恭喜發財, 揚眉兔氣 =)

It'll be Chinese New Year on Wednesday, and this will be the first new year I'll be celebrating after coming back from Europe. I am looking forward to it, having missed it the last year - I spent it in Venice with friends, enjoying the Carnevale atmosphere.

Here's a snapshot of what I saw and experienced then - costumed people, masquerading as 15th century nobility, traipsing along the car-free streets of Venice, where the azure-ness of the water will be one sight I'll never forget. Pardon the lousy quality and underexposure - it's a photo off facebook.

Reminiscing aside, I'm definitely looking forward to the bak gua and other delicious CNY food, but not to the definite weight gain after that =/ Since I don't have any lessons on Wednesday and my Prof kindly cancelled class on Tuesday, this means that I'm free to balik kampung on Monday! I technically have almost a week's worth of holiday - good news because I get to spend more time in my kampung for CNY (we usually have to leave on the second day of CNY, because school almost always starts on the third day of the new year). Bad news because I'm not exactly free - I have to do research for my assignments which are due right after the CNY break =S 

Plus, I still have to help my mom with more baking because there are still some more people to give, and more varieties to bake! I've been helping my mom with more pineapple tarts, cashew nut cookies, nestum cookies, cornflake cookies, plus my own madeleines and macarons for the festive season =) Baking has indeed been rather fun for me, because this is the first time I've been actively helping my mother with entire batches of cookies, from start to finish (minus the washing up). Previously, I merely creamed butter and fiddled here and there before going off to do my own thing. I've also been diligently copying down my mother's treasured recipes (which have been made for the same groups of people over many many years and have always been praised) so that I can carry on my mom's legacy next time. 

Together with juggling schoolwork, I haven't had time to upload any photographs, so here's a wordy post wishing those celebrating Chinese New Year 恭喜發財, 揚眉兔氣 =)