Painting the Town Red

The greeting card for Chinese New Year must in red. 2010 is year of the tiger. We used newspaper clipping for the Chinese uncle and a cartoon tiger for the front cover of Liya’s card. Liya bought golden bears too for decorative purpose. I emphasize that the Chinese are fond of or superstitiously love number ’8.’ Liya is going to send the card to one of her favorite teachers, Mrs. Law who also teaches Liya Mandarin this year. Have a prosperous year ahead!

Liya and Ajib’s Chinese New Year Party

Both Liya and Ajib wore red today. With all the spirit, grins and giggles they even scared the devils. Liya’s cheongsam is made of cotton, so no itchy itchy time. Ajib put on a red t-shirt with a smiling ox to greet into the new year.

Every mother was busy last night. At least I was. Came home around 9pm after series of meetings, then rushed into the kitchen to cook. Liya helped me a lot from washing the chicken cutlets to cutting the carrots. Together we made dumplings. To avoid tummy upset for the children, I boiled the dumplings. No chilli sauce was supplied as well. Liya told me that Alia ate the dumpling. Liya disliked the dumpling skin so I may have to try the wantan skin next time.

To decorate my Corning plate, I used 7 crabsticks and 10 fish balls too. A simple and healthy feast for the children. Thank goodness I still kept several red napkins. Liya wrote GONG XI FA CAI…

I missed the lion dance by a few traffic lights..luckily the teachers videotaped the performance.

Ushering Ox Year

Happy Chinese New Year. I’m so glad that the country we live in is far from chaos and poverty. Liya and Ajib will be having a Chinese New Year party in school this coming Friday. Red is the color. Forget about Manchester United! Anything to learn about Chinese culture – fortune cookies, ‘ang pow’ packets, chopsticks, lanterns, etc. Here’s an e-card for everyone that Liya and I have selected to celebrate the happy occasion. Hope the upcoming year will be prosperous, happy and peaceful one. May we love each other, learn and understand to get along.