Chinese New Year auntie shopping Part 2

The irony of the matter is, despite braving Chinatown the Saturday before the New Year, I failed to buy a single thing that we needed at home for our New Year festivities. So I had to brave the supermarkets yesterday evening (which means I skipped my kickfit class, so no one can call me a fitness freak anymore).

First stop: Sheng Siong, in search of Green Spot, as tipped off by mr brown. Alas, alack, this particular outlet only had Green Spot in a can, not in the traditional bottle that I was craving for. I bought 4 cans anyway, but they won't be the centrepiece of the mahjong party on chu er (second day of the New Year).

The funny thing about Sheng Siong is that for all that it's a supermarket that caters to the masses, with a massive fresh fish section --- imagine twenty open styrofoam cases, each about waist-high and at least 4 ft x 2 ft, overflowing with various types of fresh but nevertheless dead fish --- it smelled nowhere as puke-inducing as the fish corner in the small Cold Storage supermarket that we usually frequent, which despite its paltry ten or so types of fish in a small open freezer, smells like rats gone wild.

The other funny thing about Sheng Siong is that it did not sell love letters or shrimp rolls, and its kueh bangkit didn't look too appetising. I wound up getting the former from a nearby NTUC Fairprice supermarket (it'd be a tough fight to determine which supermarket is more downmarket, but I think Sheng Siong wins by virtue of its stunning fish and butchery sections). I was going to support local small business and buy the goodies off a small, non-chain bakery, but the shopgirl wasn't too friendly and they only accepted cash, and when I asked about nearby ATMs, she waggled her hand so vaguely that she might as well not have bothered. I didn't, either. NTUC got Nets what.

And then this morning I realised that I forgot to buy bak kwa. So there was half an hour in line at Bee Cheng Hiang --- $46/kg!! --- followed by a quick swoop through Bengawan Solo for kueh bangkit. I am ashamed to admit I spent slightly longer at Watson's trying to pick out a new nail polish.

Now I'm all shopped out, the living room stockpile of goodies is all maxed out (as far as my bank account and energy levels will take us this year), and there's only waiting for the New Year to get here already.

I will refrain from indulging in any Year of the Cock reference, since calmone seems to have that covered.