Why Chinese New Year?

It has replaced Halloween as my favorite holiday of the year. It has been my favorite since I decided to adopt a daughter from China. Here are the reasons that I love Chinese New Year, and why I think you should celebrate it too.

Chinese New Year (CNY), also known as the Lunar New Year, and Spring Festival, is celebrated just the right amount of time after the Christmas holidays. I've had enough time to chill out, relax, and plan for the next fun event. It doesn't require presents, just red clothes and a haircut. The decorations and rituals are simple and simply beautiful: fresh flowers, red banners, red lanterns, and oranges. It brightens a late January/early February like Christmas lights do December, except better, because at Christmas, it really is the darkest time of the year, and right now we are better able to anticipate spring.

The food is unbelievably good (see previous post), and easy to make. I downloaded traditional Chinese music and spent Sunday morning in my kitchen, in meditation as I made preparations. I felt calm, loving, and hungry when my feast was ready to serve (this is not always the case when preparing a special meal for extended family, am I right?). We finished most of the food, because it was just the right amount, and when we wanted more dumplings, daughter and grandmother headed to the kitchen to make more. That act alone made my day. I swell with pride and love knowing my daughter likes to create in the kitchen with her grandparents. Just that makes me think that everything will be all right, forever.

Also, the crafts are fun. Dragons and animals. This year we made dragon masks and bunny ears (year of the rabbit) at preschool. See our bunny ears in photo above. They can do double-duty at Easter.

The pressure is too much for me on January 1st. By the end of January, I'm ready to move forward in the new year and take seriously some spiritual renewal. Maybe the lunar calendar is more suited to the rhythm of my life.

Happy Chinese New Year!

MENU:

Appetizers -- fresh cut vegetables with peanut sauce. My mother ("Laolao") will be providing the dip, because her's is SO GOOD.

Dumplings -- everyone in the family participates in making the dumplings. In past postings, I have deprecated myself and my dumplings, but I'll tell you now, they are damn good! Reference "Joy of Cooking" for a recipe.

Noodles -- signifying long life. In China some people celebrate individual birthdays during the year, and some don't. On Chinese New Year, it's everyone's birthday. This year's noodles will be pan-fried or oven-roasted vegetarian lo mein noodles.

Mr. Chang's Chicken -- this recipe was gathered by Ruth Reichl the first time she visited China. The chicken is boiled in a broth of soy sauce, sugar, star anise, ginger, licorice root, and mandarin orange peel.

Bok Choy -- a nutritious vegetable symbolizing the coming of spring. Simmered in ginger broth, and served with oyster sauce.

Tea Eggs -- hard-boiled eggs soaked in tea, star anise, and soy sauce. Symbolizing rebirth and new things to come, tea eggs are eaten first in the feast. These always seem weird to the uninitiated, but everybody likes them. You should try them. Here is the recipe:

TEA EGGS -- A specialty for Chinese New Year

12 eggs, hard boiled
1 cup soy sauce
4 t salt
12 star anise pods
12 black tea bags

Gently crack the shells of the eggs all over by tapping them with the back of a spoon but do not remove the shells. Put them in a large nonreactive saucepan with the soy sauce, salt, star anise, and enough water to just cover the eggs, about 8 cups. Tie the tea bags together and place them in the pan with the eggs.

Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer gently, covered, about 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and set the pan aside. Let cool to room temperature, covered. Refrigerate the eggs overnight in their cooking mixture before serving.

From: Modern Asian Flavors, A Taste of Shanghai, by Richard Wong, 2005.

Dessert? Well, those close to me know that I don't do dessert. But I will be serving the most fantastic dessert ever invented, in my opinion. I discovered it at CostCo.

I could live on noodles and sorbet.

Noodle!

This morning as I was brushing my teeth, I was reminiscing that before Ariel spoke English, she would mimic noises to perfection, including the electric toothbrush. She has perfect pitch. A very reputable source told me that 95% of Asians have perfect pitch, compared with about 9% of Westerners. Can you say tonal language?

Not much of a segue here, but have I told you that Ariel's first English word was "noodle!"?

I am obsessed with noodles, so when I found out that was her favorite food, I swooned. Oh, yes, we will stay home all day eating noodles! My life will be perfect. And we, did in fact, stay home a lot, eating all day. It wasn't as romantic as I pictured it. My fantasy neglected to include cleaning the kitchen.

Her love for noodles has since been replaced by a variety of foodstuffs. But my obsession remains. The newest book I bought is Takashi's Noodles, a complex compilation of recipes, many of which seem to resemble fusion cooking, though poring through it again and again, I have yet to figure out Takashi's genius. It's like there's a ghost in the book that is trying to talk to me, but I'm not getting the signals. For example, "Corned Beef with Rice Noodles." ???

One problem is the ingredients. In the Japanese recipes, exotic fresh mushrooms and particular seaweeds are required. Also, things like Japanese mountain yam, and quail eggs. Even though I can get them, I don't know how to really use them, and they taste funny to my Western palate (and just forget about trying to sell this stuff to my family). I want to say it's earthy, but really it tastes quite like dirt and seaweed. I like a seaweed broth, but seaweed... well, let's just say, it's really good for you!

I bought the book on the recommendation of one of my favorite bloggers, and I really want to master yaki udon. Takashi's recipe has 18 ingredients, including finely sliced lotus root. A lot of ingredients I can get in a can, but compared to fresh, canned vegetables have a profound effect on the flavor of finely crafted Japanese food.

That, my friends, is why we go to restaurants. Let's all take a moment to be thankful for all the chefs who feed us better food than we can cook at home.

