Gung Hay Fa Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year! (and v-day!)

Chinese New Year growing up was always exciting because it meant big family dinners, familiar faces and lucky money in pretty red little envelopes. Now that I’ve moved away from my family, I cook a lot more chinese food at home. Usually this results in big shopping days at Uwajimaya at least a couple times a year to stock up on essentials:

Ok, ramen is pretty bad for you, but I love it. Usually if I am craving Ramen I head to Samurai Noodle in I.D., but I like to keep a supply of ramen at home for emergency. (Also, I think it would be pretty fun to design ramen noodle packaging.)

Owl Beer! I was more than excited when I saw that Uwajimaya is now carrying Hitachino Nest. I first had the white ale at Spice Market in NYC and have been on the hunt ever since.

Various essentials. (Ok, some of these are Japanese ingredients too. Not included here: fresh veggies and other various junk food items. You’ll have to wait for the next shopping day!)

Lucky for me, not living close to family also results in giant care packages of goodies from Hong Kong: sauces, noodles, abalone, and cakes.

Living away from my family is always hard, and I do feel more disconnected from my culture the longer I live apart from them. But simple things like cooking Chinese food and sharing family dinners with friends is always a good reminder that I can still keep the same family traditions even today…

Annual Hot Pot Day at Seven Stars Pepper with the Baerwaldes was a couple of weeks ago. We shared the traditional feast of pot stickers, onion pancakes, meat and seafood hotpot, and hand shaven noodles with pork. Here are some pictures of the meal and it’s aftermath:

Special thanks to AM and GFI for the photos.