For the benefit of visitors from other cultures, a brief overview about the Lunar new year or Chinese New Year or in Chinese it is known as "Chun Jie". " Chun Jie" means the Spring Festival. The Lunar new year day marks the first day of the Lunar calender year which is not the same as the Normal Calender year which is used by the majority of people. The calender that is used is based on the lunisolar Chinese calender.
The coming of Chinese New Year symbolises the beginning to another fresh start in one's life. Just like the arrival of Spring to the natural world is the arrival of a new year of growth and vitality, the Spring Festival heralds new hope and prosperity among people. The Lunar New Year is the most important of all the Chinese holidays. During the duration of the Lunar New Year which lasts 15 days, the main idea is that it is a time to reaffirm family ties. This is especially relevant in today's society where family members maybe working in different parts of a country or sometimes in different countries.
On the eve of the Lunar New Year, it is traditional that the family members near and far will gather together for a reunion dinner. The practice is to have a feast on that day and some of the essential things are one of the dishes must contain fish as the chinese saying goes 年年有餘 (nián nián you yú), which in English means every year to have surplus sounds similar in Chinese for every year got fish.
This year as the first day of the Lunar New Year falls on a Sunday, my uncle and auntie from Penang made their trip on Friday so that they can join us for the reunion dinner on Saturday which was the eve of the Lunar New Year. As tradition in my family, we had our reunion dinner at home.
My family always have a steamboat feast at home. Why steamboat you may ask? Steamboat has advantages, the soup base can be prepared earlier in the day and the raw food to be put in can be also prepared earlier in the day so not so rush. The other reason is since it is steamboat, you have to put in the food and wait for it to cook therefore everyone will be at the table hence there will be chances to converse and to catch up on how everyone is doing.
The following two photos are the pictures taken before dinner began. As can be seen, there are pork, eggs, fishball and meatball, prawns, pig liver and kidney, fish and three different kinds of vegetables.
The following two photos are the pictures taken before dinner began. As can be seen, there are pork, eggs, fishball and meatball, prawns, pig liver and kidney, fish and three different kinds of vegetables.
The soup based was done by boiling the chicken bones earlier with the addition of whole dry scallops to further enhance the taste. Chicken bones are used instead of pork bones as it will help maintain the clearness of the soup unlike soup using pig bones as base.
In addition, we also ordered a Suckling pig this year which is shown below. The plate which is filled with a lot of stuff, in the next picture, that looks so colourful is called "Yu Sheng". There are a lot of stuff place into this dish and every item symbolises something. When everyone arrive and ready for dinner, they will go and toss the "Yu Sheng" wishing for luck, good fortune and a smooth year ahead.
The picture below is a close up shot of the "Yu Sheng". This "Yu Sheng" which was bought from Ah Yat Restaurant, was very well done as the texture of the ingredients was not too rough and the sauce was also not overly sweet.
The picture above shows the suckling pig head as well as the crispy skin which is cut from the pig. Really surprising when you considered that the pig was quite big but once the bones are removed what is left is two plates of meat and skin. The suckling pig was ordered from Tiong Bahru market. The suckling pig was very well favoured.
It was a really good meal and was great to see my uncle and auntie from Penang.
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