There are a lot of Chinese in Box Hill (a suburb of Melbourne, and technically the geographic centre of the Melbourne metropolitan area), and we went there yesterday to go to the Asian grocery. Since 18 February is Chinese New Year (and an auspicious year, apparently, being a year of the Golden Boar), we decided to have Chinese style food for dinner.

While we there there, we enjoyed watching the traditional Lion Dance. Miranda was quite taken with it. Zoë seemed interested in the spectacle, but it's always hard to tell what's in Zoë's mind about things. Miranda, though, was trembling with excitement, quite literally.

I like Chinese New Year. It's a very happy holiday, very joyful. It was hard not to get swept up in the anticipation of the holiday.

Oh, and our Chinese style dinner was very nice. We had the traditional sweet pork buns, chicken soup, and a very nice pork and vegetable stir fry, with lychees and ice cream for dessert.

Oh, and the phrase that is the title of this entry means, more or less, "Best wishes and congratulations. Have a prosperous and good year." Or so I'm told.