Right before the big holiday my friend Liuliu and her son Qiaoqiao came over to play. It's been a long time since we've gotten together because Qiaoqiao is in preschool all day, every day. But since he was out for the new year break they came over and we had a great time.
Every single time I see Liuliu she brings me at least 5 or 6 items, usually food, and often brings something for Grace. I can't keep up! (Part of the "guanxi" or relationship system here is give and take of gifts, etc.) Here are two food items she brought. Can you guess what they are?
Zongzi is very popular to eat at the new year time, especially in the south where we live. It's a pyramid-shaped conglomeration of glutinous rice with some kind of filling in the middle. It's wrapped up in a bamboo leaf. Looks pretty fun, eh?
Here it is cut open. This zongzi has egg and some sort of meat in the middle. I can see how people enjoy eating them but can't say I am a huge fan...
But I'll take a zongzi any day over this next item. It was translated on the package as a "new year cake"but that's really a stretch. It's made of glutinous rice and had a bit of sugar and oil but was so dense I had to push hard with this knife just to get it partially cut. As much as I tried, I couldn't cut through it completely! I pulled off a bit to taste and although I've never actually eaten plastic, I'm pretty sure it would come close to the taste of this cake. Slightly-sweetened plastic. I think maybe it's supposed to be the new year equivalent of our fruit cake, but without any fruit and much more dense! (Grace heard the word "cake" and thought maybe it would fit into her kid's bake ware she got from Nana and Pappaw for Christmas. Unfortunately, there was no way to make it fit.)
There was a lot of activity next door to our apartment complex for a few days. We got together with friends the other day and headed to the park, then afterward grabbed some "shao kao" (roast meat on a stick) at the bird and flower market.
shao kao roasting over the coals...
This sesame flat bread is my favorite
The shao kao was spicy and Grace said, "Mommy this milk helps my mouth not to burn so much." She can throw down some shao kao!
It's common to see signs such as these hung on front doors. It's the Chinese character for "blessing" and it's usually hung upside down, as if to say the blessings are being poured out into the household.
Grace is not a big fan of the loud fireworks so Daddy got her some sparklers the other day. She really loved these small ones so we got her some bigger ones later on!
Once they were lit she took off running. Yes, running with fire. We're nothing if not safe.
But at least we kept her from running at Trinity
And the big "silent" finale...sparkly but not loud, just like Grace likes it. I'm REALLY OK that Grace doesn't want to be around the big fireworks, especially after Kevin and some friends set fireworks off the other day and ran into some crazies who were being careless and shooting fireworks sideways and setting them off in the canisters.
Every single time I see Liuliu she brings me at least 5 or 6 items, usually food, and often brings something for Grace. I can't keep up! (Part of the "guanxi" or relationship system here is give and take of gifts, etc.) Here are two food items she brought. Can you guess what they are?
Zongzi is very popular to eat at the new year time, especially in the south where we live. It's a pyramid-shaped conglomeration of glutinous rice with some kind of filling in the middle. It's wrapped up in a bamboo leaf. Looks pretty fun, eh?
Here it is cut open. This zongzi has egg and some sort of meat in the middle. I can see how people enjoy eating them but can't say I am a huge fan...
But I'll take a zongzi any day over this next item. It was translated on the package as a "new year cake"but that's really a stretch. It's made of glutinous rice and had a bit of sugar and oil but was so dense I had to push hard with this knife just to get it partially cut. As much as I tried, I couldn't cut through it completely! I pulled off a bit to taste and although I've never actually eaten plastic, I'm pretty sure it would come close to the taste of this cake. Slightly-sweetened plastic. I think maybe it's supposed to be the new year equivalent of our fruit cake, but without any fruit and much more dense! (Grace heard the word "cake" and thought maybe it would fit into her kid's bake ware she got from Nana and Pappaw for Christmas. Unfortunately, there was no way to make it fit.)
There was a lot of activity next door to our apartment complex for a few days. We got together with friends the other day and headed to the park, then afterward grabbed some "shao kao" (roast meat on a stick) at the bird and flower market.
shao kao roasting over the coals...
This sesame flat bread is my favorite
The shao kao was spicy and Grace said, "Mommy this milk helps my mouth not to burn so much." She can throw down some shao kao!
It's common to see signs such as these hung on front doors. It's the Chinese character for "blessing" and it's usually hung upside down, as if to say the blessings are being poured out into the household.
Grace is not a big fan of the loud fireworks so Daddy got her some sparklers the other day. She really loved these small ones so we got her some bigger ones later on!
Once they were lit she took off running. Yes, running with fire. We're nothing if not safe.
But at least we kept her from running at Trinity 
And the big "silent" finale...sparkly but not loud, just like Grace likes it. I'm REALLY OK that Grace doesn't want to be around the big fireworks, especially after Kevin and some friends set fireworks off the other day and ran into some crazies who were being careless and shooting fireworks sideways and setting them off in the canisters. 
2 comments:
ahhh... it's great to hear about your first chinese new year experience! thanks for chronicling your life for us... it allows us to live vicariously through you - in a much more silent method! ;)
and of course, don't forget to give the family our love & (((hugs)))
~jd2
It is interesting that Grace enjoys the spicy meat stick. And as far as the glutinous rice concoctions, you don't need to serve it while we are there. ha-ha Nana
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