Used to bask in Chinese New Year (CNY) atmosphere at Chinatown's Festive Street Bazaar every year but now prefer the CNY Festive Celebrations at air-conditioned Takashimaya Square (B2) with tamer crowds. A smaller affair with fewer stalls and none selling clothes, potted plants and pomelos meant customers get a bit of everything here and less of the same. No more dizzying choices with just one to three stalls each hawking dried and waxed products, canned abalone and frozen seafood as well as mandarin oranges, noodles and decorative items. Other than a few Japanese stalls, participants this year include Macau's Choi Heong Yuen and Taiwan's Isabelle. Interestingly, Hong Kong's Eat Drink Tea sells neither tea leaves nor tea bags but sachets of organic white, green, red and black tea essences in pretty boxes. The only traditional nuts and preserved fruits stall, by King of Melon Seeds, also has childhood munchies in sampler packs.
Saw a few familiar names that participated in Takashimaya Mooncake Fair 2012 and noticed many green pea cookies. Unlike Mid-Autumn Festival where I only buy two boxes of traditional baked and snowskin white lotus paste mooncakes, CNY is associated with a variety of festive goodies. Fondly remembered house-visiting as sitting at the coffee table (no, not the steamboat at dining table) where candy trays of prosperity sweets and all are, and eating. Instead of buying peanut cookies and kueh bangkit this year, I baked my own as it allowed me to reduce both the amount of oil and sugar. Would still be buying pork floss rolls from Bee Cheng Hiang, one of the few to carry as prawn rolls are more common, but not its mass-produced and ridiculously-priced bak kwa at this time of the year. I have also ordered addictive arrowroot chips and SunnyHills' pineapple cakes. And recommend the following (BOLD indicates what I bought) after trying a few from almost every stall.
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