Happy Chinese New Year

Kong Xi Fa Cai, everyone! 

That means wish you good fortune! (It is used very frequently during this time of year. Like how at the peak of the holidays 'Merry Christmas' becomes the new 'good-bye') 

Anyway, Singapore and much of Asia is in full festive mode in preparation for Chinese New Year (CNY for short, or as most non-Chinese Asians refer to it, 'Lunar New Year'). 

Below are some pics I have snapped around town, as well as some pics from our adventure to Chinatown last weekend. We have seen the decorations going up for weeks via our bus line (the seamless transition from reindeer to Chinese horse was impressive). I cannot tell you how many times I awkwardly and unsuccessfully stretched over multiple people to get the perfect shot from the moving bus, so we had to get in on the action and check out the holiday buzz for ourselves.  

Here are the highlights I have experienced first hand: major decor, red packets (hóngbāo), and a traditional meal (Yusheng). 

The mandarin orange is the official mascot of the new year. 

Michael and I both had traditional CNY lunches with work colleagues. Out here we get the pleasure of enjoying Christmas, Western New Year and Chinese New Year festivities. It has been great fun, but honestly, I cannot wait for the 3 month rotation of holiday treats, cakes and multiplying boxes of bakkwa  in the office pantry to go away. 

Behold, Yusheng - part of a traditional Singaporean CNY meal for good luck. 

It was explained that each ingredient has a meaning: 

• Fish “Abundance through the year”
• Lime “Good luck and smooth sailing”
• Pepper “Attract wealth and treasures”
• Oil “Numerous sources of wealth”
• Carrots “Good luck is approaching”
• Green radish “Forever young”
• White radish “Progress at a fast pace” 
• Peanut crumbs “Household filled with gold and silver”
• Sesame seeds “Prosperity for the business”
• Deep-fried flour crisps “Floor full of gold”

After our server explained all the additives, we were ready to dig in. Per tradition, we all stood up around the dish and tossed it together with a big cheer. (not sure if the woo-ing was required, or a natural reaction to throwing food in the air).  They said whoever tosses the highest, has the best and most of the aforementioned blessings - so the bigger the mess, the more good fortune you will have.

The entire process was really fun and quite tasty. To note, this was not the entire meal, there was about 8 more courses to follow and we were there at least 2.5 hours.  

Red envelopes: they are filled with money given and exchanged as gifts. This was the first one I received. Very exciting! There are all sorts of rules on giving them that I cannot keep up with. Rules on giving if you married, or not married, giving them TO married or not married people, the amount that is inside cannot contain a 4, but the numbers are supposed to be even...the list goes on. Anyway, they are usually very beautiful envelopes and are a very nice gesture, even if there is only a $2 bill inside.  

Onto our adventure to China town. As you can see, it is the year of the horse. 

 

We are off to Vietnam for the long weekend - can't wait to share pics with you when we get back!  

1love. 

C

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The Weekender

Singapore - They're Just Like Us! 

Just because its 86 degrees out, doesn't mean we can't enjoy some mid-winter hibernation like the rest of you. Behold, my favorite part of the weekend - (which sometimes begins on a Wednesday) - some well-earned relaxation with the First Family of Alaska. 

A recap of weekend events: Friday night hibernation, Saturday morning New York style and a day adventure to Tiong Bahru.

A perfect Friday evening. In case you didn't know, out here (in my opinion) Indian food = Italian food in terms of comfort and goodness. 

I know we are so far behind on Downton Abbey, but we are hooked. Holy cow was this weekend at Downton was good! 

Michael could barely sleep all week in preparation for his new espresso maker and bagel delivery Saturday morning. With the death of all things electrical in our apt. we needed a new one. I don't know how to use it yet, but I love the kind of retro-chic look - and the coffee was mighty tasty to boot. The eternal question, will this [insert overpriced object here] work when we move back the states? That remains to be seen...
      

 

Do you even know how hard it is find a normal (much less, good) bagel in Asia? While these aren't actually from NYC, this is the closest we could find after weeks of extensive research. #expatproblems

(p.s. is that supposed to be a 'lazy cop' eating a bagel like its a doughnut on top of a donkey? yup, nailed it) 

The meat of our weekend was spent in Tiong Bahru. According to CNN travel, this is "Singapore’s oldest and hippest 'hood" so that's cool. I would say it's something like a Brooklyn to New York's Manhattan(?) I took the ol' camera out for the adventure. It was a really fascinating neighborhood - I wish I would have taken more pics, but I got the sense it was an older and more traditional location so I was more conservative with my snapping.

