there could be repercussions and I could be left out of certain activities and no child would risk that.

In my career, being fast and efficient became very rewarding. But I became saddled with more and more work. It definitely brought me promotions and career achievements. However, the word "relax" still eluded me. I have found that there is no end to the chase for more achievements and more money.  My mind, instead of being focused on the present moment of appreciating what I already have, becomes centered on the next thing and the next. There is no end and no break.

Many of us are chasing and chasing in this rat race. At the end of the day, where is all this getting us? Why is it that we have to postpone really living to the future? Why is it that we can only be happy after........we get that promotion, that new baby, that first million, when our children have grown up? Are we not entitled to be happy as is, in the present moment? Finding the happiness amidst the imperfections of life.

I told Chang I did not understand his concept of working like crazy to earn all that money so that he could retire a monk. It sounds very noble but does that not sound so contradictory in itself? If monkhood were so important, would it not make more sense to start practising the qualities of a monk first whenever one had the opportunity and gradually slip into the role?  Practise the heart of monkhood rather than putting on that monk label and robe. Cultivating oneself in body, speech and mind, daily meditation, kindness, less materialism etc. Why postpone to the next life to be a monk? Why not this life? Why not now, if you really have the heart? Why start living only when circumstances become perfect? Is there such a thing as perfect circumstances?

Most of us think too much. our minds have to work overtime to cope with our busy lives. The inner dialogue goes on all day. The relentless thinking burns up alot of energy and we get exhausted. Furthermore, out thoughts are driven by emotions - usually underlying fear, anger or desire. It is exciting but exhausting. And the stress builds up. We have a threshold for the stress we can cope with and remain well. When this threshold is crossed, we find it harder to cope and become vulnerable to becoming unwell.

It makes more sense to claim whatever happiness we can have right at this moment. And if on that particular day, when things gets too much, make it a point to step down from that conveyor belt of stress to wind down. It takes effort but listening to one's body is an important part of loving oneself. A simple cup of tea, a walk or yoga works wonders. And stay in the now rather than focus on getting more and more.