You know CNY is round the corner when....

You see trays of pineapple tarts waiting to be cooled after baking...



sometimes, they can get really creatively created...(especially when there's an excess of either the dough or the pineapple fillings)



It is almost heavenly when they are all nicely packed into festive mood containers, ready to be shipped "away" (into the mouths of the makers! ha ha ha)
(btw, orders are welcomed for 2009's CNY because we've received overwhelming reviews for our pineapple tarts and have decided to give chance to MORE people to enjoy them hee hee)


If you were to take a walk to Chinatown, you'll see rows and rows of stalls set up selling tonnes of auspicious looking ornaments, food, drinks and even some form of entertainment....

This belongs to a very ancient form of chinese entertainment as there were no television, no internet, no mobile phones, no movies, instead there were lots of creative juices flowing by artists who can mimic a few different voices to bring out a puppet play. The audience have room for imagination to enjoy the play to the fullest. Not bad for entertainment I would say for the dull minds ;)

Ahh... CNY cannot happen without some of these yummy food, namely the waxed duck! This year, these stores are few and far in between, we combed about 4 streets to spot this stall, so we grabbed the opportunity to stock up our waxy food. But they are pretty EXPENSIVE this year, one tiny drumstick was sold for S$7! *ouch*


Another sure sign of CNY is when you see Mother Mary and Baby Jesus dressed up in traditional chinese costume in your church! hee hee... Ad says there was an original painting by some ya ya artist in Rome, so here's a replica.


Finally, when NTUC doesnt sleep, you KNOW for sure you HAVE to stock up your food supplies to combat the few days of store closures. This year there may be more stores who will opt to close for a longer term as the public holidays falls on Thursday & Friday, they can get super extended holiday by just taking another two days off. So be sure to stock up people!

Yes, NTUC closes at 2am until the 5th of Feb. So all the night owls, you can start shopping at midnight, or if you have been cleaning the house till the wee hours, rest assured that NTUC waits for YOU.

(but hor, I feel that the late night opening has always been a feature of the wet markets, for the hawkers to make a killing before they close for the only time in the whole entire year. So with NTUC in the competition for late night business, is there anymore decent profits for these hawkers? hmm....)