More CNY Celebrations

For the first time since the king and I have been celebrating Chinese New Year (cny)as a family, we were invited to cny celebrations yesterday. It sure makes a difference living in Seattle where not only are the Americans aware of the Lunar New Year (our nice neighbors have even - without being prompted - wished us 'happy new year'!); there is a big enough population of Singaporeans and Malaysians here that we form groups and subgroups of each nationality and have get-togethers and parties.










Yesterday, we had a combined effort from hosts Connie and Daniel from the 'Singaporean or Malaysian Expat' meetup group. The couple, Connie who is ang moh, but born and bred in Singapore (yes yes, she has a red passport just like us lol), and Daniel who is Malaysian Chinese who lived in Singapore. Oddly enough, they met in India LOL! How's that for a story eh :D They're such an interesting couple having lived in more continents then I've traveled! Yes, seriously! They even lived in Africa for ten years!

It was pretty neat to meet a whole bunch of Singaporeans who have lived in the US for as long as 20+ years - and they're still bloody young! I guess that's why the Singapore government is getting nervous and had to put in some effort in luring us back on Singapore Day in NYC last year. ...and this is only a fraction of Singaporeans in the Seattle area who are in (and aware of) the local meetup groups. I understand there are tons more at local mnc's!










Both Daniel and Connie cooked up a storm. Enough for an army! Above are a couple pics of my favorite dishes of the day :) Connie even made some serious pineapple tarts! Unfortunately, by the time I got around to taking some pictures, some of the food was gone (a lot of it in my stomach lol); including Connie's beef rendang! Another time.... I'm sure we'll be doing more of these gatherings now that the first meeting was quite the success.

Here's thanking Connie and Daniel (and the entire family) for welcoming a bunch of strangers into their home to celebrate cny with them and letting us take over the household for awhile :)