Chinese New Year in Lincolnshire

Today we celebrated Chinese New Year with our Chinese daughter-in-law and the rest of our family.

Chinese hot pot! 

A delicious way to enjoy a long and leisurely meal. 

Select what you want, put it into the pot of boiling and spicy stock, then chat while you wait for it to cook.

The round brown things are not potatoes, they are gluten balls, doughy puff balls of delight.

Loads of vegetables, salmon, prawns, non-meat meatballs, thinly sliced beef, greens, beans and mushrooms.     Lots of crunchy salad to nibble while you wait.

It is difficult to keep track of just how much you eat. 

Conversation and laughter flows as chopstick skills are put to the test when some bits sink without trace and have to be fished out.       Luckily we had a few wire net scoops on hand, just in case.

Much, much later  we cleared the table and put out fruit and sweet treats, trying to stick to auspicious red, gold and round shapes as much as possible.

Somehow we all managed to squeeze in an extra treat or two. 

I made sure that everyone took home all the tempting goodies, so that the only round thing left in this house is some fruit, and me.   

Double exercise for me tomorrow.

Happy Chinese New Year!

February is Fun

Far from being dull, February is always a jolly and celebratory month for us. 

It begins with middle grandson's birthday and ends with our wedding anniversary.   In between, we have plenty of other occasions to celebrate.

This coming week will see us celebrate Pancake Day - Shrove Tuesday.     Apart from when I was a child, I have never really enjoyed eating pancakes, but I suppose that could say quite a lot about my pancake-making 'skills', rather than about pancakes!

Nevertheless, my grandchildren will be fed plenty of pancakes.  One likes them with lemon and a tiny sprinkle of sugar, the other prefers that they should be annointed with liberal amounts of golden syrup.

Then we have Valentine's Day, a celebration of love and affection.    More importantly, it will see us celebrate the wedding anniversary of these two.

Then we look forward to a couple of weeks of celebrations during Chinese New Year, we'll be hanging out the Chinese lanterns as we have a big family feast planned.      Chinese food, of course.       MingMing is a wonderful cook,  so it will be delicious as well as beautiful. 

As the month draws to a close we then celebrate our own wedding anniversary. 

This takes us quite nicely into March which I always associate with spring flowers, lambs, and the possibility that spring may be around the corner and another winter is almost behind us.

Chinese New Year Feast!

My lovely Chinese daughter-in-law, Poppy, has cooked up quite a feast to celebrate Chinese New Year.

A feast for the eyes - even the cat agrees, just as well he has very good table manners.

Lamb, pork, beef balls, tofu strips, spring onions, radish, potatoes, mushrooms, soy bean puff balls, bone soup, dipping sauces, peanut sauce...you get the idea.

A magnificent feast, one for sharing with family and friends.

Centre stage of it all was the 'hot pot' which cooked the meat in ten seconds, so it really was a hot pot.

Everything was so beautifully prepared and served with love and happiness.

I hope that this time next year will see a feast such as this being prepared and shared at Cowslip Cottage.  Poppy and Miles are hoping to move back to England in the early autumn.

I can't begin to tell you how happy that makes us.   The whole family is excited about it.  Come to that, even the new neighbours are looking forward to meeting you both.   We'll be looking forward to some feasts and celebrations then, Poppy.

Miles you are a lucky man!

Max and I are off to the pub tonight - quiz night, a special one to raise funds for charity.  Wish us luck!

Love you,
Mum
xxx

Breakfast for Two

This is the time of the Spring Festival/New Year celebrations in China, the biggest festival of the year.   It is a time for families to travel from far and wide to be together.

Many of Poppy and Miles' favourite eateries are closed as the staff are on holiday.     This means they are exploring other establishments.  Some are good, others are disappointing.

This sumptuous meal is what they had for 'Breakfast' the other day, probably a very late breakfast.  ;-)

Poppy's Home-made Sausages & Bacon

Over in Shanghai, Poppy has begun her preparations for some special celebrations next month, she has been making home-made sausages.     Miles loves them but he'll have to be patient for they won't be ready for a few weeks yet.   They are being made for Chinese New Year, February 8th.

She has also been busy preparing her own favourite, Chinese bacon.

Image borrowed from nipic.com

The bacon and sausages take quite a while to cure/dry/mature, but when they are ready and cooked they will look like the photograph above.     I can imagine Miles salivating already and I know that Max is looking forward to Poppy making him something similar during their summer visit this year.

Chinese New Year celebrations see friends and family getting together and whenever people get together that means that lots of treats are produced from the kitchens.   The sausages and bacon are traditional treats.

Poppy is a trained cook, so Miles is absolutely spoilt with her superb meals but I think these are something very special!