Gong Xi Fa Chai - Happy New Year

Chinese New Year has always been my all time favorite season when I was growing up. Ever since I could remember my family has been going to Malacca for our yearly reunion. My uncles, aunties and cousins would come from all over meeting up at grandma's to celebrate this occation. As kids we would help out our aunties; prepare cakes and biscuits. Whilst others would help cook up a feast for the reunion dinner.

The tradition of giving red packetts was and is the best tradition of the Chinese new year; especially if you are on the receiving end. After a day of visiting relatives and collecting the red packets, us kids would sit in the corner counting how much we have received. Gambling is also another tradition of the Chinese new year, this is where we normally blow the red packetts we collected or double it. Being away in Australia for the last few years, I've been unable to celebrate this festive season with my family, but I've always made the best of it. This year, me and Yoshi decided to have a reunion of our on at our place.

Another tradition in the Chinese new year is Yee Sang ; It usually consists of strips of raw fish (most commonly salmon), mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces and condiments, among other ingredients. Yusheng literally means "raw fish" but since "fish (鱼)" is commonly conflated with its homophone "abundance (余)", Yúshēng (鱼生) is interpreted as a homophone for Yúshēng (余升) meaning an increase in abundance. Basically a fish salad. We used shredded cucumber, radish, carrots, shallots, orange slices, homemade crackers and crushed peanuts. Once the ingredients is placed on the plate, all at the table then stand up and on cue, proceed to toss the shredded ingredients into the air with chopsticks while saying various "auspicious wishes" out loud". It is believed that the height of the toss reflects the height of the diner's growth in fortunes, thus diners are expected to toss enthusiastically A small mess on the table usually occurs later.

Well Happy Chinese New Year to you all!!!

So what's your favorite festive season growing up?