[insert moment]

Nevertheless, I have found several new ways to use ramen noodles, and I will tell you a secret. I have tasted many imported brands of ramen noodles, and Top Ramen kicks it for only 33 cents, or 10/$1 on sale. They are the best. But you don't have to use the MSG sugar packet for flavor. For a more fresh tasting instant (practically) meal, try minced garlic, sesame oil, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, miso, sugar, and a few fresh green veggies like peas, cabbage, or bok choy.

My current favorite curry is on page 99 of Takashi's Noodles. I use half the amount of chicken stock, and twice the coconut milk, because I only use the cream off the top of the can, and discard the water (don't shake the can before opening). Bamboo shoots come in a can, and are a great addition to any curry. Curry, I think, is pretty darn good wherever you get it, homemade or otherwise. It's even good from a package. I like cooking, so I make my own, and these days, DH likes making it too.

Soba noodles are featured prominently in the book, and I love them. They are delicious just with soy sauce and pickled ginger. Peanut sauce works well too, but instead of pouring sauce on these buckwheat noodles, which tend to get gloppy (you know how I hate gloppy Asian food!), use chopsticks to dip noodles into a small bowl of thin peanut sauce.

Lastly, I will leave you with something to ponder:

"Soba Gnocchi with Scallops and Celery Root Foam." (page 49)

Weird Pizza Hut Invention vs. Tree Bark for Food

This new form of pizza is being advertised on TV, and it is really freaking me out. I post these pictures so that you, too, can freak out.

I really don't know what to say about such an invention made from pizza-type food. Except that, yes, we do have an obesity epidemic.

And yes, people will dip those weird little cheese-filled things into Ranch dressing.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, have you read "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck? Well, I recently read "Pearl of China" by Anchee Min, and so I became very interested in Pearl Buck's life. She was an American (white/German) daughter of missionaries who worked in China. She grew up there, and therefore considered herself Chinese. When she was an adult, political events forced her to leave China, and spend the rest of her life in the U.S. She won the Nobel Peace Prize and a Pulitzer for "The Good Earth," which was also made into a movie.

I'm on page 96 of "The Good Earth," and boy, is it depressing! It is just like reading "The Grapes of Wrath," a book forced on teenage Americans in high school. I understand why this is a great work of literature, but oh, boy! Only one-third through the book, the family is starving and eating grass and tree bark, and taking a walking trip to lands south where there might be more food. I don't think this is a summer read.

I am not a religious person, but I am thankful every day of my life for the luck I have in food. We are growing totally delicious and healthy vegetables, I know how to cook them, and we are never, ever bored of the available bounty. I am totally aware that it may not last for my whole life, or for my daughter's whole life. So each day, I am thankful for my food.

Mu Shu Pork Report

The more I learn about Chinese cooking, the less I know. Except that I KNOW when my Chinese cooking is BAD. According to the best Chinese cooks, American Chinese food is "gloopy and gloppy." Yes, yes, it is. And in that tradition, I made some very gloopy and gloppy mu shu pork.

Texture is extremely important in Chinese food. It must be balanced, and it must be equal in flavor to the experience of eating. How food FEELS in your mouth is very much a part of the success of a dish.

I have not mastered this.

Not that I really need to MASTER it. But, I mean, now that I know what I know, I can't help but seriously criticize my Chinese cooking.

It is very discouraging. Some things should just be saved for the experts.

Like, when I had to decide whether or not to immunize my child. I read a book about it and got seriously freaked out. I decided that her pediatrician (also a friend of the family's) had the authority to decide, and I will just go along with it. I am not a pediatrician.

However, really good Chinese food is very, very difficult to find in a restaurant in the U.S. I have only had it at The Golden Buddha, in Capitola, California. Eating there with groups of friends sharing dishes, I had to stop being a vegetarian, just so I could experience all the wonders of meat dishes (my friends would roll their eyes at me when I said I wouldn't share a meat dish -- sometimes I would rather have friends than ethics). The mu shu at Golden Buddha was unforgettable. I would link you to their website, but as I have said before, restaurant websites are terrible.

P.S. No picture of gloopy, gloppy mu shu. I am sparing you the grossness of bad food photography.

Very Simple, Very Easy

Very simple, very easy:

2 T sesame paste
5 T soy sauce
3 T chilli oil

mix & add to noodles!

serves 4

When I was in line at the United Noodle yesterday, a lady behind me asked how much this bamboo steamer cost. I said, "$12.99." She goes, "Hmm." I said, "Is that a good price?" Now -- I don't want to be racist. But I have learned that talking with Chinese people it is great to compare prices. This is not unknown to a Minnnesotan.

She goes, "I don't know; I've never bought one."

I said, "Same here. It's my first one."

She goes, "Do you know how to make dim sum?"

I was stumped. Just trying to make conversation. I go:

"Um, well, um, well, um, no."

And then they all smiled at me. All of them. All the people in the store looking at me white lady with my Chinese daughter. Oh shit. So I go:

"I can make dumplings!"

And then they all smiled at me. All of them. And I was embarrassed as hell, knowing that my dumplings totally suck, and they know my dumplings suck too. So I go:

"I'm learning! I'm learning!" and I rushed Ariel out of the store, continuing to yell, "I'm learning! I'm learning!" as if that's good enough.

I want this blog to be interactive. So -- I have 2 assignments for you:

1) How do you use a bamboo steamer? and
2) Do you know about a fruit that looks like a very dark-green papaya?

Plus, tomorrow I will post my dumpling recipe! OMG they are so tasty, even though the form and shape and dexterity of handling them totally sucks.