Childhood Memories of Chinese New Year !

Hello and thank you for stopping by on my 1st blog post . Today is my 7th day on this wonderful platform and today is also the 7th day of the Chinese Lunar New Year , the Year of the Rat. Today is referred to as "Human Day" which is celebrated as everyone's birthday so here's wishing everyone a Very Happy Birthday ! It is also a day that is very common in South East Asia , to celebrate by having a big plate of Yue Sang" or Prosperity Toss Salad. A very fun way of gathering with friends and family , using your chopsticks to toss the salad as high as you can , while wishing everyone good wishes. The higher your toss, the higher your prosperity , abundance , health etc etc etc .

I have fond memories of growing up in Malaysia during Chinese New Year . Starting from the night before, we will put on new pajamas to welcome the New Year with new clothes. The next 3 days, we have new clothes, new shoes , new things to celebrate the New Year . We also get to bake cookies with friends before the New Year to give it out as presents . I still remember vividly sitting on a low stool with my neighbourhood friends making "Love Letters" , a version of Crispy Egg Rolls made with coconut batter . Sitting in front of us is a low charcoal grill , and we have a team of line cooks , each performing a different task. One would pour the batter into the moulds and "baking" it over the charcoal grill. It just takes a few minutes and when done, you take it out and your pass it to your friend ( the next line cook ) and she will fold it into a triangle shape cookie and the next in line will put it on a rack to cool and packaged into a tins. Besides eating the yummy cookies, the team spirit is what I treasured and will remember for the rest of my life .

What are some of your childhood memories ? Thank you for reading mine .

All the best !

Doris :-)