Reining the dragon in this lunar new year 2012

We've been celebrating Chinese New Year in the past week. Not particularly a favourite time of the year for us, it however, is a time that we remember our traditions, eat plenty of food, get together with the extended family to catch up on gossips, eat plenty of food, watch crap reruns on TV during the long weekend break and eat plenty of food.

This year, Mum even got her traditional Chinese New Year Dish, Bakwan Kepiting, featured in the New Paper, much to her delight. The recipe's also featured on YouTube.

Today is the 7th day of the 15-days long celebrations. The older Chinese folks call it "Everybody's Birthday". I'd prefer a slice of chocolate fudge cake and a glass of champagne to celebrate it if it's my birthday really, but the celebratory lunch at the 7th Storey Seafood Restaurant at the Marina Barrage, has to instead stick to the traditional menu that includes the ubiquitous Yu Sheng or Raw Fish Salad. Tossing the Yu Sheng is said to bring one good luck and great wealth. I certainly hope so as I'm about a month away from receiving my bonus.

Talk about traditions...there's one the Scots celebrate this week too and that's the traditional Burns' Supper. Not unlike our tossing of the Yu Sheng, the Scots celebrate Burns' Supper by eating Haggis ( don't ask what goes into it), Tatties (potatoes) and Neeps (parsnips) together with a few drams of Scotch whiskey. They precede their supper by walking the haggis into the room to bagpiper's music, reciting Robert Burns' Ode to the haggis then stabbing the haggis with a knife. You know the Scots...any opportunity to display some raw aggression is a good one.

So this Chinese New Year is really a celebration of both the Chinese and Scottish traditions around food and family for us.