拜年祝安康

We didn't step into the friends' houses or visited their parents till the third day of the Lunar New Year. Put on our gaudy chirpy festive colors and went visiting with gifts and mandarin oranges. Eight homes this year! These are people whom we see regularly and love; these are homes that we want to be in, and not because we're obligated to do so.

The visits were a riot! The dogs and the cats were all excited too and determinedly hung around for possible snacks coming their way. Nope, dearies. No snacks for you. Same rule- don't feed the pets like how you don't feed the children without prior permission. This thing about visiting and eating. We've been plied with plenty of food, bird's nest soups, and fabulous snacks. Plenty of good coffee along the way. I didn't reject emping (belinjo crackers) or muruku, and by the time 4pm rolled around, I welcomed all alcohol. :P

Many lo-heis done today too. Even scrambled to grab an impromptu takeaway lo-hei platter. Luckily Fullerton Hotel kindly prepped it for us at super short notice; it was the nearest convenient pick-up location to where we were. Hurrah. I quite like yusheng (鱼生、捞起). It's raw fish and shredded vegetables. Literally a salad. Don't even mind the plum sauce. Having this as a festive dish means many hands make the tossing quick and we get to the food faster. Heh. It's mind-boggling but we received many ang pows today. STILL. Haizzz. These naughty parentals. Luckily we had prepped little gifts of appreciation.