Chinese New Year rose cake with pistachios

i remembered how excited i was that Chinese New Year was approaching when i was a child.the aunts n uncles from the extended family would gather at Grandma Po Po Chan home where she was staying with us.the children all 15 of us were measured and cloth chosen by us to be sewn into frilly dresses or pants n shirts.grandma po po oversee the making of nien gao,sticky rice cakes,the rolling of dough n frying peanut puff or twisted dough pastry to be packed into big tin Cans.they always fry lots of prawn crackers.mom would grow arrowhead bulbs in glass jars and they sprouted long green leaves.i miss the hustle and bustle of new year in a big extended family with cousins,grandaunt n uncles.mom would not visit relatives empty handed so she gifted peanut cookies or butter pound cakes or barbeque dried pork slices. we drank tons of frizzy drinks Sarsi or orange Green Spot,Kickapoo or grape Fanta.it was a treat to use the ang pow money to buy Walls cornetto ice cream instead of the round shaved ice balls or ice cream potong. im cutting down on buying bbq grilled pork slices or chicken floss as it s too expensive at rm 155 for 500 gms.but i bought love letters,kuih kapit,pineapple tart,peanut cookies,almond cakes and some duck liver sausage,wax duck leg,etc. today i baked a sugar free rose cake with chopped pistachios,topped with low fat greek yoghurt,sprinkled with rose buds,pistachio n mini mandarin orange.this is a tryout as chinese new year gift to relatives.jun told his galpal that i lost my rolling pin.moving house.it was pricy to buy the marble rolling pin so i did what i learnt from grandma n used an empty wine bottle as a rolling pin.they were so frugal in the past n still made great cookies.jun said the crusty chicken pie tasted good,who cares what i used to roll shortcrust pastry. today i teared up reading Gemma Chans article in the Guardian as a tribute to her father who grew up in poverty and taught her the values to life like frugality,hard work,never looking down on others in life.People like dad who grew up eating rice field rats in his village in war torn China hated food wastage or excessive consumption. they placed importance on human relationships ,not material possessions as it was the communal support from clansmen which enabled them to help each other find work to feed their families or when one fell sick. T

he chinese males were not expressive but their actions spoke a lot of their love and loyalty to the family.