Chinese New Year in Footscray

I went up to Footscray last Sunday to buy a bamboo steamer at one of the Vietnamese supermarkets. Saw that there was noise and streets blocked off and realised there were stalls and amusement rides in full swing for a Chinese New Year festival. Spent an hour or two wandering along the stalls. It was a very hot day and I was not so inclined to try any of the hot food being cooked there and there was plenty to choose from. So I settled for a basil seed drink, which unsurprisingly contained basil seeds and also bits of seaweed, some sago but not sure what else. It was not too bad, was a bit over the seaweed towards the bottom of the cup. Should have taken a picture, will do next time I see it somewhere.

Prior to last weekend I'd gone to my happy place, Little Saigon Market in Footscray which was loaded with fruit and colourful displays in preparation for Chinese New Year.

The colourful items below are dried candied coconut that has been dyed and flavoured. White is vanilla, green is pandan flavoured, couldn't tell what the pink or yellow flavours were, maybe strawberry and pineapple? hard to say. The tub on the very far right in the front row contained fine slices of dried ginger, with enough sweetness to soften the taste a bit. It was quite pleasant. I think it could be nice broken up into small pieces and sprinkled on icing on a cupcake...mmm. The candied coconut was quite pleasant, but pretty sweet, so you probably couldn't eat too much.

At the market there were tables piled up with longans (similar to lychees but not as sweet) and grapes.


Also at the market were dragonfruit. Quite bland in taste, but would be beautiful for a fruit platter or general table decoration.