Usually, other than the cakes and cookies, besides the keropok and acar, we would have some light snacks for people thus inclined or while sitting around the house, watching tv or waiting for family and friends to show up.
My missus would always buy some cashew nuts…
…that she would bake in the oven, brushed with a bit of butter for the added fragrance. Her brother, my brother-in-law, loves how she does it so he would send his cashew nuts over for her to do it for him. Indeed, those are by no means, cheap but anyway, Chinese New Year comes but once a year so it is all right.
In my younger days, my father would order the Perak/Ipoh menglembu groundnuts that came in a round oblong tin with a picture of an old man wearing a straw hat and carrying a hoe with some of the groundnuts dangling from it and these days, we have those famous ones from China, packed in Sibu but I am not all that fond of those as it can get quite messy and for that matter, the same applies to kuaci too. I don’t mind serving these…
…instead and it seems that they now have a new variety – with seaweed.
Personally, I love pistachios…
…not only because they taste good but because they are very auspicious as well. In Mandarin, they call them “happy nuts”/khai sing tao (开心果) because the slightly open shell looks like somebody’s mouth, laughing.
We’re not into the teeny-weeny popiah with either meat floss or sambal hay bee inside but if I am not wrong, they are very popular. These year, my missus made these…
…with seaweed and popiah skin and she also bought some imitation crab sticks which she cut thinly and fried…
I would say both are quite all right but I think I would rather stick to my keropok and acar.
Some people love sotong (cuttlefish) but if your house is air-conditioned, the stench can be quite killing.
I do love bak kua (barbecued meat slices) – here, we can get Loong Kee, not sure if we can get Bee Cheng Hiang anywhere this year. I’ve also seen woe lai yea, now renamed Oloiya (我来也) here before but the last time I had some from their outlet in Kuching, the quality had dropped so badly. So far I’ve not bought any and Chinese New Year is just a week away – I’d probably give it a miss this year since I am not all that keen on going out.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
I am not into snacks but keropok, acar and bak kwa are a must have for me come CNY. I love Tong Soon bak kwa, a local homemade brand and bacon bak kwa from Loong Kee.
Never heard of Tong Soon. We had one good one here but no preservatives, would not keep for more than just a few days so I did not buy anymore. Will look out for the bacon one from Loong Kee, never tried.
Sorry, the bacon one is from Gui Fei not Loong Kee. Got mixed up as my son likes to buy so many different brand of bak kwa. Sorry for the wrong info.
Oh! Ok, never heard of that brand.
We bought mandarin orange, keropok and some snacks today. Luckily not packed with people as we went early in the morning. Now we are ready for cny. Stay at home with sufficient food and snack. Haha
I still have not bought my bak kua and I hear a lot of people everywhere, even at our neighbourhood shops. 😦
Personally we don’t really consume a lot of nuts over here. 🙂 We prefer something like salted egg snacks.
Eyewwwww!!!! Overkill! These days I would not touch anything salted egg. They even sell you the powder for use in your cooking. I wonder how salted egg that salted egg is!!!
But I did try salted egg salmon skin once – my niece bought a pack from Singapore for us. I almost threw up! It was horrible, to say the least!
I love snacks way too much! Well, lucky you. So many snacks to enjoy. When it comes to nuts I can just keep eating and eating. They are terribly addictive.
Yes, but the problem is I just can’t stop. May finish all in one sitting. Thank goodness I do not have a problem with gout attacks, some can’t take nuts – terus cannot jalan!!!
Not really into nuts but I like CNY goodies and snacks such as Pineapple Tarts, have been eating so much until almost got heaty body and fever.
Yes, that is why a lot of people fall sick around this time of year.
Gosh, I love nuts. They are expensive though! I have some at breakfast every morning.
Hey! I just remember! The pack of pistachios is still there somewhere, buried under all that we have stocked up to eat! Hmmm…will go look for it and enjoy! LOL!!! The cashews all gone, of course.