01 February, 2014

*1291 - CNY

This year, I did more Chinese New Year-related activities than I have in years.  (I think I plain missed it last year by accident.)

By that, I mean I did two whole things:

Activity 1: Dinner with a table-ful of Chinese people
Honestly felt out of place even though I had a couple of good friends flanking me because the rest of the table was speaking in full out richly accented Chinese and as a result I was understanding 20% of what was going on.  Testament to how you can study Chinese for 12 years but not be able to converse due to lack of real-life application outside of the classroom now and while growing up.  I might have to hire Chinese people to talk to my future babies in Mandarin so they don't get afflicted with this monolingual handicap.  I wish I could re-learn now but I'm too embarrassed; it's a vicious circle because I'm embarrassed that I don't know how to speak Chinese.

Anyway.

Activity 2: Pineapple tarts
I used this recipe: http://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-pineapple-tarts

Most effortful part: cutting up the pineapples.
 

So ugly but delicious:

We made some even uglier open-faced ones--they really do look ugly if you don't use a mould to stamp out the pastry bases!  Homemade pineapple tarts are decadent and delicious but only on Day 2 onwards.  Somehow, they were only just okay freshly baked.

So there you go.  My modest little Chinese New Year!