Gong xi fa cai

Because I have no pictures of dogs, or of firecracker debris, and I didn’t even manage to get any pictures of our reunion dinner last night (see Ivan’s for a scrumptious example), I’ll use these words instead:
Read from right to left, top to bottom: May you have lots of laughter, success in your studies, and a happy new year. May all your wishes come true and may every season be peaceful*. GONG XI FA CAI! Have a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

We had a curry puff making session yesterday morning – a Malaysian variation of the Chinese tradition of making dumplings, 饺子 jiao zi, for the New Year. We set up a production line, with one person preparing the pastry (Mum), one person rolling the individual circles of pastry (me), and everyone else filling the circles with chicken curry (made the day before) and making the little decorative crimps to seal the pastry. Juji was the official trainer of those who had either forgotten, or had never made curry puffs before.

Once we’d used up all the pastry, it was time for the fry up. Curry puffs are not the healthiest thing you can eat, as they are usually deep fried (Mum reckons deep frying is the best treatment for them rather than baking them in the oven).

The frying was done in Mum’s cast iron wok. In the picture you can see the bubbling oil, with a drainer attached to the top of the wok and Mum’s extra long, extra thick cooking chopsticks.

I was too busy eating to take any other pictures.

Categories: ChineseNewYear, 2006, celebration, culture, family

*Mandarin (pinyin) transliteration:
xiao kou chang kai, xue ye jin bu, gong he xin xi, wan shi ru yi, si ji nian an,
gong xi fa cai