CHINESE FOOD WEEK!

Chinese new year lasts a number of 15 days. what an awesome holiday that we can celebrate it more than one day :D

super long list and there are some things I didn't mention either. But I hope you find this interesting, 'cause I didn't know some of the things too.

Night before: we have a big feast always with chicken, pork, veggies, and anything else we crave for (this yr it was crab). and the important thing is to LEAVE LEFTOVERS. Families have a goodie box that they set up for visitors for the following days. We eat mochi (but it's chinese so we call it rice balls?). There are various fillings like black sesame, peanut butter, etc. I'm not really a fan of it but it's a must to eat. So I eat one or two.

(Between these days, men who are head of the family own an alter dedicated to their parents/ancestors. So they need to pray (incense) and give food as an offering before the family eats)

1st Day: lots of celebration! the first meal has to be a vegetarian dish or what we call "zhai". It must be cooked with a red bean curd sauce (somewhat like miso..fermented stuff) and any kind of veggies. The dish my mom made has mushrooms, vermicelli, cabbage, a kind of root, bean curd and 'fat choi' aka hair moss(?!). i assure you it tastes delicious!
We definitely can't curse nor say any unlucky words...not that you should be saying it on a daily basis anyway?

2nd Day: On my previous post, I wrote about (年糕) "nian gao". We fry it with eggs so it won't stick to the pan but its a weird taste so i take off the eggs. It's a gooey, sticky cake made from glutinous rice. There's also the chinese 'cupcakes' (i'd like to call it.)

3rd Day/4th Day: This is the day(i follow the 3rd) where it's advised not to visit relatives or friends. Because it's a superstition that you would get into an argument with them. There's no special food you can or cannot eat. I guess if you can't go anywhere, indulge :)

5th Day: People in different regions of China or from that region eat dumplings. Dumplings are in the shape of how gold coins used to look like in the past. So I assume its for prosperity?

(google)

The rest of the days...we just can't stop eating? no, that's only me lols. We visit relatives, give out/receive red packets, and some go to temples to pray.

Red packets aren't for everyone! Married couples give out red packets to children/singles. So there are always jokes about marrying after Chinese New Year or they won't get money! Good for me, I'm not married yet so I still get the goodies :3

15th Day: I found out from my mom that the last day is Chinese Valentine's Day. I'm not too sure what people or couples do on this day. We eat rice balls to greet the new year, and we end it also with that.