We had 2 more Chinese New Year celebrations.
Dinner on the 8th Day of the Lunar New Year
We had one on Friday night which is Che Peh, or the 8th day of CNY. This is the day the Hokkiens ( a dialect group from the Fukkien area of China) celebrate Chinese New Year. Legend has it that long a go, there was an invasion in China, and the inhabitants in Fukkien province ran and hid in a sugar cane grove. They were not able to celebrate the new year, as it was dangerous to be seen. Then they were liberated on the 8th day of Chinese New Year, and hence the Hokkiens celebrate their liberation Chinese New Year on the 8th day of the first lunar month.
Offerings are made to the ‘Thnee Kong’, or the Great Emperor God, aka the Jade Emperor, which is the Overall God of all the other gods. Or, another name is the Heavenly God. Of course there are offerings of sugar cane, as the sugar cane grove gave them protection. A lot of food are offered, such as roast pig, chicken, ducks, cake and fruits, especially pineapple as the name for pineapple is ‘ong lai’, or welcome luck!! This day is an important day and no expense are spared in its celebration.
This is a photo of a typical offering in a home in Penang. Note the sugar can plant. There is always a pair ( not shown in the photo) as Hokkiens believe that things should go in a pair.
Coming back to the dinner, I hosted one for our S. Leicestershire guests. I have hosted several times for our group. We usually have it after a meeting so as not to have an extra day out as all of us a busy.
We had Yu Sheng, or the raw fish (Yee Sang in Cantonese), which is made vegan by me. You can get the recipe here. All the guests have the opportunity to toss the salad high up to welcome good luck and prosperity.
All the dishes are vegan except the tamarind chicken.
We also had the vegetarian goose, made from soy. I made vegetarian vermicelli with crispy fried bean curd sheets and fried shallots.
As usual we enjoyed the mixed stir-fried broccoli with peppers and carrots. The colours represents jade and gold, all auspicious colours to have for the new year.
We finished the meal with fresh fruits – sweet pineapple ( ong lai, welcome luck!!)
We had a lovely time together and hopefully everyone enjoyed themselves. They all went home with an orange, which signifies gold!!
Here are some of the photos.
Sunday Lunch with the girls.
On Sunday, my girls invited their friends over for CNY lunch.
the menu is:
Yu Sheng,
Lorbak or Ngor Heang as the Singaporeans call it. It is meat seasoned with spices and rolled in bean curd sheet, and deep fried.
Stir-fried Chinese cabbage in vegetarian sauce.
and chocolate pudding (2 types) for dessert.
The girls enjoyed themselves, mainly it is good company with good friends and they did ‘exercise’ with the wii fit.
It was an enjoyable evening, well, from lunch to evening and most importantly the girls enjoyed themselves.
So that was a busy week.
Until the next post, don’t forget to like and share this post your family and friends.
Gong Xi Fa Cai!!
