So how the hell did delicately pristine innocent elegantly plated dish of beauty go from this (*awwwww…..*):

TO THIS *GASP* SHOCKING MESS?


Were we savagely attacked and ravaged by members of the walking dead? Did we just give up on life, hope and plates generally and decide to serve guests food on the table instead? Or did someone just let out a biga$$ mother of all sneezes?
Nope, it was just another Chinese New Year in the plusixfive household.
Singaporeans do this thing every year called Lo Hei Yu Sheng which essentially, is getting beautifully plated dish of finely grated carrots, grated turnips, pickled ginger (of various E number colours), pickled winter melon, sesame seeds, peanuts, lime zest, lime juice, plum sauce, fried crackers and raw salmon slices seasoned in rice wine and soy sauce.
And then TOSSING THE COMPLETE mofoshiizamijiza outta it, tossing it up in the air and waving it around like you just dont care.
Whilst screaming out blessings and wishes that you want for the year often in mandarin idioms or idioms in general or just plain shouting.
(BIG BONUS BIG BONUS!!!!! MANY MANY BABIES BABIES!!!!! HAMSUM BOYFRIEND!!!!!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!! WWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GONG XI FA CAI!!!!!!! WAAAAAAHHHH!!! WIN WIN BIG LOTTERRRRYYYYY!!!!! PIPPA MIDDLETON LOVES ME!!!!!! GISELLE BUNDCHEN MARRY ME!!!! CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON!!!!!!!!)
(ok maybe not the crouching tiger one)
And the custom has it that the higher you toss. The more your wishes and dreams will come true.
So more often that not. It ends up a complete mess. And the dining room looks like you invited the love child of the Tasmanian Devil and Cookie Monster over for dinner.
Pictorially, this is what it looked like:



It was lovely. We gave out prizes to the noisiest person, the best dressed and the biggest tosser. We had mad banter. We had an awesome electric and insane crowd including Alex (mad mad mixologist magician – ” I just made bacon butterfly wings!”), Issac of Young Turks @ Ten Bells, owners of the GreatBritishChefs, a bunch of journos (Tara, Daven, Justin), the sweetest couple (PugarooJerrick)… Thank you all for making this truly memorable.
AND
*****NEWSFLASH*****
it was so awesome that we’re GONNA DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN FOR Y’ALL MID-FEB.
Who cares if its not Chinese New Year anymore by then. Pfft. Pedantic Semantics.
So sign up here for dates of the next one coming up and see you guys soon!
With eightreasurericewinechickenhugx and yushengkisses,
goz
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
(photo credits: Grace Hui, Tara John and Wen Lin)
Share this post with people you love/hate!
Tags: grated carrots, plum sauce, raw salmon