A Sweet End to the New Year

All good things must come to an end and yesterday, 28th February was the last day of the 15 days' celebration of the Chinese New Year.

As with tradition, the year must end on a sweet note, so we ordered "Pengat" (a dessert of sweet potatoes, yam, bananas and "ti kueh" cooked in syrup and coconut milk) and placed little bowls on our altar as an offering to the deities. Later, we had it for dessert and it was delicious! All of us have a sweet tooth and by the end of the day, there was very little left of it!

And what better time than to have a fellowship lunch with friends! We opted for a vegetarian restaurant in Farlim called "Consummation of Life" and the food did live up to the restaurant's name! We had something like seven dishes served with rice. Once again, I forgot my camera ....!

For a "good" ending to the year, we chose to spend an evening of prayer at our Sai Centre, after having decided that we were too old to participate in the orange throwing at the Esplanade! As usual, the altar was beautifully decorated with flowers and after the prayers, Chai Sin Eah (God of Prosperity) made a grand entrance. He distributed oranges and "ang pows" to both children and adults. This is an annual event organised by the Centre and one of its members takes on the role of Chai Sin Eah. This year, however, the regular Chai Sin Eah was indisposed and a new "actor" had to be appointed.

The evening ended with light refreshments in the nearby community hall where we had vegetarian "yee sang", fried rice and "dim sum".

May the Year of the Tiger roar with good luck, good health and prosperity for everyone!