These mandarin plants are EVERYWHERE. They are considered a traditional symbol for Chinese New Year.

We picked out some plants for our balcony at the market. 

All around are these burning areas for Chinese New Year (and certain other times of the year). From what I understand, you burn Joss Paper, or sometimes its called heaven or hell money. This act is done to pass on money, or other valuables to your ancestors to be used in the after life - to ensure they have everything they need. In summary, to give a gift to someone who has passed. While I do not pretend to know much about Chinese culture, we are sure learning a lot during our first Chinese New Year in Asia! 

Sunday night I cooked up a mean lasagna (our favorite recipe) and we wound down with the Crawley's. 

Would you guys like to see more (and by more, I mean any) cooking posts? It's really not as exciting as you would think. I can pretty much get the things and brands I want just at 3x the cost. Most things are the same except the occasional non-pasteurized dairy product, or a suspect Chinese brand, or that one time I accidentally received $50 worth of ground beef the size of a small baby as a result of my incorrect metric system conversion. 

And finally, I leave you with this little Singaporean jewel. Singapore is well known for it's notoriously low crime rate and strict laws and enforcement. Honestly, how funny is this sign/system. This thing has been up for at least 2 weeks now. We were joking, that if this were NYC, this sign would have be a continually changing LED ticker of unspeakable acts. 

Bicycle theft? There goes the neighborhood!   

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The weekender: Art, Leisure & HK

Whoa, for whatever reason as I write this on Monday night the weekend already seems like it was a full week ago. Well I know why, it's mainly because this weekend post actually began on Thursday and I'm sitting in the back of a cab after midnight from working a 36-hour bender in Hong Kong. 

A quick recap of events. 

Thursday, Michael and I went to this painting class with his co-worker and his gf. We painted, we drank wine, we had a grand ol' time. We will definitely be back for a touch up class, or 2, or 5.

Michael is working on a guitar and I am working on creating one of our engagement pics "Sav Art" style. If you look closely you can see my inspiration photos on the top and bottom. 

After class they took us out for an amazing, authentic Japanese meal of incredibly tasty and fresh fish (sushi, hand rolls, cold noodles, etc.) complete with an appetizer of whale sperm - literal -(apparently it's 'in season' so ya know it's good). Also this top-notch restaurant was set in a mall crawling with no one besides 8 floors of foreign prostitutes stationed at every escalator post (it's legal). With all the metal railings and mirrors it was like a weird fun-house of 100 women staring down at you - you  just had to be there. All considered, it was very normal and relaxed evening out with friends. (No pics cuz it was too uncool while dining with experts and the working ladies looked mean and outnumbered us). 

Friday we had a evening of hanging at home and eating at our next door restaurant boCHINche (the provoleta, almonds & honey dish is omgtodiefor). 

We both had crazy weeks at work - the ones where the week flies by in a blink and you crave a low-key Friday. Honestly, we've missed that kind of tired we were so accustomed to in NYC, it was nice to feel it again. Living in a foreign country, it's usually a different flavor of exhaustion. It's hard to explain. Maybe something like comparing running a marathon at full speed on a flat road vs. running 1km (how far is 1km? no clue, i live in a foreign country), up a mountain, in a hailstorm, backwards, blindfolded, while GUTS-style boulders and glitter fall on you - it's usually that kind of tired.

ANYWAY - how cute is the bottle opener our recent house guest brought us from Myanmar? It's hand carved wood and made with just a nut and bolt. Made our Friday night San Miguel all the more fun. 

Saturday we had some quiet time sipping coffee and reading - remind me again, why we don't do this more often? Michael the newspaper, me this. My MIL, SIL and I are all reading it. It's good! It's kind of like Asian Gossip Girl, but with way more money and a longer lineage. After hearing about this, I am all the more intrigued about Asian high-society. 

Sunday it rained and I flew to Hong Kong - that was pretty much it. I traveled there to help out with an event my group was hosting and am quickly back safe and sound (just in time to get 4hr of sleep and do the same event in SG the next day). 

Wait, real quick, can we talk about how the women in HK carry Hermes Birkin bags like they are Coach?! Okay, maybe we will touch on that in a later post. Wait, can we also talk about airport security frantically running around face-palming small children stopping them in their tracks to zap them with a laser beam like a scene out of Ender's Game? (don't worry, my boss notified me it was just swine flu scan, so that's cool). Lastly, how about that smell-text message apparatus they were advertising on the train? I need to start writing more of this down.  

#hongkongelevatorselfie

Cheers to some more sleep (clearly this post is a little punchy :)) and an easy week. 

P.S. Calendar Update: 

Jan. 30 - Trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (!)

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