Chinese New Year

[mommytotwo]

Does anyone here celebrate it?

 

[Sapsorrow]

Wow, Wen! Around here they hang lanterns and the Asian markets sell bushels of cakes, but that's about it. There are no temples or night markets. Our baker, on the other hand, is from Taiwan and he goes all out with the special treats during the holidays.

I wouldn't say that we celebrate it, but we do a dim sum dinner for our supper club this week, and most years we go out for an authentic Chinese dinner. We do it in solidarity, so to speak, with the local Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean community.

 

[Sapsorrow]

Wen, the traditional cuisine depends highly on the region, so which authentic Chinese dinner we'd have depends on which restaurant catering to the local Chinese population we go to. I cook it some at home, and the cookbook is widely regarded, but it mixes all the cuisines together and doesn't give much information on menu construction or how things are served.

I know well about the tones, the bane of my college Mandarin classes! But Cantonese, I hear, is even harder. LOL, seeing it written out brings back memories, I even went to one of the immersion course camps in Minnesota. But today my Chinese is like my German: I'm lucky if I can order ice cream in it!

I hope to do better with the girls for languages. We're now studying French and German as a family, and classical Greek and Latin, but that's not really something you converse in.

 

[mommytotwo]

Wow Wen ready your post was neat. I didn't know that the Chinese New Year was not just a one day event. We give the kids a red envelope, and eat Chinese food. Not sure what we will eat this year. But, Chinese New Year is also the same day as Valentines Day here, so we will see what we do.

 

[mommytotwo]

May I suggest the following menu which is very Hong Kongese:
It is called in English THREE TREASURES (since you eat three kinds of meat and 3 kinds of vegetables).

Meat: duck, chicken, beef or pork - small portions of each.
Vegetables: carrots, cabbage, peas (or whatever you fancy)
Boiled rice
Gravy

Now, when you serve the meat, put the three slices on top of the rice and the 3 vegetables next to it on the same plate

Three kinds of meat sounds a lot, but buy small portions or eat the same for 3 days.

In China you consume the soup together or after the meal, not before. So why not make a tofu soup (very Taiwanese) or a seaweed soup. I think you can find the recipes if you google. Very healthy and very light.

And for afters: nothing....but a Chinese new year cookie an hour later with coffee/Chinese tea.

Let me know if you need further ideas...

Thank you very much for that suggestion.

 

[mommytotwo]

And just one more things - why not use Korean chop sticks, they are silver and flat-shaped, compared to the traditional ones which are round. I have just uploaded 3 new pictures of the Chinese new year.

I had learned another thing from you Wen. I didn't know that Korean chopsticks were different. Since we are an asian family, we do use chopsticks, but the regular rounded ones. Happy Chinese New Year to you, and to everyone else.

 

[mommytotwo]

And here is an interesting curosity: In Taiwan toilet tissues, paper hankerchiefs and paper table napkins are all the same; flat tissues in a box. (You only see toilet rolls in expensive hotel room.) Shops sell bulk packets of 10 or 12 standardised paper tissues which fit into flat toilet paper/tissue dispensers, lovely paper napkin dispensers for dining tables and paper hankerchief dispensers, often designed to hang on the fall in the bedroom.

So no one here needs to be embarrassed to buy toilet paper - it has a multi-funtion purpose.

And if you are looking for a Chinese new year present.....give a pineapple with a red ribbon tied around it. Pineapples in the Republic of China and mainland China are considered to bring luck in the new year. The price of pineapples has more than doubled this week.

And finally, apples make wonderful new year presents in Taiwan. There are NO apple trees here (too hot) - all are imported from Japan. But only the highest quality apples and they are frightfully expensive!


in Chinese: Xinnian kuailie = Happy new year

Wen@Taiwan.RepublicofChina.com

I have visited Japan, and all of their fruits are so juicy, and delicious, but sooo expensive .

 

[RadioJonD]

So. Anybody else still writing “Year of the Ox” on their checks?

 

[Snow-in-Texas]

So. Anybody else still writing “Year of the Ox” on their checks?

I hate it when that happens!!!:lol: