Chinese New Year

For Chinese New Year, we were invited for dinner at our landlords place. I was still a bit sick and tired, but I refused to miss it and I'm glad we went!!

Juliana adores all of them, especially their two daughters, so she had fun playing around and showing off for them. She had so much to discover in a new place with new toys!

When they began setting up for dinner, Jacob and I were amazed at the spread. There was so much food and lots of new dishes to try. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling up to trying too much, but I did get to try the abalone soup and yu sheng. Both of these are traditional Chinese dishes. The soup is very flavorful and is comprised of pork, abalone, and mushrooms seasoned with ginger.

The picture below is of the three of us with Bethel and Eden. That vegetable dish was also very good! We asked for the recipe to see if we would be able to recreate it at home! The dish to the left is the prosperity salad, or yu sheng.

The picture below is a close up of the salad. At the bottom, there are mixed shredded vegetables, such as white radish, cucumber and carrotts. On top of the vegetables, you add different marinades, dressings, and condiments, including sesame oil, plum sauce, white pepper, five spice powder, salt and other ingredients depending on the recipe. Next comes the chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, parsley and shrimp crackers. Finally, on top of everything is the raw salmon. The wikipedia encyclopedia states, "Yusheng literally means "raw fish" but since "fish (鱼)" is commonly conflated with its homophone "abundance (余)", Yúshēng (鱼生) is interpreted as a homophone for Yúshēng (余升) meaning an increase in abundance. Therefore, yusheng is considered a symbol of abundance, prosperity and vigor."

This salad is served to raise good luck for the new year. Family and friends gather around the table and using their chopsticks, toss the ingredients and mix up the salad. Traditionally, they will also chant Jíxiáng Huà, or auspicious wishes out loud, marking the beginning of a prosperous new year. As Sue Lynn told us, the higher you toss the salad, the greater your fortunes will be, so we tried to get as high as we could!!Even Juliana tried to get involved with the tossing!Overall, it was a wonderful evening and a nice way to spend our Chinese New Year here in Singapore. We got to learn more about the traditions associated with the holiday and try some new foods as well. Jacob and I always enjoy spending time with them and Juliana loves the attention!!