We had so much fun with two little dollies to help bring in the Year of the Horse! We really try our best to make a big deal out of Chinese New Year, treating it almost like Thanksgiving for our family. During the week leading up to the holiday, we are out and about at the stores every day picking up ingredients for lots of Chinese dishes. One day when we were on about our 3rd store to pick up fresh veggies, I asked Emmie if we could make one last stop at HMart for some fresh lo mein noodles. "This is RIDICULOUS," she said, using one of her new and favorite expressions to complain about the number of stores we visited. But when we found her favorite noodles and grabbed a milk tea to go, she was very happy. We made a trip to Chinatown for some baked goods from some of the very best bakeries in Boston, and we also found a new scroll to hang up reading, "GOOD HEALTH." Perfect for our family. We also did lots of arts and crafts to help decorate and celebrate. It all culminated with a huge dinner with lots of Chinese dishes. I told P, it was like the Super Bowl for me as a cook! Lots of fun, family, food, and good times to celebrate the new year!
Here are some pics of the girls in their traditional qipao that we bought on Shamian during Rosie's adoption trip...
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| Displaying lots of oranges for abundance and good fortune. |
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| Showing the girls how I fold dumplings. |
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| Cutting out dough for Hong Kong style egg tarts. |
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Just one of our traditional dishes. We had homemade egg rolls, char siu pork, rice noodles,
lo mein, fried rice, shrimp with snap peas, broccoli with oyster sauce, and chop suey.
Since I was a little busy cooking all of this and the egg tarts, we bought lots of desserts. |
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| With Baba opening her Lai See full of Lindt chocolate coins (yum!) from Nana and Grampy. |
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The girls made paper lanterns and we tried our hand and traditional Chinese
papercutting for the first time! The symbol with the hearts is our "fancy" version
of Double Happiness. |
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We hung lots and lots of traditional Chinese New Year decorations including
lanterns, firecrackers, and decorative scrolls. The scroll on the door says, "GOOD HEALTH." |
