New Year!!

[oyceter]

Now that I have been attempting to plan Chu Xi dinner with sister and reading about other people celebrating online, I am homesick but also getting more into new year mode!

This year: I have no decorations up b/c I don't like the fancier/shinier/more decorated ones they sell around here. I just want red paper with black or gold words on it; no flowers, small children, cartoon characters, and whatnot! Fancy calligraphy and neat ways of writing the characters is good though. It is especially sad because my mom has been taking calligraphy for a while, so for the past few years, I actually had some written by her and her teacher, which was really cool.

(Now getting distracted by calligraphy. This fu is cool, though obvsly it would have to be a snake now. I also really like older style characters, esp. the ones that look like oracle bone ones. And then there are modern ones! I think my mom likes the slightly cao zi style ones, though not if they are too cao.

(As you can tell, I am a bit of a sucker for calligraphy. Also, my chinglish is crap.)

Anyway! The point being, are you guys doing anything for new year? Food details are HIGHLY encouraged. I am going to try steaming a fish again (*crossing fingers*) and the potluck with have dumpling wrapping, sister is making savory nian gao and sweet and sour pork ribs, and other people are in charge of veggies and meatballs in fen si and etc.

Comments

[mme_hardy]

Happy New Year! The steamed fish last year was insanely good.

[oyceter]

Awww, thank you! Happy new year!

[inkstone]

Now I'm hungry. :c

[oyceter]

Hahaha, I am guessing sending food pictures is not a good way to alleviate this problem >:D.

[troisroyaumes]

Agreed with mme_hardy that the steamed fish was super tasty.

We will probably eat 떡국 and maybe play 윷 in the evening. I feel like I ought to buy new clothes but I don't think it'll happen.

[oyceter]

Yay 떡국! You and S''s was so tasty, and I am still impressed by the eggs.

[lnhammer]

Our local Chinese Cultural Center's festivities are Saturday afternoon, and we're going with our Taiwanese-born Former Sometimes Roommate. We'll either gorge ourselves on tasties there or she'll steam up some dumplings after -- plans are still evolving.

I look forward to folding enough origami snakes from Montroll's Chinese zodiac book that the model will be memorized, at least for a few days. Possibly I'll do a couple dragons as well. Shiny papers: we haz 'em.

---L.

[oyceter]

Oooo, yum.

Also, the origami sounds awesome! I've seen pictures of some of your stuff, and it is so beautiful.

[thistleingrey]

I'm making a undemanding-while-too-busy version of 떡국, in that the broth was started yesterday, then shoved into the fridge, and the 떡 (brown rice sticks I'll slice up) has been in the freezer for two weeks. :P At least I will clean house Saturday, I think. Happy new year, imminently!

[oyceter]

There is brown rice 떡? How is it?

Haha, yeah, I kind of vaguely meant to clean, but it hasn't really happened yet...

[thistleingrey]

It has slightly more rice taste in a way I don't know how to describe, and it's a bit denser, less floppy when still in long stick form. (Big sticks, not little 떡볶이 ones.) Less good for vanishing into soup that's cooked a long time, which one wants sometimes as thickener, but better IMO for quick prep and for casual snacking. Sometimes the shop has sliced-up brown rice ovalettes in a bag near where they stock sweet 떡 varieties, too, but those dry out quickly and I can't visit the shop often.

[oyceter]

Hrm, interesting, will have to try those out. Thanks for the info!

[glass_icarus]

I'm going home to visit the parents this weekend, haha. Not sure what exactly we're doing; I was thinking of hotpot, but maybe not? Pretty sure my mom wants mi gao or something. I usually get lazy with picture-taking after US winter holiday season but I will try to document the foodporn this year! :D

I don't think we've ever decorated for new year, though we do do the house-cleaning (even if it's minimal) and sometimes the new-clothes thing.

[oyceter]

Hot pot!!! My fav is how easy it is to prep. Cook your own stuff! Buy pre-sliced everything!

Mi gao *__*. Can you find the kind with pig's blood in them in the US?

[glass_icarus]

I have no clue, but then... I'm never the one to look for mi gao here, hahaha.

[mossybomb]

Oh yum! I have fond memories of Chinese new year feasts growing up. We might go to the Lantern Festival this year, where I hope to score mooncakes. My family doesn't share my enthusiasm for them, but I can't go past a red bean anything without wanting a bite.

Gong Xi Fa Cai/Gong Hey Fat Choy to you and yours. Many best wishes for the year ahead.

[oyceter]

Oooo, fun! I haven't been to a lantern festival for the longest time, I think since I was 10 or so and got to join a neighborhood parade. I should see if there's something around, it is so pretty. Someone is supposed to bring mooncake on Sat. too and I am hoping they will have red bean with egg yolk ones!

