- Red Packets
This is an essential item in the checklist of celebrating the Chinese New Year. The colours red and gold symbolizes good luck, happiness and prosperity in the Chinese culture. This is a tradition which the married will give red packets, which contains money inside the red envelope, to give their blessings to the younger generation.
Thus, do grab some red packets in nearby night markets or even NTUC FairPrice and do some exchange of red packets with your friends (just for the fun of it)!
- New Year decorations
It is not uncommon to see night markets selling the festive decorations needed for Chinese New Year now, especially when Chinese New Year in a week’s time.
People are shopping for red packets and new year decorations in preparation for the upcoming Chinese New Year.
Stalls are selling coin banks with the pig designs as 2019 is the year of pigs. Pineapples are loved by the Chinese during the festive season as its pronunciation ‘Ong Lai’ in Hokkien means ‘incoming fortune’. Thus, do not be shocked to see so many pineapple-related things during the festive season.
- Reunion Dinners
Nearing the Chinese New Year period, family members will gather together for a reunion dinner. It allows us to spend quality time together and catch up on one another’s lives. Some families enjoy eating out, while some prefer dining at home in their own cozy houses. My family usually goes for steamboat during Chinese New Year, as it is easy to prepare and delicious at the same time.
A simple steamboat is so easy to prepare and clean up as well. You can even prepare different ingredients according to your own tastes and preferences. As a vegetable-lover, lettuce is my go-to ingredient for steamboat!
- Chinese New Year snacks
How can you miss out on the must-have snacks during this festive season? They are all around you in various supermarkets, at affordable prices. There are a huge variety for you to choose from, and my personal favourites are the pineapple tarts and bak kwa. I love to alternate between sweet and savoury food, and thus get to snack on more of them.
Image taken from: GetDoc.co
There are so many yummy snacks that we can eat during Chinese New Year. I think I am ready to gain five more kilograms during the festive occasion.
- Lo Hei (pronounced as ‘low-hey’)
This is an indispensable and iconic dish, and almost every Chinese families would eat it during the CNY season. It usually has raw fish slices, vegetable slices seasoning and some nuts inside. In Cantonese, ‘Lo Hei’ means ‘tossing up good fortune’, you will need to toss the contents as high as possible while saying auspicious phrases or new year aspirations.
Image taken from: Hoteljen.com
Are you still a little clueless on how to enjoy Chinese New Year to the fullest? Fret not as ExchangeBuddy will be having a New Year lunch on 9th February 2019 (it is a SATURDAY)! Come down and indulge in delicious Chinese New Year snacks and Lo Hei with us. Moreover, we will be giving out red packets to some lucky winners too! More updates will be posted on our Facebook page and Instagram account @ExchangeBuddy, do follow us to see the series of upcoming fun-filled events!
Trackbacks/Pingbacks