Happy Chinese New Year!
We celebrated the Year of the Rabbit on two separate occasions; once at Grandpa’s house and the other at Grandma’s house. Chinese New Year began today and will be over on Saturday.
You’ll probably notice the colours red, green, and orange in the dishes, and that’s because they all have a meaning in the Chinese culture. Red represents good luck and happiness, green is for health, and yellow is for hope.
Just like the previous post, this will be another post for those who love a little food porn. This was the meal at Grandpa’s house:
Chow mein (egg noodles). The long noodles represents long life.
Shiitake mushrooms with abalone.
Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce.
Sugar snap peas with shrimp and carrots.
Seafood medley with asparagus and carrots.
Hot pot with napa cabbage, dried shrimp, shrimp, minced pork balls in a pork bone soup.
Cha siu, roast pork and marinated squid. There was roast duck and soy chicken as well.
For dessert, Grandpa loves his mango cake.
Finally, you can’t celebrate Chinese New Year without fruits – specifically tangerines/oranges.
We celebrated Chinese New Year at my Grandma’s two days ago…
Sugar snap peas with shrimp and carrots.
Chinese broccoli with chicken and carrots.
Shiitake mushrooms with abalone mushrooms.
Roast pork and cha siu. The first image in this post was taken before we prayed to our ancestors. The picture above was taken afterwards. The meat itself was still juicy and full of flavour. The crackling was moan-inducingly crisp!
Roast duck and soy chicken.
Lots of sauce! The man at the BBQ place was very generous – to say the least.
Sweet rice cake (topped with sesame seeds and a Chinese date).
Lastly, the fruits and other desserts.
To me, Chinese New Year is a holiday for the family. We reminisce and share funny stories from the past. We laugh together. We cook together. We eat together, and drink together. It’s a day to learn more about our Chinese culture. It’s a day to reflect on the past and look forward to the future. It’s a day of happiness.
~*~
(Updated: Feb. 4th, 2011 at 11:21 am)
an that is some feast Christine! Gong xi fa cai, xin nian kuai le to you and your family!
ReplyDeleteXin nian kuai le and gong xi fa cai to you and your family as well!
ReplyDeleteMmmmmmmmmmmmm...that all looks soooo good! Awesome photos.
ReplyDeleteI finally brought out Canon for once, but it's all about the natural light. Glad you like the images!
ReplyDeleteOh that dinner looks delish! Happy New Year!
ReplyDelete