Housewarming Lunch...

I went to my friend's housewarming tdy. This was the first time a Chinese friend actually invited me for such events. She also went to the extent of getting 'Halal' food for the lunch. To add to the festive mood, we even had the CNY 'Tossing of Salad' event, with 'Halal' ingredient ofcourse. This was the first time I actually participated in this tossing event, eventhough I had witnessed it many many times in TV. Its so much fun doing it...hahahaha

Ok, abit on this tossing event, also known as 'Yusheng'.
It is a custom for families and friends to gather around the table and, on cue, proceeding to toss the shredded ingedients into the air with chopsticks while saying auspicious wishes out loud. The wishes my friends made was to win 10 million dollars, Don't ask me why!!! Hahahaha....

Each salad ingredient is selected based on its name which is a homophone of words like prosperity, abundance, etc. Typical ingredients include fresh salmon, daikon (white radish), carrot, red pepper (capsicum), ginger, kaffir lime leaves, chinese parsley, chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, Chinese shrimp crackers (or fried dried shrimp), five spice powder. The dressing is made primarily from plum sauce. However, since afew of us don't eat raw fish, we separated a portion. They then added the raw fish after the first tossing and did a re-toss.

Apparently, this is only practised in Singapore & Malaysia, as I have been told.

Also, today (which is the seventh day) is known as the common man's birthday, the day when everyone grows one year older.

It was a very enjoyable day and I really appreciated her hospitality. Thanks J!!!