Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Cultural Food Giveaway!!!!!!

First, Happy New Year, all!

Next, to kick off the new year I am doing something I've 
never done before (so I'll try not to botch it up).

Welcome to my first giveaway!!!!!
I am giving away cultural food!!!!!

(Crickets chirping)

Well!!!!
I thought there would be a tad more enthusiasm out there.
Perhaps an explanation?

This being a quiet week after all the festivities of November
and December, I made myself head down to the sewing room
for some tidy-up because, frankly, it is an embarrassing mess.
About 5 minutes into the task, I recognized the odd, twitchy
sensation in my fingers that usually accompanies a new,
insane project idea. So I abandoned the cleanup and 
contributed further to the sewing table chaos 
by cutting and sewing

a pineapple tart

and a couple of (stifling snickers) Prosperity Donuts

Braw-haw-haw-haw-haw!!!!!!
Oh (wiping tears), I haven't had
a good laugh like that in a while.

For the unfamiliar, Chinese New Year (CNY) is around
the corner. In fact, it's almost exactly a month after Christmas
this year, which was a month after Thanksgiving. Us bicultural
folks got a bad deal this year- three major holidays with
major food, in a row. I remember feeling extremely relieved
when Christmas was over, thinking I could twiddle my
thumbs for the next two months or so before I needed to call
mum on the phone and ask her when CNY is this year. Then
I accidentally discovered it was in January! Bah. The leftover
Christmas goodies are still unfinished and yet the CNY baking
must begin. If that's not excessive, I don't know what is.

Anyway, CNY always makes me think of home (my other
home, I mean) and because I am so unnatural at it, I also
try and act cultural. This means suddenly wearing brocade
and other Chinese suits, attempting to practise some of
the greetings that we spout during the New Year and
stocking up on oranges (California navels, though, not
mandarins). Also, thinking of Singapore and food makes
me chuckle when I remember the penchant of the food
merchants to modify (being conservative here) completely
harmless dishes to reflect local tastes. We're not talking
spicy-vs-non-spicy, here. I'm thinking of cheeseburgers
with rendang sauce and pizza with mayonnaise and squid.
And CNY, with its celebration of all things red and auspicious,
seems to bring out the most creative in the competition.

So here is my entry: the Prosperity Donut -
a deep-fried mantou-dough with pineapple frosting
and prosperity sprinkles- you know, all those lucky colors.

But what is prosperity, really, unless it is given away, right?

So I am giving away the Prosperity Donut AND the pineapple
tart to one lucky person who leaves a comment to this post.
Tell me what you have in your fridge, what your new year
resolutions are, whom you're dating, how you found this
blog, what car you drive, what your favorite crafting medium
is, what you think of the new HDB guidelines (I'm joking),
whatever- make me smile! I am very used to sending stuff
overseas, so anyone whose mailing address is written in
English can enter- you don't have to live in the US.
All I ask is that you leave your name and a valid 
email address (to block spam) in your comment so I 
can contact you if you win. Obviously if you're a 
childhood friend, feel free to use your secret nickname!
I'll close entries at midnight this Saturday
(i.e. 2 pm Sunday, Singapore time) and do a random-number
draw on Sunday. I can't promise that the food 
will arrive by CNY but I'll try.
And in the unlikely event that there are more than 20
comments, I will give away a second Prosperity Donut and
a Normal Donut (see this post for what I mean by Normal).
I may be culturally-deficient but I know this much: stuff
must be given in pairs during the new year!

So spread the word and start thinking of trivia to tell me!

I'm not going back to the sewing table for a while now, 
though. Given today's wicked distraction, it's too dangerous.
There's some real baking to be done.



7 comments:

  1. A giveaway, what!!

    Who am I dating? Does fantasy-not-real-wishful-thinking-type count? I mean with YOUKNOWWHO (the one whose calendar pin-up you got me when you went to England). Yes la, still on that...sadly.

    Here's another cultural CNY thing you mustn't forget to do...sing them tok-tok-chang songs!

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  2. OOH awesome! I just got Elliot some play dishes and would kill for stuffed sweets to go on them.

    I was just going to come over here and say thanks for stopping by the blog and for your kind comments on my bag...but now I'm even luckier b/c I get to enter to win!

    Yay (:

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  3. Ooooohh! Giveaways!!! Pick me pick me! Haha. Your CNY goodies are so cute!! Just like your donuts! They are making me hungry!!!! Grrrr.

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  4. What fun! Love your donuts. And the whole rest of the vendor getup. All your wonderful ideas and the way you implement them so stunningly - it's so fun to read about (and see pictures of!).
    So, in my propensity to always be way too "thorough", here's my entry:
    what's in my fridge: lots of stuff for "raclette" (will blog about it soon)
    what your new year
    resolutions are:
    more like "themes" than "resolutions", friends & crafts & getting stuff done
    whom you're dating: already happily married but am still dating my man and want to be more intentional about "dating" my three girls this year too
    how you found this
    blog:
    followed an intriguing comment you left on another's blog about cardboard creations (a favorite of mine as well)
    what car you drive: Dodge Grand Caravan (was SO thrilled to find Stow-and-Go Seats in a used one)
    what your favorite crafting medium is: anything that can be glued, sewed, hammered, or colored on. or frosted.
    what you think of the new HDB guidelines: there are lots of reasons I'd love to live in Singapore again, but housing is not one of them,
    whatever- make me smile! SO glad I found your blog. Thanks for the nice New Year well wishes comment recently. Especially liked the part about the sewing machine not conking out. Very important for people like us. : )

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  5. AIYA missed your big give away! the prosperity doughnut is HILARIOUS!!

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  6. the giveaway contest is hilarious! clever too!! :0)

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