Over time my family has grown. My cousins and I grew up, we got married and we had
kids. Some live out of state or a few
hours away. Over the years we have spent
less and less time together; even during the holidays. Chinese New Year is fortunately a holiday
which I think we will ALWAYS spend together. This is a time when we all PLAN to
be together.
All of us pack in to a house. This year we had to eat in
three separate rooms. As we arrived my aunts and uncle were still cooking.
Another aunt and I started serving food to everyone else. We had a choice of corn chowder and fungus
soup. Following the soup, rice was served and the meal began.
This year was a little fun because we brought my
husband's sister who has never had a
traditional Chinese meal. I explained to her many of the Chinese New Year traditions. There will be clementines and red eggs which symbolize good luck. I let her know
how the meal would run and that it was likely that one or two people would
serve everyone because it is easier with the amount of space we have. I let her know what everything was that was
being served and what things I thought she may not eat (she dislikes ham so I
told her to stay away from anything with ham.) I also made sure that she had a
fork. There was a time when only
chopsticks and bowls were served. My kids
were subject to a chopstick only meal. They did pretty good.
My cousin, Steve, was hiding the lap xuong (Chinese
sausage), from his sister, Heather, for almost the entire meal. He had it in front of him, but was blocking
it with a larger bowl. She had no idea it was there until Steve's wife moved
the larger bowl. Then his sister swept in and grabbed the sausage. It's a family favorite. My kids ate all of
the Chinese sausage at our table.
To say the least, we had some mouth-watering food that we do
not get to have all of the time. This is
sometimes unappealing to the eye, but amazing for the taste buds. It is so nice
to get together with my family, enjoy a DELICIOUS meal, reminisce about old
memories and take the time to catch up.
Even though my family is very small, I love being able to get together for a delicious meal to celebrate the New Year. We did more when I was a kid and my grandparents were still alive, but it's still something that's special to me.
ReplyDeleteGung hei fat choi! (And excuse the terrible romanization!)
Gung hei fat choi to you also. I hope you enjoyed your dim sum. Chinese New Year is one of my favorite holidays. Great food and a chance to spend time with family (big or small).
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame that as we get older our life gets busier and often takes us away from family. Even though holidays can get hectic; it at least brings family back together. Your gathering sounded like a great time and the food looked awesome. Hmmm ...food like that could help the group think and work better together. Just a thought! :)
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about your family traditions! The food sounds amazing!
ReplyDeleteWe could have dim sum. It's a Chinese brunch. But I must warn you that it is mainly seafood. Just a thought:) These traditions have stayed with me over my lifetime and now is my time to instill these traditions in my children.
ReplyDelete