chinese new year

I never realized how many celebrations there can be at the beginning of February. There's Super Bowl, Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year (if the lunar calendar cooperates). A few weeks ago I needed an excuse to throw a party and Chinese New Year seemed perfect. I left the guest list completely up to my children. ( I did a bit of steering in that I suggested we invite people from church. ) This is who my children picked. People that nurture them every Sunday, share their time, take interest in who they are and simply make them laugh. It was nice to share this celebration with them and to say thank you for playing such an important part in our children's lives.

The work that was involved in making a meal like this reminded me why I haven't done this since our children were born. So much chopping and cooking everything at the last minute. Thank goodness for friends that were willing to spend some time in the kitchen with me. I completely overestimated the amount of food we would eat. (I get this from my mother.) So, in case you're wondering...Chinese food does still taste good two days after the fact. And I haven't quite decided if this will become an annual event at our home.

Oh, and I almost forgot to let you know what was on the menu. It was actually fun figuring out what we were going to eat. The Chinese are very superstitious and New Year's always includes dishes that ensure a healthy and prosperous New Year. I tried to include some symbolic dishes when making up the menu. Here's what we ate. Chinese Tea Eggs (symbolizing wealth), dumplings (wealth), shrimp with snow peas (for happiness), oranges (good fortune), fried green beans, eggplant, tomato eggs (a very common dish in China and Taiwan), cashew chicken, Chinese greens and Sichuan pickled cucumber. Like I said, I made way too much. (Symbolism - to have more than enough in the new year.)