Zahirah caught up with Rendy Lu Yen-Hsun right after his doubles match at the Australian Open and got his blessing to record a Lunar New Year message to his fans out there.
According to Zahirah who interviewed Rendy, win or lose, Rendy will spend his Chinese New Year abroad this year, as he plans to jet off to Germany for the Heilbronn Challenger next week.
“It was nice to spend it (at home),” Rendy said.
“You can really feel the atmosphere then.”
Zahirah also reported, spending holidays away from home may be hard, but with Rendy's sustained climb in the ATP rankings and the increasingly elevated profile of tennis in Taipei which he spearheads, Rendy is certainly reaping some handsome rewards for his sacrifice.
HCFoo would also like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy Ox Year!
Finally I'm back to work. Received hoi gong lai see (start work angpow?) from Boss and Mom. There are a lot of biscuits to eat in the office as well as at home.
I've seen that most of you blogger friends have posted about your reunion dinner. So I'll share about mine too. As usual, my Dad the main cook in the house, will cook our reunion dinner. There are 6 dishes all together, which means 'good luck'. If you haven't know, '6' in Hokkien sounds like 'luck'. By the way, I'm Hakka.
'Cheong Sau Min' or Longevity Noodles or Long Life Noddles is my favourite. As usual, I eat more noddles than rice.
On Lunar New Year, we must 'siew ha ha' (laugh). So 'ha' as in prawns in Cantonese is a must.
Fish is a must in Chinese reunion dinner as it represents 'nin ni yau yu' (every year there's more or extra food). And fish in Cantonese is 'yu'.
Of course there must be roast pork on the table too.
So does steamed chicken.
This is my Dad's specialty, the spring rolls.
Finally there must be a perfect drink. Like every other year, we will have our version of cocktail (mixture of jelly, canned fruits and Shandy).
I've got this meme from Dora which is right at this time before Chinese New Year.
What are some of your new year’s good luck traditions? Rules :Copy the person and persons’ names that sent it to you and add your own at the bottom of the list.
*My mom used to collect some coins and when the new year comes she put the coins in a bowl and shake it to create sounds. She said its good luck for money throughout the year. And also wearing dotted dresses on new year don’t know why. CC/chalyza/keep
*My old folks always told us to avoid spending money on new years day. They said, once you spend on the first day of the year, you like to spend the rest of the year.Behind d Scenes of ME/ Retchel’s Pure Life/ /A little bit of me
*I grew up believing that if you have some money on your pocket (whatever you’re wearing) come New Year’s eve it will ensure steady flow of income throughout the year. The other belief is that the main door of the house should be wide open come New Year’s eve so that good luck will be ushered in. Juliana of MY WORLD and JULIANA’S LAIR.
*I don't have any traditionals during New Year. Juliana RW
*I have keep a RM50 note which the serial number is begin with number 8 and end up with number 8 also, between the number, it’s not encourage to have number 4 and number 0. By doing this we will have steady income throughout the whole life. It’s not easy to find such note. Another ways is to keep your “Ang Pao” in your pocket or put it inside your pillow on the New Year eve before you sleep. Hazel
*I must make sure our house is clean & tidy on CNY Eve because the God of Prosperity will only "visit" a house which is comfortable to stay with! And I must not sweep or mop the house on First Day of CNY or else the wealth may be ruined. Dora
I've written a similar topic before in this post and I'm going to paste one of the tradition here: Must have leftovers from reunion dinner on Chinese New Year eve.
It's already the 8th day of CNY. Kinda not up-to-date to blog about the celebration now. So, I'll just post some food pictures (no close up pictures of pork) here. My dad prepared all these food for our family dinner on Chinese New Year Eve. He definitely knows a thing or two about cooking.
I always like beaches. So here's a picture taken while my family and I had our evening drinks at Hyatt Hotel by the Teluk Cempedak beach on the 3rd day of CNY. I was kinda shocked when they charged RM25 for a glass of orange juice. Perhaps I forgot it was a 5-star hotel.
I should say that I've done my best to make sure this year is a better year for my family and I. Last year was quite a disaster although the Dragon (now I reveal my age) was supposed to have a great year.
I've tried to comply to the chinese tradition and pantang larang during this fifteen days of Chinese New Year (which I normally don't or seldom do in previous years). Here is the list of what I have done:
1. Eat a lof of mandarin oranges. I didn't eat it at all last year. Honestly, I hate fruits but I've decided that I'll learn to love it this year to improve my luck.
2. Had a long conversation and enjoy a slow meal during reunion dinner on Chinese New Year eve with family members. Usually we ate very fast but this year we had a 1-hour dinner which is a miracle for us.
3. Must have leftovers from reunion dinner on Chinese New Year eve. Last year we tried not to cook that much with the intention of not to waste food. And it turns out that last year wasn't a good year for the family.
4. Gamble! This year, my siblings and I enjoyed our mahjong game a lot. It was the first time we played mahjong in the house. Although I did not win, I believe mahjong game is a good game to bring ong (luck) to the family because it creates a fun and happy atmosphere to the family. We played cards as well. We didn't even play a single game last year.
5. Did not wash my hair until after the 3rd day.
6. Wear red.
7. Woke up early on the first day of Chinese New Year, pray and greet my parents. Then eat only vegetarian food for the whole day.
8. Also as soon as I woke up during the first day of Chinese New Year, I had a cup of Nescafe. I've heard that it was a good way to ensure that you will be staying alert throughout the year.
9. Avoided taking a nap on the first day of Chinese New Year.
10. Saying nice words on Chinese New Year and avoid negative thinking.
11. To celebrate Chap Goh Mei like the first day of Chinese New Year.
12. Eat lotsa chinese dumplings especially on the first day of Chinese New Year and on Chap Goh Mei. The dumplings symbolize wealth because their shapes resembles ancient chinese gold nuggets.
Overall, I did enjoy the food, the game and the fun with family members as well as friends. I should say that this is the first year I really feel the spirit of Chinese New Year. Perhaps it is because I didn't really bother about the chinese tradition in the previous years. This is also the first year I had a small winning from Sportstoto on Chinese New Year. Not bad, huh?!
Since I'll balik kampung and won't be able to online for a week, I'm going to take this opportunity to wish all friends and bloggers a very Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year. Hope this coming Dog Year will bring luck and good fortune to all of us!
