On the 16th day of New Year

Yesterday was the 15th day of the Chinese New Year, Chap Goh Meh, and Terz's cousin had his usual orange-/apple-throwing activity at the Singapore River. It's the cousin's revival of the ancient (?) Chinese custom where unmarried men and women would toss apples and oranges respectively into a river (or some kind of flowing body of water, I guess), in the hope that the New Year would bring them a mate.

The first time I heard of it, I was like, they had apples in ancient China? Then again, maybe that's the cousin's modern adaptation; I suspect in the version I heard in school, it was only women that did the throwing of oranges. Guys, you know, didn't have to worry that they'd be left on the shelf.

Anyway, so last night found us at the river, lending moral support to all the unmarried folk the cousin had managed to gather up. Some people scribbled in black ink (names? phone numbers? sexual fantasies?) on their oranges, but I don't think that's quite kosher.

Today, the 16th day of the New Year (which means it's technically not the New Year anymore and all the dong-dong-chang music and bright red and gold decorations can go back into the closet for next year, thankyouverymuch), I find that we have the following Chinese New Year food left:

• One box of love letters (unopened)
• One box of pineapple tarts (unopened)
• One box of shrimp rolls (unopened)
• One half-eaten box of homemade cookies and pineapple tarts
• About half a kilogram of bak kwa (from two different stores)
  
• At least 10 mandarin oranges in the fridge
  

Die lah.