This year is special because Lunar New Year and Valentine's day occured on the same day. Although each occasion originated from opposite poles - one from the east and the other from the west, these are both celebrated almost everywhere in the world...if industries, products and businesses have become global and so are traditions and festivities. Lunar New Year is a celebration of the start of Spring and is believed and celebrated by the Chinese while Valentine's day is a Christian festivity that was adopted among so many others from the pagan celebration of fertility.
My husband and I had our own way of celebrating both, here in Malaysia- away from our children, family and friends back in the Philippines. 
We opted for a simple home cooked dinner to avoid the over-indulgence of high cholestrol and high caloric food as we earlier planned. Well.... the truth is, actually we had over eaten at lunch time and there's not much space for heavy dinner again...but in keeping with the tradition of valentine's dinner we got to make it special.
Since it's Valentine's day and Chinese New Year, we wore something that both jives the spirit of the two occasions. And its not difficult to fuse both in the ensemble, coz for one the color motif is the same- red or the milder version pink. To make mine more Chinese themed...I had Cheongsam on...well some call it Qi pao. I really don't know what it's exactly called but I am sure of the chinese collar.
Since it's Valentine's day and Chinese New Year, we wore something that both jives the spirit of the two occasions. And its not difficult to fuse both in the ensemble, coz for one the color motif is the same- red or the milder version pink. To make mine more Chinese themed...I had Cheongsam on...well some call it Qi pao. I really don't know what it's exactly called but I am sure of the chinese collar.
They say that for Chinese New Year there's got to be a family re-union...so for our case, we have talked to our children over the phone as our skypes didn't work. And in our dinner we had their jet printed pictures plastered on the wall beside the dinner table. All the 5 of them.
I made some pudding that serves as our sticky food. They say that it fosters unity in the family that's why the tikoy is ubiquitous element in every Chinese New year table.
Our touch of valentine's day is a heart shaped chocolate cake which my husband bought and brought all the way from Malacca. Of course he could have just bought it here in Penang but I guess he was just so excited to buy it without me, as a surprise. And since I am allergic to alcohol, we just had pink guava juice- it compliments our pink motif.
It was indeed a memorable night to ourselves without the hassles and buzzles of going out.
Like in any other typical Filipino celebrations..we had Karaoke sessions as well...and the night ended with a blast...I don't have to say how...its for you to imagine.
I hope and wish all my friends had their piece of the pie in this wonderful part of life called traditions or I should say rituals.
cheers!
veronica arlyne
