ET Speaks From Home

Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way

Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony

The Wedding Tea Ceremony is one of the most important events at a Chinese wedding.  My mum insisted we must have a tea ceremony because we didn’t get married in a proper Singaporean Chinese way.  Mr C and I got married in Bath and it was a small wedding with close family and friends only.  So when I told some of our friends that we are having a tea ceremony after the registration, no one understood what that meant.  As a result of the mix-up, two of our friends went back home after our registration and missed the wedding dinner.  Sometimes it is hard to explain to others why we have a Chinese tea ceremony during the wedding day so I decided to write this post.

Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony - bride and groom to sibling

Chinese Superstitions to enter a Hotel Room

Chinese Superstitions to enter a Hotel Room! Last February, my mum and sister both flew to the UK to visit us. While they were here, we all went on a road trip to Scotland. You can read more about our Scotland trip with Barny here.

Chinese Superstitions to enter a Hotel Room tips

How to make an Origami Chopstick Stand

Earlier this week, my mum and sister flew over to the UK to visit us.  We took them on a road trip to visit Scotland. My sister is a proper Singaporean Chinese who can’t live without noodles or rice.  So we went out to eat Chinese food for most of our meals on our trip.  I came across an old fashion dumpling restaurant in Edinburgh and they have these paper wrappers for the chopstick.  It has been a long time since I have seen these wrappers in restaurants.  It triggered memories of how my Japanese friend taught me to make an Origami Chopstick stand.  This is to keep the tip of the chopstick clean if the restaurant didn’t provide chopstick stands.

I only managed to get a single wrapper as my children kept stealing the wrappers to play with it.  In the following pictures, the wrapper is quite creased.  If I ever get hold of an original wrapper, I will take a better picture. So for now, please bear with it.

1. Stand

Fold the wrapper from one of the ends inwards to a length of 3 cm.  Keep folding inwards for the rest of the length of the wrapper.  Fold in half along down the length.  Pinch in the sides to make it stand.

Origami Chopstick stand

River Ang Bao 2014 in Singapore

Sadly tomorrow is the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations and this is also my last post for the Chinese New Year theme.  Hope you all have fun reading my blog posts from making Chinese New Year lantern crafts to foods!

River Ang Bao Entrance

Chinese New Year Goodies in Chinatown

Today, I would like to take you on a journey to see Chinese New Year goodies found in Singapore Chinatown. Living there for over 20 years and going to Chinatown in Outram Park is one of my highlights and recommendations to soak in the new year atmosphere.

Since I moved to the UK, I miss the opportunity to shop for the full range of Chinese New Year goodies. Some of these goodies can be found in UK Chinese supermarkets though so take a closer look if you get chance!

Chinese New Year Goodies in Chinatown

Celebrate Chinese New Year with Orange

Mandarin oranges play a major part in our Chinese New Year.  It’s to do with way we pronounce the word, it sounds like fortune.  Chinese people love to say only good words on Chinese New Year as it will bring them all the luck and fortune for the coming new year.

Celebrate Chinese New Year with Orange Hello Kitty Mandarin

Different Types of Chinese New Year Goodies

This time of year is the best time to travel down to Asian countries, especially Singapore.  Not only are you escaping the bitter cold in the UK, you are going to enjoy the different varieties of foods and festivals there.  As a proud Singaporean, I would like to share some of our delicious Chinese New Year goodies.  They are only produced once a year to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Chinese are very superstitious so all the goodies are labelled in red.  Why Red?  It is corresponding with fire, and symbolizes good fortune and joy.

Chinese New Year Goodies iin jar

Chinese New Year Wall Decoration

This year Chinese New Year falls on 31 January 2014 and is the Horse year.  There is a 12 year cycle and and each year has a different animal to represent them.  In a later post, I will blog more about the background.

It traditionally starts on the first day of the lunar month and continues until the fifteenth.  The lunar calendar is based off the cycles of the moon, so that’s why the date of the Chinese New Year varies from year to year of the Gregorian calendar.

Today, I would like to show you how I decorated our house with the decorations that my mum sent me. Some of these photos were taken by my sister from a shop in Singapore.  It is very important for Chinese families to decorate their house to fill their house with plenty of good wishes e.g. years of brimful happiness, good health, wealth, prosperity etc.  It is equivalent to how English people decorate their houses with Christmas decorations and ornaments with wreaths, candles, mistletoe etc.  This is our Chinese New Year Wall Decoration!

Chinese New Year Ornament

Make a Chinese meal with Fresh Gourmet

Fresh Gourmet is the biggest provider of salad toppings, especially croutons, in the US and have brought their delicious products exclusively to UK Tesco stores to inspire us Brits to become more creative with our salads. The range includes three crunchy croutons flavours – Cheese and Garlic, Basil Pesto and Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper – along with Crispy Onions and is ideal for people who like a salad in the summer but need that added texture to jazz up the dish.

fresh gourmet

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