Xin nian kuai le!!

[via_ostiense]

I'm going out to dinner with some friends (details unclear, as a friend is organizing it)! Your dinner sounds tasty and fun. Steamed fish, nom nom, and dumpling making is always fun.

[oyceter]

Haha, I feel we default to dumpling making for every large gathering. But so much easier with more people!

[tevere]

We'll go out with my husband's Taiwanese colleagues (they do it a bit differently from us Malaysian-Chinese diaspora folks), and then we're going to do a belated-by-a-week family do at my house with:

- [ETA: Yee sang! How could I forget!]
- Mushrooms, hair moss and wood-ear fungus (for wealth!)
- Wheat noodles with spicy sauce (for long life!)
- Soup dumplings (for more wealth!)
- Fried tempe, green beans and gai lan (for protein and deliciousness!)
- Sweet fried nian gao
- Mochi with a sesame-peanut filling, maybe?

And new clothes for the baby, and red packets, and White Rabbit candy :D

I also want some lanterns and 'fu' calligraphy... I like cao zi style-- too modern and I don't like it that much, too seal script style and I can't read it! Oh, and maybe this year is the year I find some beautiful chopsticks, although I don't feel optimistic (why are there only ugly chopsticks around here, why!).

[oyceter]

Foooooood!!! Yeah, I only really know more Taiwanese or Chinese-Taiwan ways of celebrating so it is super awesome seeing more ways people are celebrating.

Oooooo, your menu sounds so good! Omg, mochi with sesame peanut sounds awesome.

Ahaha, I had the hardest time finding chopsticks I like! I mostly can find Japanese ones or Korean ones around where I am, but the Japanese ones I see are usually a bit too pointy? I ended up making my sister steal me some when she went back to Taiwan for winter.

[jinian]

I will be having hot pot sometime this weekend, but it's more of a coincidence than a celebration. I just miss my Chinese roommates' cooking from when I was in Japan!

Despite being a white poser, I definitely have a huge emotional response to some Asian foods now -- I was totally overwhelmed when I found some naga imo for the hot pot and had to restrain myself from buying a whole bunch (at almost $10/lb, yikes). Wish I could try your steamed fish, too. Have a great time. :)

[thomasyan]

Yeah, I saw mountain yam for $6/lb, and said, wow, that's maybe the cheapest I've seen it. I think last time I got it, it was maybe $8/lb. Hm, this was all at Russo's, I don't remember what H-Mart sold it for.

How do you like your mountain yam? I like it grated raw, so it is all gooey. I liked it fully cooked, so it is a bit fluffy. And I discovered from my my mom in soup it is great when cut into chunks and partially cooked, so the outside is fluffy, and the inside is still crunchy, for a nice mixture of textures!

My girlfriend and I also made a Taiwanese version of the Japanese sponge cake karukan, which I had seen in the Japanese movie I Wish (the Japanese title, Kiseki (the miracle) is better): http://thomasyan.livejournal.com/450481.html

[jinian]

Ooh, I'll have to try it partially cooked. My favorite so far is fully cooked, since I am a wimp about mucilaginous foods. The cake sounds pretty good, too!

[oyceter]

That's so weird, I just saw it at $3.99/lb at Ranch 99 this weekend...?? Maybe it is something different? It was labeled "nagaimo" though...

[thomasyan]

Making stuff up Wild speculation: I can imagine the price varying a lot. The stuff seems rather fragile (see next paragraph). So perhaps near you it is grown closer to the store, so transportation costs are less?

Is it stored in sawdust or something similar at that grocery story? I think it usually is when I see it sold. And if I leave it my my fridge for more than few days, parts start rotting pretty quickly, so unless I eat it quickly, I figure even after cutting off the soft parts, it is best eaten after cooking rather than raw.

[qian]

I think it was a good move to post about not feeling very CNYish because it definitely got me more in the mood talking about it with other people, as you say! Also yesterday I listened to one of my two CNY albums and feel very READY TO GO. \o/

[oyceter]

Me too! Also felt like I should put up my own post and stop spamming you ^.^;;.

[jiawen]

The usual school stuff: food-wise, mostly just making a llloooooot of jiaozi on Monday. Premade, because of time pressures, but at least I found vegetarian ones!

Not all that related to New Year, but I've actually been in a mood for beef noodles lately, and pining after night markets. Lots of good vicarious night market visiting on YouTube... The beef noodles may have to wait, though at least one place in town does them fairly well. And it turns out, the beef noodle place that was literally across the street from where I lived in Taiwan is apparently quite good. arg.

[oyceter]

Ohhh man. I miss Taiwan food. I like where I am living now, but there is a lot more Canto stuff around here than Taiwan stuff, and I didn't think it would make that big of a difference for me, but it does.

