Gong Xi Fa Cai

Happy Lunar New Year to one and all.

This is a great opportunity for fun, festivities and feasting.

My most memorable meal during this season was the lo hei (tossed raw fish salad, representing abundance and prosperity) that my mom personally prepared, the popiah that I had at my mom's house, and also her special buddha jump over the wall soup - so named because the aroma of this soup is so appetising that it caused even the stone statues of buddhas in temples to jump over the wall to drink it.

This is a bowl of the lip-smacking delectable treat - it is full of good things like thick slices of abalone, slippery fish maw (cooked twice in boiling water, then boiled in the soup), sea cucumber and dried scallop. It was full of that umami richness, and it was boiled so long that the soup was almost gelatinous, so that one's lips felt a little gummy after drinking it.

Yum.