Now, correct me if i am wrong, but Yee Sang is a Chinese traditional dish which is usually regarded as sort of a must for the annual reunion dinner. What usually happens a is that the Yee Sang dish would be put in the middle of the table and then everyone stands up mixes and tossed the food in the plate around together with their chopsticks, and supposedly, the higher you toss the food, the more prosperous you get in the following year. What i am told, by a colleague of mine that is, is that in your normal kopitiams, you can see the more traditional and elderly folks trying to outdo themselves by tossing the food higher and higher up in the air and would sometimes even go to the extent of standing on their chairs to toss the food higher and higher. OK, now THAT, i would want to see someday.
We had a pre-Chinese New Year project lunch the other day where my project team mates went to the extent of finding a Halal Yee Sang place so that i could join in on the "fun". I didn't really know at that time how difficult it is to find Halal Yee Sang, so i felt a bit obligated to join in considering the fact that they actually went to the trouble so that i could join in. If I wasn't around, probably they would go to some place like Peel Road or Jalan Imbi some place, their normal Chinese Food haunts when i don't follow them for the lunch break. So they decided to go to the Chinese Restaurant at Nikko Hotel for their dose of Project Yee Sang this year. Anyway, once we were there, i let the rest order whatever they wanted, which i really couldn't understand what on earth they were on about with the waitresses there. All they said was the food that they ordered consists of some Yee Sang and some dim sum after that.
The Yee Sang arrived quite some time later and i was starting to get a bit hungry already from the wait as i had already consumed my fortune cookie (Which I just can't seem to remember what it said, but from what i do remember was that it was supposed to be a prediction for 2008, which is like 5 years away, so if it indeed DID happen then, i would have long forgotten about the fortune cookie anyway) (also, are you supposed to eat it AFTER the meal or BEFORE?) and several cups of hot Chinese tea as well. Once it arrived, i could see that the plate consisted of some raw salmon, some shredded carrot and cucumber, some sort of cracker-ish stuff, and also some other stuff which i couldn't for the life of me recognise. Oh yeah, and they actually put some GOLD paper or some sort . It seems that it is supposed to be mixed into the Yee Sang and consumed by an unassuming "lucky" fella, and is supposed to bring prosperity to the person who consumers it. Interesting.
So everybody stood up, shouted "YAM SENG!!", or was it "YEE SANG!!", and took their chopsticks and started mixing it all up in the plate together. I was about to jump onto my chair and start throwing up the yee sang from way up there but luckily the person sitting next to me stopped me, and explained that people only do that in like the kopitiams and all and not at hotels. Darn. Oh well. Maybe some other time then. Anyway, after like 2-3 minutes and after getting the whole table messed up with the yee sang all splattered around (I am imagining how it would be if people actually DID stand on the chair and toss it from way up there!!), we each took a plate full of yee sang and started to eat. According to the more "knowledgeable" ones on the table, the yee sang we had that day was pretty decent. For me, i sort of find it a bit too sweet for my liking, but i wouldn't mind having it again. I was more interested in taking the salmon and also looking for the supposedly gold paper (which no one could find, so someone would have some gold swimming around in their stomach).
As for the dim sum that came after that, considering the fact that i've dim-sum-ed before, wasn't too much of a suprise other than two of the dishes. One of it was the chicken legs, which they call the Phoenix Claw (if my memory serves me well), which at first didn't look too appealing to me, but after a LOT of persuasion from everyone, i decided to give it a go. I must say that it did taste a bit weird, but really not that bad and i guess the only thing that stopped me before would probably be just the THOUGHT of eating the chicken legs and also the sight of it. Once you start "diggin in", it's not too bad. I was told after i finished mine that i was a "brave person" to have eaten it since most of the people on the table wouldn't have it ANYWAY!! Basterds. The other dim sum that i would say probably stood out from the rest would be some sort of deep fried dumpling with prawns and BANANAS in it! OK, i don't know about any of you, but for me, in general, prawns and bananas do NOT mix well together, and that dumpling that day wasn't an exception either.
Anyway, I just received a joke on my SMS a few minutes ago, and here it goes.
"Chinese New Year is very near, so the 12 animals of the Chinese calendar should meet again. Up till now, the meeting has not started as the monkey is still reading this message" - Ha ha ha.
Happy Chinese New Year.
Later.
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