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Happy Chinese New Year to all the readers of this blog. I am going off to spring clean my house now. If you are free during Chinese New Year, come drop by my 2012 is Year of the Dragon Squidoo lens for all things Dragon.

There are traditions and there are family routines. Tradition may be brought down from generation to generation but I believe that family routines can be created by your family and then enjoyed from year to year.

The kids are older now and our Chinese New Year routine has been established. Before, when they were younger, we did not have any routine but we thought that it would be very nice to have a family routine that they can look forward to each year. Now they know it well and look forward to …

1. Shopping for Chinese New Year Clothes. We limit our shopping to once a year only (unless necessary), then we go all out and have a shopping spree for Chinese New Year and everyone looks forward to having new clothes. We figured out that if you buy new clothes throughout the year, Chinese New Year would not feel any different.
2. Chinese New Year Cookies. Mummy does not bake so she will order the same cookies from the same place and when she brings them home the kids gape and go ooh and ahhh when they see the familiar cookies that they only get to eat once in a year. Then the kids will say “Please, please mummy can we eat them now?” and bad mommy will say “No, you will have to wait till Chinese New Year.”
3. Haircuts. The whole family goes to the salon and  have a haircut together. It kind of breaks the bank a little but its nice to go together. On normal days, sometimes mummy gives them home haircuts but for Chinese New Year, its off to the salon we go.
4. Chinese New Year Decorations. Now that the kids are older, they can help out. They love clipping, stringing and making homemade angpow decorations and I love listening to them work as a team in deciding where to hang each decoration. Usually, I will ask their opinion and let them decide so they can really get in the mood and contribute.
5. Spring Cleaning for Chinese New Year. Mummy gets to do most of it of course but on the eve of Chinese New Year, the kids will be roped in to wash the car and the porch. How they love the water and soap splashing fun.
6. Reunion Dinner. Usually its just the four of us because parents in law are no longer with us but we still cook up a storm anyway and everyone dons new pyjamas after dinner. Then we pack money into the red packets that will be given out as angpows and mummy and daughter will do their nails. Then mummy and daddy will give the kids their angpow and they will put it under their pillow to sleep on. Everyone stays up late and at midnight we will turn on every light in the house to welcome New Year.
7. First Day of Chinese New Year. Everyone gets up bright and early and have mee suah (vermicelli) soup then put on their brand new clothes and shoes. Then we go to the temple to watch the lion dances. After that we may go visiting or just stay home to relax and pack for the next day’s journey.
8. Balik Kampung. We will usually go back to mummy’s home town from the 2nd to the 4th day of Chinese New Year. We visit mummy’s aunties and see more lion dances, we play by the beach, go to more temples, pay respects to mummy’s mummy, play fireworks by the sea and send lighted lanterns into the sky.
9. Middle of Chinese New Year. Sometimes daddy invites his friends over and mummy cooks for them and the kids get to play host and hostess to other kids.
10. Chap Goh Meh. On the 15th day of Chinese New Year or the last day of Chinese New Year, its time to meet mummy’s brothers and sisters to have a gathering or dinner and exchange angpows with all the nephews and nieces.

That’s it. We do this every year to create a routine and tradition for the kids so that they look forward to Chinese New Year and in doing so, we enjoy our Chinese New Year very much too.

Kids, when you are grown and have your own families, we hope that you will remember fondly and continue with this routine and tradition that you have grown up with.

This year, 2012, Chinese New Year falls on 23 and 24 January 2012. That is quite early. On the first day of school, the kids were given a notice about Chinese New Year holidays and replacement Saturday class dates. They will be in school for just two weeks before having a long break again for Chinese New Year plus there will be another long weekend in early February because of the Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday and Thaipusam public holidays.

Since school has just begun, we planned and completed most of our Chinese New Year shopping at the end of last year, during the Christmas and New Year holidays. It felt funny to shop for Chinese New Year while listening to Silver Bells playing softly in the background.

The retailers that were savvy and quick enough tore down their Christmas decorations almost immediately after Christmas and replaced them with bright red Chinese New Year decorations the day after Christmas. It was amazing to watch the almost instant transformation.

I noticed many others taking advantage of the holidays to shop for Chinese New Year as well. We were a bit early, so some places did not have free angpau packets and other freebies yet. Too bad but never mind. No angpau packets, No freebies but most importantly, No rush!

Now, all we’ve got left to do is haircuts for the whole family, clean up the house a little, decorate the house for Chinese New Year then collect our cookies and Chinese New Year 2012 here we come.

Last year I folded bunnies but this year will usher in the Year of The Dragon. I’m afraid I don’t know how to fold origami dragons and I don’t have the time this year so its store bought decorations for us this year.  I love Chinese New Year. Makes me feel like a kid again.

Remember my earlier post about Massimo Bread? I had added a poll in that post. Then I forgot to look at it. Well, recently, I had a look and here are the results as well as some of the comments on the poll as at today. I was quite amused to find that my Massimo Bread post had ranked No. 1 on Google for searches on Massimo Bread.

