Chinese New Year is always celebrated by the Chinese on the 7th day of the 7th month according to the Lunar Calendar. This year, 2010, that day falls on still another big event – Valentine’s Day.
To celebrate the New Year, Chinese families usually buy glutinous rice cake (locally called tikoy) to give out to friends, family and colleagues.
Tikoy in the Philippines has truly evolved. When I was small, all we had was the usual white tikoy.
What used to be just plain white tikoy evolved into a brown version some years ago as more people preferred to eat brown sugar over white.
Then a few years ago, we began to see flavors that can only be found in the Philippines as these use locally found ingredients. Yup, you can’t find these in places like Hong Kong!