This time, let’s have a special WIAW… it’s what -i-ate-Chinese New Year Special!! Thanks Jenn for hosting, especially since I post the funniest (asian) WIAWs. This WIAW has a complete lack of green, which is excusable on my own terms, since it’s Chinese New Year, and it’s a time for celebration and relaxation.

I started by Chinese New Year off with a slice of Red Velvet Cake from Lynn’s. It was moist and pretty yummy, considering I’m not a fan of Red Velvet Cake. I just had to get some red into the New Year, since red = prosperity… or something along those lines.

DAY 1
It’s my family tradition to have a humongous breakfast on the first day of Chinese New Year. So this year, my mother lovingly put together a feast of yam kueh, stir fried noodles, pau, siew mai and egg tarts. It was like a mini dim sum feast! All right, maybe it was a dim sum feast, not so mini by the looks of it.

We even had Cheng Tng, a sweet asian dessert made from a sweet soup filled with longans, gingko nuts, white fungues and many more wholesome ingredients.

I was caught up in the hustle and bustle of visiting and wishing my elders happy chinese new year, that I forgot to take photos of the delicious food we had at the various houses. We had popiah, and kong bak pau, as well as loads of sweet treats and chinese new year goodies like pineapple tarts and love letters. I can’t believe I don’t have a single photo of chinese new year goodies. I guess they disappear way too fast.

Despite all that food, I still found the time to snack on some old school biscuits I found at my grandparents’ house. Marie biscuits anyone?

Dinner is unpictured.. but we had a lovingly cooked meal of porridge and chinese dishes, as well as fried bee hoon, prepared by my grandmother.

Ah yes, you all know what mandarin oranges look like. Try freezing them! They were the perfect cold snack, not to mention much healthier than pineapple tarts or bakkwa (barbequed pork) 😛

Day 2
I started the day right with more yam kueh and chee cheong fun. Yam kueh is a steamed chinese cake made of cooked yam, flour, shallots, mini prawns and loads of other ingredients. I love it so much! Chee Cheong Fun is a steamed rice flour roll topped with your choice of sweet sauce or sesame oil. It’s delicious as well.

Lo Hei made quite a few appearances this year… In fact, I had SEVEN Lo Hei’s this year. For the non-chinese readers, Lo Hei is like a salad made of grated carrots, various pickled vegetables, crushed nuts, crackers, raw fish and pomelo/dried fruits. It is topped with plum sauce and a drizzle of oil, before everyone mixes it up together with chopsticks, while proclaiming well wishes and hopes & dreams for the new year ahead. This dish is often eaten as an appetizer, before a sumptous reunion dinner.

My family continued our yearly tradition of having Golden Mile Steamboat for dinner! Nothing beats a steaming hot bowl of rice, with your piping bowl of soup filled with your favorite ingredients.

We are proud to say that we do love their sweet and sour pork chop very much! Crispy, yet not oily, and coated in the thick sweet&sour sauce with some peas, onions and tomatoes. It was as good as the very first time we tried it.

CNY is also about new clothes, so here’s just one photo of the dress I wore on the first day! I love the rustic background which was taken near some old flats during visiting.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR FROM THE CHAN SIBLINGS!

Hope you enjoyed this post!