Chinese New Year Eve Celebrations!

It was the first time that we celebrated our Chinese new year outside of Singapore without our family. The feeling is different but it's not bad. One of the saving graces in celebrating Chinese New Year here in Chengdu was that we got to set off fireworks! (Which we are not able to do so in Singapore.)

Let me tell you, the feeling of having the fireworks set off right in front of you, in close proximity, is phenomenal! You have the cinders falling all over you, the explosion sounds are deafening and the effects are just BEAUTIFUL.

Usually the tradition is to set off the firecrackers and fireworks at the stroke of midnight on CNY eve, to welcome the new year. However, even before that, there were people setting off fireworks and firecrackers on Saturday already. So we decided to try a few of ours on CNY eve itself. We went down to the river bank just right across our compound, at about 1am on Sunday morning. 

 

This is me, setting off the rocket....

And here are our trial fireworks at 1am on Sunday morning, when it's freezing cold outside....

The fireworks display was awesome, mainly because we set it off and also because the display was so close, the sounds of the explosions were just crazy and cinders were falling all over us. It really sent our hearts pumping with adrenaline! It took us a while to fall asleep after we got back home.

On Chinese New year Eve, we were invited to dinner at a fellow Singaporean's house here in Chengdu. So I made Lavender cookies as a gift for the hosts. 

And I also made: 

broccoli quiche 

and mini chocolate cakes topped with raspberry cream and fresh strawberries.

Here's our lovely hosts who prepared such a great dinner for us. 

We had a great salad with Japanese seasoning mixed with sashimi marinated with soy sauce and wasabi and cream of mushroom soup for appetizers. Main course was lamp chops with mint sauce and spaghetti.

And we also had Bubur Pulut Hitam which reminded us of Singapore... 

After dinner, we went to set some more fireworks at a courtyard nearby.

The beautiful projectile of our rocket.. 

By the time we got back to their apartment, it was about half an hour to midnight. But the fireworks and firecrackers were intensifying outside. Just the sounds alone could scare the pants off anyone. We really felt like we were in the middle of a warzone area. 

And just a minute shy of midnight, we ran outside to catch magnificent displays of fireworks. It was a mad cacophony of explosions. When one side ended, another side started and it went on continuously for about 30 to 40 minutes! And some of the firework displays were just above us and cinders were falling all over us.

It's definitely an experience to be treasured! For more pictures, please click here.