Kong Hei Fat Choi 2013

Happy (Lunar/Chinese) New Year!

As keeping with tradition, preparations are last-minute in our household again (what else is new ?). Snowstorm Nemo threw a wrench in our plans when we found out that our usual kiddie-salon was closed for the day and we decided to just bring Swe-cha to my salon. It turned out 50/50. The back part of his hair turned out nicer than usual while his bangs were cut straight in a  Lego/Moe (three stooges) style.

We brought Swe-cha home immediately after his haircut and gave him a bath and while he was having lunch, I snuck out and got a haircut for myself. Hubby, unfortunately, was not able to get a haircut because he napped instead. Worried, we decided to check why we're not supposed to get haircuts after the new year and when we can, it turns out that by tradition (superstition), you can get haircuts on the 2nd day of the 2nd lunar month.

Hubby says that he can make it another month w/o a haircut while I, on the other hand, was skeptical. So I asked what the consequence was and according to that article that we read, if you have a haircut during the 1st lunar month, a maternal uncle will die. AY SOS! Yun lang naman pala. Lusot na lusot because MIL is an only child kaya walang maternal uncle si hubby. So ayan, no pressure na.

I dropped by the neighborhood Chinese takeout place for some lunch and got into a nice conversation w/ the owner. Now, we don't usually buy from them but we got to know them because my parents order from them a lot whenever they're around. We also used to see them every day whenever I pick Swe-cha back when he was still attending the school beside the take-out place.

Anyway, the owner was prepping some nian-gao [translation: tikoy] (Chinese New year cake made from sticky rice) and gave me some to taste. I told her that I have not eaten it in a long long time and when I explained how it's called Tikoy in the Philippines and how everybody would eat Tikoy, even Filipinos, during the new year season... she gave me the entire batch that she cooked and also gave me a small block of uncooked tikoy to bring home. Free. Ambait, no ? It's also good marketing because now, I feel the need to go back and order from them the next time we want takeout food.