Here are some Chinese new year cakes. also known as 'NIan gao'- cantonese 'nin gou'. Not sure if this is an accurate tale, but my mother says today is the 24th day of the lunar new year and the 'Gods' have all ascended to the heavens, all except for the Guan Yin deity. My grandmother used to say we have to make offerings of these cakes to the kitchen god as bribery. These sticky cakes are said to keep his mouth shut, so that he will not say bad things to the jade emperor on how we have behaved this entire year. Since the kitchen is a busy meeting point for everyone in the family, whether it's to share good news, gossip or complain, it was the kitchen god who was the guardian of the home in a way.

These cakes are delicious when cut up and dipped in flour batter mixed with some salt. Made from flour and melted brown sugar, they are put in banana leaves and solidified with a sweet banana leave flavour. Do you do the same in England, T? I love these cakes!

Pictures of the 年糕




And I'm not sure if you practise the same. My feng shui obsessed mother loves windmills. It brings good luck. Like that phrase 'winds of change'. It's about changing of fortune and good 'qi'. As they say 转云. This is the picture of my backyard.


And here the giant rooster carved of wood to ward of bad luck, bad spirits and ill will. I mentioned it in a previous post. this rooster weighs about 5kg, a much larger version of the golden one my mother made me take to work!


Finally, these pair of fish I bought for a steal. the fish alone is about 60cm. Are fish a popular symbol with your family too? From the auspicious chinese saying 年年有余 (nian nian you yu), meaning every year there is abundance and excess. Because of the phonetic sound of the last character, it goes with fish, so the fish became a symbol of good luck and prosperity over here in Singapore- at least that I'm sure of.

Do you also eat lots of prawns over reunion dinner on the eve of chinese new year? It's a must-have at our dinner table every year, because the phonetic sound of 'ha' 虾 in cantonese is like the 'ha ha' laughter sound （哈哈笑）. And it's about laughing all the way into the new year. Do you practice this too? I love these symbolic phonetic sounds.


So tell me more about how you celebrate. I'm really curious about the traditions of other migrant chinese, although both my parents were born and bred here. Hence i think the traditions have been diluted somewhat.

Have a good week ahead!

xoxo