it’s chinese new year next week - yet another year i spend it sans famille.

the past ones have been spent, variously, in chinatown, in friend’s living rooms, and in the kitchen when i invited friends over for a feast. this year, unfortunately, shall see no feasting as 1) the shared utensils in my current place are CRAP and i have misplaced my cleaver that is so essential in feast-making; 2) there is no dining table in the living room, and feasts are not meant for standing around the room trying to eat off a plate while looking for someplace to put one’s glass down; and 3) i’m too lazy.

but i’m sure i’ll convince some of my fellow trainees to come for a (late, i presume) dinner at dim t by the office on thursday evening, and i’ll traipse around chinatown hoping i can find ba kwa or pineapple tarts on the weekend.

a friend wrote recently about music and smells - freshly made love-letters, new banknotes, and mandarin orange peel accompanied by the ubiquitous, blaring chinese new year tunes.