Missing Chinese New Year Goodies Singapore-style

The year of the docile Dog is coming to an end and soon the mighty Pig shall reign! The period of Chinese New Year has always been significant to me since young.

No. 1: ANG POWS!
Ever since I was born till last year when I got married, I had always looked forward to CNY and saying the four words "Gong Xi Fa Cai!" and then outstretch my hands to receive a red packet(ang pow). All kids and unmarried adults will receive ang pows from their elders(only those who are married) and the notes inside are always crisp and new(new year, new notes!). Everyone looks forward to the end of the collecting rounds by nightfall to rip apart their ang pows and count the $$$ in their hands. Sadly, I shall never experience these euphoric moments for the rest of my life anymore *sobs*

No.2: Pineapple Tarts
For a long as I can remember, we've always had all the traditional Singapore style CNY goodies and delights. Pineapple tarts, thin egg rolls, kueh bohlu, kueh bangkit freshly made with loving hands by my maternal Grandmother. Oh, how I remember those pineapple tarts that gives me a jolt of sweet delight everytime I put one whole into my mouth...mmm... I tried learning from her the secret recipe to her baking goodness but alas, her baking techniques of employing a charcaol fueled kiln to bake her tarts is something I am quite unable to reproduce in my own oven. I tried in my Manhattanite kitchen to reproduce all that goodness in my tarts but I just couldn't. It looks edible but it is so deceiving. I was not heartless enough in putting more sugar when cooking the pineapple...I thought I might want to make some "healthy" versions of it with less sugar. BIG mistake. If you wanna eat saliva-inducing type of pineapple tarts, NEVER ever refrain from putting in the sugar! NEVER! I've learnt my mistakes... *sobs*

No.3: Bak Kua
I believe I had already ranted about this a few blogs before. AND I STILL AM RANTING ABOUT IT. Desperate people do desperate things, you see. My sweet mom wanted to send me a packet of Lim Chee Guan but I had to bite my tongue and tell her not to do it - who knows if the US customs officer might confiscate it for his own gluttony instead. It will break my heart to know someone else is enjoying it on the expense of my happiness.

SO, I bought it at Chinatown in Manhattan instead.

According to my husband's Chinese colleague, Chinatown sell the bak kua all year round and no, the mainland chinese do not eat them specifically during CNY. *WHAT???* He kindly showed us the golden road to the shop and it was so isolated I would have bypassed the shop w/o a 2nd look normally. When i entered, I thought I was in some home appliance repair shops. On the counter, there were 2 huge glass canisters and only one was 1/4 filled with...BEEF jerkies. (I'm like: Where's the PORK?) The place was dingy and the man behind the counter looked slightly deranged like his wife just left him for the next door barber - I almost didn't want to buy anything. In fact, I just wanted out!

(This photo shows people queueing up for 2-6 hours at Lim Chee Guan shop in Singapore a few weeks before CNY to buy bak kua at almost double its usual price. The price increases as it gets closer to CNY.)

This is major culture shock for me where Singapore bak kua shops are mostly brightly lighted up and all red with like 100 varieties of pork/beef products to sell apart from the bak kua. Ok, let's not go there in case I can't control my salivatory glands any longer. The gourmet bacon bak kua from Bee Cheng Hiang is one of my top faves. Oooh...I would die to have a bite of it now! So, back to my repair/bak kua shop, I finally bought the unsavoury looking bak kua for US$8 for 1/2pounds and quickly escaped. Unfortunately, they dun taste the same(but yummy in a different sort of way) and I still want my Bak Kua.

No.4: CNY Dining Affairs(especially those involving ABALONE)
With smaller families these days, reunion dinners are quite overrated. BUT, I love going to both my grandmothers' homes for BIG feasting lunches/dinners with all my cousins, aunts and uncles. Chinese grandmas are best when it comes to feasting cos they like to cook for MANY people. I do think I am beginning to fall into that category but that is another story. Especially during the first 2 days of the new year, the tables will be laid to the brim with very time-consuming dishes like teochew braised duck *drool*, slow cooked sea cucumber(eeks) and other expensive seafood soup, "seung" some leeks thingee that i absolutely hate to eat but had to cos it will enable you to "count" your money for the year(it is pronounced in Chinese as "count" literally), steamed fish(especially the white stomach fish filled with roe is highly prized), sliced slivers of abalone straight from the can(ooh...yummy yumz yumz!), fresh giant tiger prawns cooked in all manners, green vegetables cooked with scallops or the baby abalones(can't remember the exact terms for it), lots of sambal chilli accompaniment and of course, chinese desserts. Usually, my grandmas will prepare cheng tng with lots of longans and gingko nuts.

According to Wikipedia, typical foods consumed during CNY for mainland chinese are dumplings, fish, candy, melon seeds and turnip cakes. Boy, am I glad that I was born in Singapore instead! Oh, I have a duck in my freezer waiting for the right time to be braised Tecohew style! *slurp!*