ninth.day.of.lunar.new.year. 马.年.初.九

on the ninth day of chinese new year

 you'd an annual chinese new year gathering at a friend's house

 after two hours of driving you arrived and found yourselves welcomed by these cookies...

everyone baked a few, bring and share... the host baked the most each year and you're lucky to be able to sample so much home made cookies which nowadays even hard to come by back home...

then you prepare the yee sang and decided to write decorate with the chinese character of horse 马

just before serving, the sashimi is stacked onto the chinese word "horse"...

 and people are gathering around the table, the lou sang is about to begin...

 as tradition goes, you mix the yee sang, same say the higher the better, others will speak out auspicious words, for you it's the fun of mixing a sashimi salad

the aftermath of lau sang, this is when everyone will pick up some to their plate and eat...  a delicious plate of mixed salad....

 the dishes that everyone bring along...two dishes of duck (roast and teochew braised), two dishes of chicken (soy braised and lemon grass chestnut braised) but all the food are yummy delicious... very similar to what you'd have at home too..

 and the chatting, drinking and giggles continue...

 before the sweet soup is served... this is a sweet ending...

just before you leave, each of you had a gitf wrapped in red transparent wrapping paper to take home with (well, along with many cookies you packed)... this is a nian gou (年糕）which you will keep for now and savor them at a later days...