Today is the first day of a brand-new year. I hope we have a good start and everything is good throughout Year 2010.
I wish everybody all over the world would live a much better life; be happier, healthier, wealthier, wittier and lovable than last year. H A P P Y N E W Y E A R 2 0 1 0 ! ! !
Merry Christmas to everybody!!
Here is a picture of a Christmas tree taken at Jurong Point recently.
I wish everybody around the world have a Happy Holiday as on 25 December …..MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! And also I would like to wish you have a HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010 in advance 🙂
Today is a public holiday in-lieu of Deepavali which took place on last Saturday (17 Oct). I feel fresh and great this morning because I don’t have to work today 🙂 It’s indeed a wonderful feeling for staying at home on a Monday morning!
I’m not sure how many people would share the same sentiment as me. I guess there might be a lot of people would feel the Monday Blues at the beginning of a brand-new week and they would call it a blessing if it is a holiday 😉
I took out the Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) book which I had left off at Chapter 6 before going to Thailand. I continued reading it after I came back and spent the whole morning reading it. The NLP book has 12 chapters altogether and I have finished 10 today. Hmm…I think my reading is progressing well and I should be able to finish reading the whole book by this week.
I stopped at chapter 10 and kept the NLP book before going out for lunch with my family. Initially, my nephew wanted to have lunch at the Swensen’s restaurant but changed to Seoul Gardens later because my niece said that she wanted to eat Korean-style Barbecue Buffet.
Korean-style BBQ Buffet at Seoul Gardens Restaurant :
I think it was quite fun by dumping the raw foods such as seasoned chicken meat, prawns, fish and so on onto the BBQ grilling plate and let them sizzled for a while. Alternatively, we dumped the vegetables, black fungus, mussels, cuttlefish, fishballs, prawns, etc. into the pot filled with Chinese herbal soup.
That was how I spent my public holiday in-lieu of Deepavali and I have had an enjoyable day today 🙂
Today is Valentine’s Day. It is a great occasion to express your deepest feelings and love to your loved ones. St Valentines Day falls on the 14 Feb and it is a day not only for lovers, it is also meant for family members and friends to give or exchange Valentine gifts as tokens of love.
Valentine’s Day is a wonderful day for couples to plan out romantic get-away or Valentine parties to celebrate 14 Feb romantically.
Hereby, I would like to wish all couples, family and friends in the world to have a romantic, memorable and enjoyable day on Valentine’s Day.
The 15th day of the 1st month of the Chinese New Year has finally arrived. This is the last day of celebrating Chinese New Year in the Year of the OX. We have to wait for another year for the Year of the Tiger to arrive before celebrating Chinese New Year again.
A day before this day, my family and I went to the Chinatown’s restaurant to have our Chinese New Year feast during lunch time. We booked our table one week in advance at the Tam Kah Shark’s Fin restaurant.
The waitress was very polite and well-trained. She greeted us when we reached there and ushered us to our table at the second storey. Shortly, she started to serve the dishes sequentially. The dishes were Yu Sheng, Peng Cai, tray of 5 lucky stars, shark fin soup, fish of abundant luck, abalone with vegetables, roast chicken, desserts and so on.
Yu Sheng (Raw Fish ) :
Tray of 5 Lucky Stars :
Peng Cai or Poon Choi (Pot of Vegetables) :
Abundant Luck Fish :
Abalone with Vegetables :
Fried Rice :
When we were about to finish our lunch, we heard a very loud drum sound coming from downstairs. Apparently, the lion dance troupe was invited in to bring good luck, auspiciousness and prosperity to the restaurant.
Lion Dance Pic1 :
Lion Dance Pic2 :
We enjoyed the Chinese New Year feast very much. We have to wait for another new year to come before we can enjoy the festive season good food again.
According to the Chinese Lunar Calendar, the 7th day of the first month of the Chinese New Year is the “Human Day“. Hereby, I would like to say “Happy Birthday To Everybody”.
Origin of “Human Day” :
Today (01 February 2009) is the “Human Day” for the Year of the OX and it happens to fall on a Sunday. So let us relax and enjoy ourselves on this special day for everybody. Happy “Human Day”.
Mandarin oranges, sweets, tarts, melon seeds and cookies are the commonly seen fruits and food during the Chinese New Year celebrations. These are the food served when relatives and friends pay each other a visit.
