Magical TurnAbout-- Let Me Spin A Tale, A ThouSaNd LighTs, A StaGe as Grande

Friday, February 16, 2007

A celebration of the 'pig' year, a season of fun, peace and prosperity. What comes to your mind when CNY is mentioned?

Red packets.
The allure of cold hard cash never fails to brighten the days of kids and adults alike. No matter how demure a lady you are or how 'buff' a guy you are, you will always fall prey to the RED gleam of red packets. Escastic is the word. Ang Pows are more of well wishes than the material meaning it carries nowadays. 2 days of chinese new year gone, let me see how many red packets i hav accumulated... Not much i guess considering i only have relatives at my father's side to visit as my mom's relatives are all non- singaporean. 10 plus plus.

In addition to the 'significance' of the wad of cash, the design of the red packet itself is also something to be applauded. From the traditional red with just some simple greetings engraved on it( or printed on it), it has since evolved into a commercialised agenda where businesses give away exquisite red packets with their company logos. Agenda setting? However, credit given to those designed for the purpose of the appearance itself and not any nonsensical 'master scheme'.

Togetherness.
It's a day for families to gather and embrace the joyous occassion. Over the past year, there might be time constraint and what's not resulting in... no meet-ups, no contact, and just seperate entity for each and everyone of the extended family. Yet, on this day, (well, it might be because of the public hols factor...) everyone comes together to catch up on the going-ons in their lives, gamble and just make merry.

Food.
Glorious food. Sumptous fare. Plush ingredients cooked in a not so regal way. The food might not be the swanky and ritzy cuisine in restaurants but the homecooked nosh we eat every other day. For me, every year on this day, i never fail to have steamboat. Its not exactly gruel nor is it swanky but at least its cooked by my granny! Sometimes, homecooked fares taste better than any other dishes in top-notch restaurants or so i feel.

What about the new year goodies? Love letters, kueh bahlu, box of ferero, cookies, prawn crackers, cashew nuts and BAH KWAH. BAH KWAH is a typical chow which you can see in almost every home you visit during CNY. People can queue for hours under glistening sun just for a few kgs of that in Chinatown. That is plain crazy since you can practically get that all over the island. I'm no food gourmet but correct me if i'm wrong, almost all taste the same to me! how different can it get?

Well, i guess that's about all to Chinese New Year excluding the nitty-gritty details to it all.

Beauty in the eye of the beholder;