Memories of a Chinese New Year

Growing up as a 1st generation Chinese-American son, I constantly felt the push and pull of trying to adapt to the American culture while my parents would innocently and lovingly cling to their Asian ways, especially when it came to food. I remember going to elementary school with baloney sandwiches with lychee jelly as a snack and having all of my classmates be alternatively fascinated and repulsed by the strange milky white jiggly substance that was, in my mother's opinion, just as good as a cookie or a brownie.

Another distinct memory came when I was part of a little league soccer team. On one of our club activities, we had a big BBQ and I remember every parent was responsible for bringing a side dish to go along with the burgers and hot dogs the coach would grill at a park near our elementary school. I secretly hoped and prayed that my mom would make something normal and American, a dish that belonged to the salad family. Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad, Tuna Salad, Jello Salad, I didn't care as long as it wasn't super Asian-y. But, to my horror, my mom made Spam Fried Rice and brought it to the BBQ. Even though everybody at the picnic enjoyed my mom's Fried Rice (truth be told, my mom is a master at Fried Rice), I felt as if it was one more glaring reminder that yes, I am Chinese and not American.

The one true Chinese holiday that I did enjoy was always Chinese New Year's. Basically, for my extended family and I, it was a night of firecrackers, dancing dragons, and utter gluttony. My mom would prepare a Chinese meal at home with a requisite set number of dishes, usually 5 or 8 depending on how ambitious she was, including an egg dumpling soup that to this day makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

Then, we would head over to my aunt and uncle's then Chinese restaurant for yet another sumptuous banquet that included everything from giant platters of dumplings where every 10th one hid a dime in it (thus ensuring that our dentists would always remain in business), fried lobster with ginger and scallion, roast duck, whole steamed fish, and on and on. Then, after dinner, all the kids would have free reign of the restaurant where we would play epic games of hide and seek and parking lot football.

Around midnight, we would all gather in the courtyard of the restaurant and light firecrackers and ring in the new Chinese Year. The best part, we would get to skip school the next day to sleep in.

Now that I'm older, my husband convinced me to keep some sort of tradition alive so every year we hold a small Chinese New Year party. Although hide and seek with a bunch of 30-somethings, most of who have kids, is a little too much, I still try my best to cook as many dishes as I can, including dumplings, roast duck, BBQ pork, and some sort of rice/noodle dish.

I wish you all the Happiest Chinese New Year, especially to my Tiger little brother and all of my Tiger cousins!