There is a round or hexagonal or octagonal tray with six or eight individual compartments being used to store sweets, melon seeds and so on. This item is called the “Tray of Togetherness“. The number six symbolises luck and the number eight symbolises fortune.
Tray of Togetherness (Tray Cover) :
Why is the tray called “Tray of Togetherness”? Well, Chinese New Year is a time for the family to get together and the tray of togetherness actually represents the family gatherings.
Tray of Togetherness (6 Compartments) :
From the picture above, you can see that there are altogether 6 compartments within the tray. Each compartment is filled with a treat and each with its own meaning.
The melon seeds represent wealth and the lotus-root seeds represent fertility. As for the sweets, they represent a sweet new year.
Pineapple Tarts :
Kueh Bangit (Cookies) :
Mandarin Oranges with Hong Bao (Red Packet) :
By the way, most of these are heaty food. A piece of advice is to drink more water after eating the cookies, love letters, pineapple tarts and so on. The best is to drink more herbal tea to prevent getting sore throat or other illnesses.
Let us stay healthy and energetic to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Gong Xi Fa Cai!!
How time flies? This year is another round of the Year of the OX for us to celebrate Chinese New Year. According to the Chinese Lunar Calendar, this is the 12-year cycle for the 12 different types of animal to take their turns.
My sister had bought an attractive and colourful cow statue in the Year of the OX exactly 12 years ago. It was bought for the-then Year of the OX for us to celebrate Chinese New Year. We took out this colourful cow statue and did some cleanup after it was kept for so many years.
Colourful Cow Statue :
Although the colour of the cow statue is fading, it is still in a very good condition. This cow statue has been with us for 12 long years and it brings us to remember those good old days that we have had.
We also like the 3 Chinese characters “Niu Lai Yun” being displayed on the script holding by the cow. The characters mean :
The arrival of the cow brings along luck
I wish the Year of the OX would bring us lots of good luck, good fortune and good health starting from the Chinese New Year. Let us hope it will start another bull run this year to boost up the world economy.
Most of the people visit relatives and friends during the Chinese New Year. Some people prefer to catch the movies if they feel bored.
Besides seeing movies, I think one of the most enjoyable leisure activities is to play the Mahjong game with the family, relatives or friends. You just need to find 4 persons and a Mahjong table to start the game.
Here is a picture of the Mahjong :
Mahjong requires lots of skill, calculation, memorization, strategy and luck to win the game if not money. You will feel that time passes very quickly if you pay full attention to playing the Mahjong game.
Mahjong Tiles :
My family and I play Mahjong during the Chinese New Year only and we don’t touch the Mahjong set at any other time of the year. We treat it as a leisure for the family and relatives to get together to have some fun during the festive season.
Mahjong Accessories :
It brings us lots of laughters to play Mahjong with the family so it doesn’t really matter if we win or lose the game. I find that playing Mahjong during Chinese Near Year bring the family, relatives and friends to come closer.
So, Mahjong is a leisure game to us rather than a gamble although we do play with a little sum of money. This is just a fun game to lift up the spirit of the festive season.
Today is the second day of the first month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar, I would like to wish all Chinese have a very HAPPY & PROSPEROUS CHINESE NEW YEAR!!
This year is the Golden OX Year and it is an important time for all Chinese from all over the world, whether you are living in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Mainland China, Indonesia, Thailand, US, UK, Canada and so on, to celebrate Chinese New Year.
One of the time-honoured traditions of celebrating Chinese New Year is to give out the customary “red packet” or “Hong Bao” or “Ang Pow” which is usually a red envelope. What does it contain inside? Well, the “Hong Bao” usually contains cash inside. At times, it may contain lottery ticket as some employers prefer this to giving cash.
Here is a picture of how the customary “red packet” or “Hong Bao” or “Ang Pow” look like :
You might be curious to know what the amount is like inside the “red packet” or “Hong Bao”. Well, it comes with varying amount of money inside but the value has to be an even number which signifies happiness.
In fact, the amount of cash within is irrelevant so long as it is an even number because the “red packet” or “Hong Bao” symbolises good luck, auspicious, fortune and so on. The very act of giving a red packet to someone means you are wishing the recipient good luck.
I wish you good luck and good prosperity whether or not you celebrate Chinese New Year. Collect or give out more customary “red packets” or “Hong Bao” or “Ang Pow” in this time-honoured traditions of celebrating the Chinese New Year. Happy holiday!
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