It is quite a feat to be ranked number 1 on page 1 of Google and continues to be my SEO (Searh Engine Optimization) experiment and goal.  Of course this ranking is dynamic so it will change but I am too lazy to take a screenshot of it being at Number 1. Anyway, this post is not about SEO, it is about the results of my Bread Poll. So here it is. Tada….

If you haven’t taken this poll but would like to, you can still do so here: Gardenia vs High 5 vs Massimo Bread

Which bread do you prefer?

• Gardenia 27.27% (12 votes)
• High 5 4.55% (2 votes)
• Massimo 68.18% (30 votes)

Shall we go shopping for Mooncakes? Shopping as in get to know what is available? I don’t do online shopping for mooncakes. I prefer to pick and taste and choose before buying. When doing online shopping for mooncakes, I don’t get to taste! However, when I go to a department store to choose, I am just overwhelmed by the number of stalls available from different mooncake sellers, hotels, restaurants, bakeries, eateries. In addition these number of stalls give an incredible amount of choices of mooncakes.

We are really spoilt for choices these days. Every year there are new types of contemporary mooncakes available. So you can imagine how long this post is going to be as I add on and update it. Feel free to share and recommendation and links.

Most of the time, I will just take a brochure or brochure home to study before hitting the stores again to buy. A little research helps. Now, let us do a little online research on mooncakes. Hmm… where shall we start? Lets start with

Tai Thong Mooncakes

Tai Thong Mooncake 2011

Here is the Tai Thong Mooncakes Price List for 2011. Tai Thongs bestseller mooncake is their Lotus Paste Double Yolks. For those who like new things, their new mooncakes for 2011 include Savoury White Lotus with Shrimp Sambal, Wholesome Wheatgrass with Single Yolk, Golden Honey Grapefruit with Pineapple (pictured above), Snowy White Lotus and Sesame with Custard and Snow Skin Chocolate Yogurt with Cranberry bits. Generally, the mooncakes cost about RM15-RM16 per piece and RM60-RM64 per box.

As for more pictures of Tai Thong Mooncakes 2011 and its packaging, you can go to Tai Thong Mooncake 2011 on Facebook.

The Baker’s Cottage Mooncake 2011

Baker's Cottage Mooncake

Health Conscious individuals may like The Baker’s Cottage All Time Favourite Mooncake the Green Tea Butter Pastry Skin Mooncake or the Grand Ruby (pictured above) which has a Red yeast butter pastry skin, no sugar added lily bulbs white lotus and no sugar added red yeast olive lotus made from 100% olive oil with chunky dried olive.

The Baker’s Cottage All New Mooncake Flavours for 2011 include Cheesy-Choc-Oreo, Espresso Walnut Latte, Fruity Mixed Nuts Royale, Golden Bliss, and Mint Hazelnut Truffle. Prices are around RM62.40 or RM63.20 per box.

Go here for more details on The Baker’s Cottage Mooncake 2011. You will be amazed at the variety.

Häagen-Dazs ® Malaysia Ice Cream Mooncake

Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream Mooncake

Häagen-Dazs ® Malaysia has a facebook fanpage for its many fans. You can go there for the latest pictures and news about their ice-cream mooncakes. Just looking at the Moongazing moments photos of mooncake makes me drool. Four new flavours are available including Chocolate & Vanilla, Cookies & Cream, Strawberry and Coffee & Macadamia Nut. The mooncake is about RM35 per piece. Now if you will excuse me, I need to get some tissue….

Hotel Equatorial Mooncake theme 2011

Contemporary Mooncake

This year 2011, Hotel  Equatorial has a peranakan design for its Mooncake packaging along with butterflies and peonies that symbolize happiness, good fortune and nobility. They have an entire website called Minimooncake.com to showcase all Hotel Equatorial Mooncakes.

Their Contemporary Mooncake list include Glutinous Rice Yam, Azuki Milk, Chrysanthynum Pu Er (pictured above), Charcoal Baked Yam, German Black Forest, Red Yeast Sweet Potato and Bamboo Charcoal with Hazelnut.

You can download the Mooncake Ebrochure to get a detailed order form or price list. Generally, it is about RM15.90 to RM19.90 per piece.

Toh Yuen Mooncake 2011

Toh Yuen Mooncake 2011

Toh Yuen, the Chinese Restaurant at PJ Hilton has 6 premium baked mooncakes and 8 types of mini snowskin creations by Chef Lee. The Golden Baked mooncakes are priced at RM22++ while the mini mooncakes are priced at RM12++.

The mini snowskin mooncakes include flavours like apple, almond, purple sweet potato, coconut milk, green tea with pine nut, white coffee etc hence its wonderful pastel colours. Go to Zestpj.com (Zest is the blog for the restaurants & bar at the Hilton Petaling Jaya) or if you prefer, you can download the Toh Yuen Mooncake flyer here.