Celebrating Chinese New Year

If someone asks me how would I like to celebrate Chinese new year in a fun way, my choice would be to invite a few friends to enjoy a hot pot meal or make dumplings, spring rolls together.  Traditional foods from childhood memory and share together with friends create new memorable moments.  Here are the pictures I took recently to welcome the lunar new year of ram.  Enjoy!



Eight Treasures Hot Pot Soup as a center piece

 

Fruits and nuts portray wishes of long life

Shanghainese wontons arranged by a young in house artist
 



This bowl of wonton soup covers all essentials for a yummy Chinese dish: appearance, aroma and flavor!





Spices used in tea egg braising liquid in addition to black tea



 

tea eggs soon to be revealed for the unique marbled look

marbling on the tea egg and on the shells 



home fried shrimp chips--look and taste good




Happy Year of lunar year of Ram (4713)!
(drawn by my friend Yiling)

Perfect Settig for Mid-autumn Moon Viewing

 

Today is lunar new year's August 15, the mid-autumn festival day for full moon viewing.  A good friend knowing my love for opera and ballet sent me an e-greeting featuring soprano Lucia Popp's "Song to the Moon" (from Dvořák's opera Rusalka).  What a beautiful combination to view the moon while listening to her illuminating voice pouring out the delicate poem from the heart.  Adding a pot of light green tea and few moon cakes, I think, would be an ideal poetic setting for moon viewing tonight! 

My Taiwan Tea Field Trip (part 2: Nov. 11 evening tea dinner feast)

most unforgettable among a tableful of yummy dishes:  

beautiful crispy flower petals on top of fried crunchy oolong tea leaves,

stir-fried tender celery stalks picked in the afternoon with taro strips,

the most flavorful chicken wings I have tasted ever-- braised with oolong tea in a clay pot.

Tea Cuisine on the Horizon

Yilang Tea Lodge's garden

Yilang Tea Lodge's side garden

A report on the new trend of tea cuisine reminds me of a 2006 trip to Taiwan's Yilang tea plantations.  The road to the tea farmer's lodge took quite a few hair-raising serpentine turns on a narrow mountain road.  Another highlight of the trip was a rustic 10-course dinner prepared by the farmer family in a patio kitchen with free range chicken, mountain fresh field greens and mushrooms. Perhaps it was the most refreshing and tasty meal experience ever for all the diners around the table.  One surprise after another, the big bowl of tea-infused soup or stir-fried vegetable with tea leaves were greeted by incessant oohs and aahs!

On the way to the tea lodge

As a cooking ingredient, wine is a common staple for many cuisines.  Tea, or tea leaves, however, is seldom used and any recipe including it might appeal to but a few adventurous cooks.  Nevertheless, there are two Chinese dishes which are worth the effort to try (at least for cosmopolitan gourmets) due to the unique use of tea.  One is "smoked tea duck", a banquet dish prized for the golden brown color and subtle smoked tea flavor imparted to the duck skin and meat.  The second one is "Lung Jing shrimp": Lung Jing the delicate, green tea sprouts from West Lake and pearly pink shrimp velvety but slightly crunchy to the bite.  In my personal opinion, both are culinary masterpieces with exquisite combination of color, texture, aroma and taste. 

For tea's parallel to coffee's use in desserts, Japanese style "green tea cheesecake" has quite a following in Asian bakeries because of its beautiful color and refined texture.  Also, green tea ice cream has become a popular item for its intricate tea flavor.

Now I am looking forward to add more memorable tea dishes to my list if the "tea cuisine" trend actually takes off!

French Pastry at Teatime

A delightful paring for the smooth Darjeeling black tea could be any French pastry longingly perused by calorie-conscious women young or old.  The eye candy picture above frequently comes to me through my favorite blog feed: ParisBreakfast by Carol Gillott.  Her March 2nd entry is quite a guide for Paris tea salons.

Timing is right for me to mention the newly relesed documentary Kings of Pastry .  One can't help but respect the devotion of French chefs' dedication to their craft.

After viewing the movie with the cine club of Alliance Française of Frederick, I surely appreciate every bite of  beautiful pastry as a work of art!

New USDA Dietary Guidlines

Grilled Romaine drizzled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and generous sprinkles of fresh Pamesan cheese

Thanks partly to this cold winter, my 2011 new year resolution has been kept well--no carry-out dinner (or more appropriately speaking: "carry-in dinner") so far!  However, I do have to talk myself out quite often in order to detour away from Chinese restaurants for my favorite stir-fired rice noodle or salt-pepper shrimps...

One way I deterred myself from falling is by stocking the refrigerator with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.  And for TV snacks, I fill my pantry with toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds (with shell) .  Nevertheless, my love of teas should take most of the credits for keeping me on tract of healthy eating.  A cup of warm oolong tea instead of ice cream, cake or pie would keep me happy and satisfied after the meal .  Even occassional crave for sweets comes along, a buttery caramel hard candy in between tea sips will be just the perfect dessert combination!

Here is the link for those who also like to start eating healthy.  It provides international websites of official nutrition recommendation, including the most recent (published Jan. 31st, 2011) USDA dietary guidlines.  The sage idea of  "eat everything in moderation" has been and will be my dietary motto.  No need to veer away almond crescent or Sopressata sausage--just have it in small portions.  Moreover, sipping teas throughout the day provides ample zero calorie fluid need for healthy living!

Happy Lunar New Year of the Rabbit

Vegetarian Ingredients for Hot Pot

Just like Christmas and Thanksgiving here, Chinese new year celebrations in my memories are about gatherings with family around dining table.  Travel tickets need to be arranged way ahead so no one would miss the hearty New Year Eve's dinner.  Since the weather during lunar new year is usually cold, many families prepare steaming Hot Pot in addition to bowls of their house specialties.  Here is a picture to show how hot pot brings out new year festivity even in modern day Texas!

Winter meals with a pot of tea

During recent east coast snow storms, it's the ideal time for family and friends to sit around table and share hot meals accompanied by a pot of good tea.  Here is a video demonstration of  how to make the seasonal Chinese hot pot soup .  Enjoy!