Chinese New Year Celebrations: Wishful Lo Hei

CNY can be an annual hedonistic, gastronomical affair. Starting from eve of CNY eve, CNY eve, to Day 1, Day 2 and then nearing day 15 (which marks the last day of this festive period), I do what Chinese people do best - EAT. Lo Hei, which is the traditional tossing of Yu Sheng (raw fish slices) is one festive dish not to be missed.

The picture above shows a clever modification of Yu Sheng from Mrs Chia Siew Eng's kitchen. For some reason that I don't remember (aftermath of the last Asian economy crisis???), we never feast on REAL Yu Sheng. As a substitute, we get abalone mushroom shreds. Well, not that I am complaining, the fun of Lo Hei is the tossing act itself. Being with my family of origin, I can be myself - boisterous and uninhibited. So my lines this year were:

May the stock market be bullish!!!

May the property market crash!!!

These are my self-serving wishes for this year. But my very intellectual and serious brother-in-law looked at me and made a kind comment - Aren't you being contradictory? How can the stocks rise if the property market crashes? (me: ????? duh? duh?)

Well, that's why this is Lo Hei. Wishful statements only lah!

Other festive ingredients: prawns, roasted pork, sea cucumber (oh! what will I do without them!), abalone, a variety of mushrooms, pig's stomach ....

This year's pseudo-Yu Sheng Lo Hei saw Fred missing in action. He was present in the body but not in the spirit. The reason was: his body sent an extremely peculiar message to his brain that day. The message was decoded as 'I just ate lunch less than 4 hours ago and I am not hungry. I eat only when I am hungry. In fact, I am slightly put off by what these mere mortals are doing - eating, eating and eating!' So, with due respect for his self-regulation and discipline, we had to 'tah pow' some food for his later consumption. His 'deviant', non-festive behaviour set me thinking about myself: many times, I don't eat ONLY when I am hungry. I eat because I want to be with my family. Mmmm.. a family who eats together bonds together. How true! Well, no sanctions for the deviant son-in-law. One has to allow for individual self-expression and autonomy, even in a tightly-knit family ;0)