新年快乐

a chIneese new year POst wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year! 恭喜发财!

we had fondue for our 春节联欢晚会 (reunion dinner) . i'd heard good reviews of the melting pot restaurant and was quite keen to check it out. 除夕(new year's eve) seemed as good a day as any - partly be'cos fondue is kinda like steamboat/hotpot which is a cny tradition on my mum's side of the family.

i tend to get a little sentimental around THIS particular holiday - be'cos i have such great memories of it growing up. kinda feel sorry for the chinese kids who grow up not having the opportunity to experience cny and all that jazz. open houses, a houseful of cousins to play with, fire crackers, collecting angpows, samcheong, blackjack, new clothes, etc. sure do MISS all the chaos and fun :))

it's not very festive here. oh, i'm sure that there are plenty of things going on in the chinese community ... like cny concerts etc. but i feel that the spring festival just not the same when you're away from home. mebbe having to work on cny is also not a very exciting way to usher in the new year.

we went to a cny gathering the weekend before at a fellow chinese malaysian's place. yep - there are malaysians in every corner of the world if you bother to find them - or be found! :P it's always interesting when you get a bunch of people together who have nothing in common except for their ethnicity and nationality. it's my observation that the generational gap is so much wider than the cultural ones ... these days :) the host reminded me of my uncles who are of the old school - my few exchanges with him provide a good dose of reality to counter the my nostalgia for home and cnys past. heheheeeee.

back to the melting pot - this is a one of kind restaurant. the food was really good of course. i mean, how can anyOne NOT like gooey melting cheese??! ohhh ... mebbe ping cher cher ... okie then, how can anyOne NOT like gooey melting chocolate??! actually, more interesting than the menu was the dining concept. instead of tables arranged around a big dining room, the restaurant was organized into eating booths with partitions that went almost the ceiling - and there were curtains for added privacy ;P i have to say it was a truly memorable meal ... even okm forgot about the battle of the blues game for 2 hours!

happy eating ppl!

年年有 "鱼"