It seems wrong to start this post with, “Happy New Year!” as I originally intended, rather than, “Happy (belated) Valentine’s Day!” yet here we are two- going on three- weeks after we celebrated Chinese New Year, wishing all of you a Happy New Rabbit Year.
And yes, some of you might be thinking exactly what Bebe Dada voiced. Last night, he bluntly informed that this post is “a little too late, isn’t it?!?” Uhhhhh…. well…. you know how I am these days. I think he made up for this comment, however, when he later said that there was no need to refer to my cooking as “experiments.” :)
Until I met Bebe Dada, I never celebrated Chinese New Year and I was only familiar with oshogatsu (Japanese New Year’s) customs that I grew up with. However, I have to believe that marrying my Chinese-American husband was nothing less than fate, because it gave a girl who loves food and lives for any special occasion to celebrate with food, yet another reason to enjoy good food with loved ones. :)
Since Bebe Dada and I started dating, I’ve celebrated Chinese New Year with his family every year in early to mid February. Chinese New Year coincides with the lunar calendar when the new moon appears, therefore the day that the New Year is celebrated differs from year to year. This year, Chinese New Year fell on Thursday, February 3, 2011, but we celebrated with my in-laws a few weekends before to accommodate our various calendars.
We typically feast on a combination of homemade dishes and local restaurant favorites including char-siu (BBQ pork), steamed chicken, yee-mein noodles, Papa’s hoisin ribs, gailan (Chinese broccoli), sweet and sour chicken/pork, Chinese chicken salad (OK this one isn’t traditional but I look forward to this quite a bit as it is my favorite type of salad), gau (steamed rice cake), cupcakes (again, not traditional but delicious) and of course, jai. Continue reading
Bebe Love Okazu 