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This year’s Chinese New Year comes a bit early. The first day of the Chinese New Year is at midnight January 23, 2012 and it is the year of the Dragon. Like every year my dad pays homage to our ancestors on Sunday, Chinese New Year’s Eve.
The table was set for two, for my grandparents on my dad side.
My grandfather was Chinese, he came from China as a young man and his story was very much like many that came to Thailand and Laos for better opportunity.
My dad and sister went to Charlotte to get the chicken. It is rather expensive since they weighted the bird by the pound and this chicken cost $19. It is important that they get one with it’s head, tail and feet intact to symbolize completeness.
The noodle soup has a symbolic meaning also. If you want to live longevity then you eat long noodles and my sister prepared cellophane noodle soup with mushrooms, Chinese flowers and meatballs.
Lee and my niece received Lai See money in red envelopes from the adults. It’s like Christmas all over again for them.
We had a get together on Saturday and ate plenty of long noodles of Pad Thai.
I fixed Tum Maak Houng following my GI Joe sister’s recipe and it came out very much like hers.
My first time deep frying squids, and it tasted okay.
My sister made Cassava Coconut Flakes Dessert. My oldest sister told us that many people from Thailand died from eating half uncooked cassava. It is very scary to know that if it’s not fully cooked then it can be deadly. According to wikipedia, improper preparation of cassava can leave enough residual cyanide to cause acute cyanide intoxication and goiters, and has been linked to ataxia or partial paralysis. Bo showed us a picture of 700 cattle that were killed overnight by poisonous weeds in Australia, 1907 and this freaked one of my sisters out. She stopped eating the dessert immediately after she heard this.
I saw this in a Thai magazine, I didn’t know that they made MSG from cassava.
Besides the Cassava Coconut Flakes Dessert, my dad normally stocked up on Asian cookies and candies during this time of the year.
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