Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year 2017

2/14/2017 10:30:00 PM

Left: Chinese New Year peanut cookies, lucky red fruit

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Well, it was chap goh mei on Saturday, which marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebration. It was a reasonably quiet Chinese New Year for me, but there were lots of fun and delicious moments I'd love to share with you!

A couple of weeks before CNY, we happened to be in Singapore - a quick two day trip to defrost on the way back from Germany! I hadn't realised that the trip would coincide with the CNY period, and it was such a lovely surprise to see all the activities and festivities. It had been ages since I've been in a Chinese country during the Chinese New Year period, and I forgot just how big it is. Our hotel was in a particularly Chinese area (near the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho temple and Bugis), and there was a Chinese New Year market there that was so busy!

Luk, the God of wealth

Waa, aneh chay lung

Market stalls near the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho temple

So many biscuits

Lucky kumquats

Lucky other citrus (pomelo? giant mandarin?)

And of course, I squealed with glee when we came across the giant cock (heh) on Eu Tong Sen street. Way to celebrate the year of the rooster!

Happy year of the Cock!

Of course, full post on Singapore to come!

Here in Melbourne, the CNY celebrations are smaller, but I love how they seem to get more festive every year. It's so nice seeing the shops all decked out in red and gold, and seeing all the parades and celebrations around town. Lots of my favourite cafes did little promotions and special festive cakes too - such fun.

I baked a big batch of peanut cookies - roast peanuts, sugar and lard - heavenly!

Peanut Cookies

On Chinese New Year's eve, I had a sneaky special CNY-edition donut at Shortstop (12 Sutherland St, Melbourne VIC 3000) - it was a houjicha (roasted green tea) latte donut with crunchy milk crumb, and it was incredible! (So delicious that I'll ignore that houjicha is Japanese, and Japan doesn't celebrate lunar new year, heh). I'm super excited to go search for houjicha powder and start baking with it at home.

ShortStep Houjicha latte donut

As usual, on CNY eve, we had our family reunion dinner at my folks' place, and my parents made all our traditional dishes - kiam chye th'ng (salted vegetable duck soup), chicken curry and loh bak (deep fried belly pork wrapped in soy bean skin).

CNY eve dinner

Loh bak, aw yeah

And for dessert, we had some treats from LuxBite, and my homemade peanut cookies.

Chinese New Year desserts

On Chinese New Year itself, we had a chilled day. (No cleaning allowed!) Dinner was our yearly tradition of peking duck at Simon's Peiking Duck (197B Middleborough Rd, Box Hill South VIC 3128). Or "2 Girls 1 Duck", as we call it. Such indulgence!

Peking Duck

Duck Soup

Duck stir-fried with bean shoots

That was our Chinese New Year! Wishing you all the best for a prosperous and happy year of the rooster!

Chinese New Year Biscuits

Happy Chinese New Year!

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6 comments

  1. Yum!! All of that delicious food :D And it's so huge in Asian countries-I guess like Christmas is huge in Western ones!

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  2. So obvious, I know, not saying anything new, but I love how different cultures celebrate things! The Chinese New Year aesthetic is just beautiful, all that read and gold. And the stuff they do to fruit – my local Asian grocery had apples with the New Year’s symbol on their skin grown in – so fascinating. It must have been so wonderful to be there in Singapore at such a time.

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    1. Thank-you for your comment Paris Kat! :) I've seen those pretty apples too - so cute!

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  3. Lovely pics! I had my first go at making (vegan) pineapple tarts this year - they weren't quite as pretty as the ones on your plate, but the jam tasted great.

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    1. Thank-you! :) Wow, I've never tried to make pineapple tarts - they always seem like soooo much work, hehe. I'm in awe! :)

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  4. Yum your peanut cookies look so deliciously crumbly! Hope you had a terrific CNY Sarah. May the year of the rooster bring you much laughter, good health and good fortune!

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