[jiawen]

This Metafilter post that I wrote up may be dangerous viewing.

[lilacsigil]

Have a great time! I'm not celebrating but I'm sending money to the nephews (I'm not Chinese but they are). They are now old enough to write very cute little thank you letters.

[oyceter]

Awwwwww, so cute!

[vi]

新年快乐 in advance!! I loved reading about your plans! I have never steamed fish myself before; so impressed that you are. *___*

For chuxi, I'm going to my family's house for dinner. I asked mum whether we could have steamboat/hotpot, so hopefully there's that even though the weather is quite hot! My sister asked whether we could have yee sang. We'll probably play mahjong as well. The next day I'll go to a friend's friend's house to make jiaozi, and perhaps we'll also play mahjong. I'll get to give angpao for the first time! I somehow never got the chance before, though married. I'll probably make some almond cookies to give away.

[oyceter]

Ahaha, hold off being impressed until we see if it works ;).

Oooo yay mahjong and yeesang and hot pot! That sounds awesome. 恭喜發財!!

[delfinnium]

Aaah now i want steamed fish! D:

I still haven't quite figured out a way to cook fish well that doesn't involve a frozen dory fish fillet, but One Day, I shall conquer!

Going home this weekend for CNY omg yay!

My calligraphy is crap and I am envious of those beautiful pieces!

[oyceter]

Yay going home!!

For fish, I think broiling whole small fishes are pretty easy? You don't even have to add much seasoning, just salt and then a squeeze of lemon juice before eating.

[thomasyan]

I haven't done it myself, only watched my girlfriend and her mother, but small fish or fish fillets/steaks can be steamed in a rice cooker by putting the fish in a bowl (maybe atop some sliced ginger and/or scallions), which is placed on something to keep it raised in the rice cooker, and the appropriate amount of water added.

Myself, I am pretty fond of microwaving fish, at about 4-6 minutes per pound on high.

I've also sliced up salmon and dropped it into chicken broth with lots of ginger. Yum! The trick there is to fish it out once cooked, and then add it back when you are ready to eat; otherwise it is too easy to overcook.

[heresluck]

I am making a bit of dim sum in solidarity. :D Probably siu mai (well, sort of -- I can't use shrimp), sticky rice steamed in lotus leaf, and char siu bau. And definitely hot & sour soup, because nothing says "fuck you" to a blizzard like hot & sour soup. Oh, and steamed green beans with garlic, because otherwise that is a lot of meat and starch with no veggies. Heh.

I am kind of craving turnip cake, but alas, I have no daikon radish. I think I need to look into growing my own, because having the closest daikon radish be three hours away is just not working for me, and I'm pretty sure they would keep okay in the root cellar with the carrots (although they might not last until CNY).

...now I am also craving lamb hot pot with daikon radish. Not festival food, but definitely blizzard food.

[oyceter]

I am so impressed you make your own turnip cake! (I am pretty sure I say this to you every time you mention it, but still!) Also, om nom nom... all the dishes sound so good.

[heresluck]

Please believe me when I say that I would NEVER EVER bother to make turnip cake myself if I could get it anywhere near my house. Of course, that goes for most dim sum. Well, except sticky rice. I like my sticky rice better than most restaurant sticky rice.

[oyceter]

Heh, yeah... my mom actually stopped making a lot of stuff when we moved to Taiwan because she could just buy good ones elsewhere.

[februaryfour]

I am sad that I am not doing anything special for CNY. However, a friend included us in an invitation to a restaurant (I'm sure we'll all be going Dutch) and the restaurant DOES have decent steamed fish, so it may end up being a good CNY eve.

I have no decorations beyond the pineapple from last year that I never took down. It's going to be a quiet CNY as I can't get into the decorating--too much homework!

[oyceter]

Ahahaha, my family is kind of crap at any holiday, so a lot of years, the new year decorations basically stay up until they are replaced by ones for the next year /o\.

Also, I hope the fish is good! And good luck on the homework.

[cordialcount]

So late it's past New Year but-- WELL. Food is always delicious, and the celebration is in my heart (and on my phone bill) even if there were no beautiful paper 福 to be bought this year within walking distance.

How did fish steaming go? I've always loved the part where I get to toss steaming oil onto the ginger and onion heaped onto the fish, but no idea if that's done by most people or just our family's way of making fish.

[oyceter]

It is okay! Spring Festival lasts a long time!

The fish steaming went okay I think? I think it was still a tiny bit underdone near the spine... I should probably cut three slits into the fish on both sides and maybe that will help... on the other hand, have discovered that cookie cutters are an excellent way to elevate the dish about water in my wok! I definitely do the oil, it is so fun! Although I think if I make steamed fish not for special occasions, I might skip that part b/c I am scared of sizzling oil ^^;;.