The 1st day of the Rabbit Year 2011 started with the traditional mee sua…
…for longevity and good luck in the days ahead.
Then, we went over to my parents’ house and after that, my mother-in-law’s place to extend our Happy Chinese New Year wishes to them (while my daughter collected her ang paos… LOL!!!) and then we went back to get ready for our open house.
It has been the tradition ever since my childhood days to welcome all the relatives and friends with open arms all throughout the Chinese New Year festive season right up till Chap Goh Meh (the 15th Night) but usually, the visiting would come to a stop once the holiday is over and everybody goes back to work.
There would be lots of biscuits/cookies and cakes…
…and more cakes…
…and free flow of drinks and usually, for our open house, I would have some food to offer as well like for this year, we had this dish of sambal pineapple prawns…
…and my missus’ specialty that seems to be the favourite of many – her ngor hiang (lor bak)…
The kacang ma chicken was a real hit…
…and there was chicken curry too…
…plus the ghee rice to go with it…
We had our family-recipe salad…
…and oven-grilled chicken wings and I also had some nice Sibu Foochow sio bee as well…
Of course, Chinese New Year would not be Chinese New Year without the sweet mandarin oranges…
It certainly was a very pleasant 1st day for me – we had a steady flow of guests throughout the afternoon and night, the last group leaving sometime after 10.00 p.m.
What about the rest of you? How did your 1st day go? I hope everybody had a great time…
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 