Happy Lunar New Year 2013!

Happy Chinese New Year !

Gung Hay Fat Choy !

Xian Nian Kuai Le !

Chúc Mừng Năm Mới !

Chúc Tết !

Or however you say it...... 

I'd just like to wish you a Happy New Year filled with lots of love, luck, and prosperity! :)

 

[Spicy Beef Jerky on top of papaya+carrot salad with fish sauce mix - the sauce tastes sweet, sour and spicy. Vietnamese people love their saaauces.]

I spent all afternoon helping my mom cook in the kitchen. So much work goes into a meal that's finished in like... 20 minutes. This year we opted for a small quiet family dinner since my brother is finally back from college this weekend. The last month has been full of obligated (thank-you/good-bye/long-lost-friends-visiting) dinner parties non-stop, it's like we never ever have any privacy in our own home.

These were three of my favourite dishes from today's dinner:

1) Fish Maw Soup. Up until this year, I didn't even know what that Jelly thing was that I was eating. I thought it was a plant in all honesty. I warn you not to look it up if you have a weak stomach for random exotic foods =___=. If I hadn't been eating it for so many years I'd probably freak out.... but not as bad as when I had eaten Sea Cucumber for the first time in China 0.0 (coming up in a future post about Guangzhou ---- I know... I know I've said I'll put up those pictures since forever now, I'm still sorting through the photos, I took way too many :p)
2) My mom's famous sweet and spicy garlic chicken wings. My bf can eat 30 of these in one go, probably more if he didn't feel so horrible after eating so much meat hahah.
3) Papaya+carrot salad topped with cilantro, spicy beef jerky and my mum's fish sauce mix (lemon juice, water, crushed garlic, sugar, & hot red peppers). It's incredibly filling, and healthy (for the most part!).

Whether or not you celebrate Chinese New Year, I'd like to wish you an abundance of happiness and luck for the year of 2013. May you achieve everything that you set your mind to! <3

Lots of love,
Valentina