I’m not the biggest fan of the Lunar New Year. Believe it or not, there’s too much fanfare for my liking, not to mention the garish decor, and don’t even get me started on the music (wayyy too over-the-top cheerful for my liking). Yes, it’s festive and there’s always good food and good company, but because we all have so many other homes to visit, everything becomes rushed and quality time is compromised.

My dad loves it heaps though, and never fails to decorate the lobby right outside our apartment.

It’s become a bit of a highlight for our neighbours (and their visitors) who actually look forward to it each year. No kidding.

We get a fairly large number of visitors each festive season, and we usually have a good assortment of goodies awaiting them. This year, though, I think we might have outdone ourselves with 11 different types of snacks, including three variations of pineapple tarts:

I can only think of one other household (the Gohs) that serves more food.

Reunion dinner at our place is usually quite low-key with only our immediate family members. As such, we don’t typically have a huge spread, serving only four dishes: Ayam Pongteh (Braised Chicken with Salted Bean Paste), Chicken Curry, and my two favourites – Hee Peow Soup (Fish Maw Soup with Cabbage, Fishballs, Prawn balls and Meatballs) & Ngoh Hiang (Pork & Water Chestnut Rolls with Beancurd Skin).

This year, we opted to save the Ayam Pongteh and Chicken Curry for the extended family who usually come over for lunch or dinner, thus explaining the lack of photographic evidence.

As much as I love that we have Monday & Tuesday off, I’m well aware that I’m gonna have trouble adjusting back to the daily grind right after all this. Oh well. Here’s to a prosperous and joyous long weekend!

Happy Year of the Dragon! :)

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