Prepare Lunar New Year checklist

The Lunar New Year comes exceptionally early this year. It's less than a month until the Year of the Rabbit, and we've just taken down the Christmas decorations. I'm sure everyone has a to-do list for the New Year, from getting new banknotes, spring cleaning, and buying new clothes, to preparing festive food. Most candy boxes (Chuen Hup) are usually filled with various candies and snacks, but in recent years, more people have become health-conscious. This year, I've also prepared a healthy version with almonds, walnuts, baked cashews, dried blueberries, and dried anchovies to treat relatives and friends. Most importantly, it helps prevent my son from eating too many snacks. When relatives and friends visit, I also prepare tea. Simply brewing a pot of chrysanthemum and goji berry tea will do. This tea is good for the liver and eyes, suitable for all ages, especially for spring consumption. It has a delicate fragrance, and the blooming chrysanthemums paired with red goji berries are a feast for the eyes, simple yet elegant. If you're worried about eating too many greasy New Year cakes, you can drink barley tea to aid digestion and reduce cholesterol. Chrysanthemum is sweet and bitter, slightly cold in nature, and enters the lung and liver meridians. It can dispel wind and clear heat, detoxify and reduce swelling, clear the liver and brighten the eyes, and calm liver yang. Goji berries are sweet and neutral in nature, and enter the liver and kidney meridians. They can nourish the liver and brighten the eyes, enrich the liver and kidneys, moisturize the lungs and supplement qi. They can also benefit essence and blood, improve eyesight, and prevent blurred vision and decline. Barley is sweet and neutral in nature, and enters the spleen and stomach meridians. According to "Compendium of Materia Medica," it "can treat food stagnation and distension, promote digestion, calm the stomach and quench thirst, relieve summer heat, benefit qi and regulate the middle jiao, broaden the chest and air, supplement weakness, strengthen blood vessels, improve complexion, solidify the five internal organs, and transform grains and food."