Happy 牛 Year
Woohoo!
CNY dinner went off without a hitch for the most part! Hilariously enough my dad had the same idea of having a second camera for the food on Zoom; the iPhone actually had way better quality video of the food, too.
Our dishes didn’t deviate too much from the original menu, but every dish happened to be sliiiiiightly different from my mom’s. Still, it felt like we were celebrating together eating the same thing. My parents were impressed I know how to cook (???? #iamaprofessional?)
Most of the meal was spent explaining the symbolism and punniness of the dishes and traditions. Steamed foods for prosperity, a fish ball soup thrown together purely for the sake of unity, oranges for good luck, a whole chicken/whole fish for unity and luck. Circular things for luck and unity. Saving some fish for the next day, for prosperity.
We also stayed up until 11PM (midnight eastern time) to eat dumplings with my parents. My mom likes to eat dumplings right at midnight. For good luck, I guess. We each saved one dumpling and ate them at midnight CST. No pictures because tired. Maybe will edit in some from when we cooked the frozen extras.
Moving forward… my Chinese new year’s resolution lol:
the 2021 PANTRY CHALLENGE
We’re moving in 4 months. FOUR MONTHS. I can’t believe eight months in Chicago went by just like that, in a daily grind. I’m sad we didn’t get to take full advantage of our beloved city, but I vow to make the most of it once the weather improves slightly from -1 degrees + snowstorm.
During our vacation, we reorganized the pantry and inventoried the 200+ items in there. There is now a ban on pantry purchases. There is an exception if it’s an essential ingredient that can be bought in a small enough quantity to be used in one go. But there are SO many things to use that I’m sure there can be a viable substitute. The majority of the ingredients will probably be thrown out in the move.
I could list some of the items, but I don’t even know where to start. Time to scour the books for ideas.