HAPPY NEW YEAR; GUNG HAY FAT CHOI ETCETERA

Chinese New Year is in two days (February 12, 2021), and naturally I have something new to wear. Which is very important. No intention of doing any serious house cleaning, but I shall probably light some incense and have tangerines on the premises. Food-wise, it may be a bust. The grocery stores will be shut, and in any case because of the pandemic the usual bustle and variety will be limited. Still, some things need to be done.

A dish suitable for the beginning of the year.
Reprised from a while back.

滷蛋紅燒豬肉
LOU DAAN HONG SIU CHYU YIUK

Two pounds streaky pork belly (五花肉).
Two or three slices of ginger.
Two or three hard-boiled eggs.
Two or three whole star anise.
Two or three stalks green onion.
Quarter cup or more soy sauce.
Quarter cup or more sherry or rice wine.
Five or six soaked black mushrooms.
Two TBS sugar.

Peel the eggs but leave them whole.


Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Dump the pork into the pot, boil for about ten minutes, take it out and let it cool. When it's cold, cut it into chunks.
Heat some oil on the bottom of a stew pot or kastrol, add the ginger, stirfry briefly and add the green onion, which you have cut into one or two inch lengths and whacked slightly with the blunt edge of your cleaver. Remove all solids before they brown with a slotted spatula, add the pork, and gild it. When it has good browned edges, spoon off some of the grease that the heat had released, add the sherry or rice wine to sizzle, stir loose the crusty bits, then put everything else in the pot with water to generously cover.
Simmer on low heat for well over an hour.

This is a soppy version, with plenty of juices.
Good on top of rice or noodles.

The number of hard-boiled eggs can be increased if there are more people.
Increase soy sauce and sherry or rice wine plus water appropriately.
Equal parts soy and wine, one to two parts water.
Plus slight modifications else.


Other foods which are customary (which I shan't be preparing):

Dried Oysters With Black Moss 好事發財
February 1, 2011.

Sea Cucumber 海參
October 1, 2011



Plus a whole list of dishes (and New Year Greetings):

Lucky Wishes Lucky Foods
January 30, 2011.

Basically, I do not intend to do much for Chinese New Year. As long as the day is fairly pleasant, the living quarters comfortable, and the food is good, it's all right.


Tangerines. Or oranges. And new clothes to start the year.
Maybe fish (for surplus: 餘 sounds the same as 魚).
No swearing, no arguments.
Peace.



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LEI SI 利是

One of the freebees that some businesses will give out when new year comes around (my bank, for instance) is extra paperwork. As a result, I now have multiple calenders, and several different kinds of red envelopes for use if and when I hand out lei si (lucky money). And I don't know how I feel about this. Calenders are a potent reminder of mortality and death, bills coming due, the finiteness of everything, and lei si is customarily given by parents to their as yet unhitched children and equivalent kinfolk, and by businesses to government officials. It's not just older people gifting the young, but in a normal social context always married people to kids.

Note: in a bar or karaoke lounge, the owners, whatever their age and status, are "married", the customers similarly are "singles". The same holds for bosses vis-à-vis employees, gang leaders and their juniors.

So I have no idea when I'm ever going to use these red envelopes. I am a Caucasian, and consequently no one in their right mind realistically expects me to hand out lei si. Besides, I am quite single, and do not have any kids of my own, nor any young relatives who expect red packets at certain times of the year (the youngest kinfolk are in their teens and over a thousand miles away), and though I do know a few kids in Chinatown (because if you know people you also know kids) they are all accustomed to whites being inexplicable cheapos and not clued-in to the right way of doing things.



Sadly, I cannot expect to receive any lei si either.

You know, what with being white, and not being part of a social network with all the right traditions for this time of year. And of an age at which at which most people will assume that I'm hitched, or probably would not want to be reminded of being single, peculiar, and possibly damaged or deranged because otherwise I would and should be married by now.

White people are goofy anyway, and stand apart from normalcy.
Not aware of the proper way of doing things.
Kind of like space aliens.



Yeah, if I were married and had kids, I'd probably be wondering why I'm a magnet at this time, and where do all these little outstretched hands come from, good heavens, they're all over the place!

安康興旺，心想事成 ...

恭喜發財，利是逗來！

Instead I'll just hide behind my veneer of occidental inscrutability for the next few weeks. As well as my abnormal singleness. I am so white I glow in the dark, also a monumental cheapo, and I don't know how things should be done.





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CHINESE NEW YEAR SOON

The new year starts in less than two weeks, and in preparation for that, stalls are cropping up along Stockton Street selling the necessary things. Red packets, new clothes, new years cake (年糕 'nin gou'). Tangerines and oranges are in abundant supply. Soon also, one would expect, daffodils and blossoming plum branches.


春節
['Chun jit'. Spring festival.]

The year starts on January 25th. in 2020. Traditionally, people welcome it with a family dinner the evening before, after cleaning house and hanging lucky scrolls and plastering auspicious characters on doors. In China, travel madness will begin several days ere then, as people set off to get back to their kin in distant provinces in time. Chaos will have ensued at many train stations, with huge masses of passengers, and delays.

Here in San Francisco, it is far less hectic.



My apartment mate, a Cantonese American person, has been trying to get all of her siblings on the same page as far as a family dinner, without any significant success. As a Caucasian with no nearby kinfolk, I of course do not intend to do anything at all. Even if I were married to a Chinese person, that evening I would likely be by myself.
I shan't clean house, and I'm working that day, and the next. As well as the Monday following. As far as almost all culturally significant celebrations are concerned, I am a dried-up stick insect and don't care either way.

Chinese New Year is pretty much the same as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines, but without me grumbling or making snide comments.


Some dishes which are traditional, which I may or may not think of preparing:

Fatty pork and hard-boiled eggs (滷蛋紅燒豬肉 'lou daan hung siu chyu yiuk'). It keeps well, and goes great over rice. Arhat vegetarian dish (羅漢齋 'lo hon chai'), which is traditional, and can be quite good. And especially dried oysters with pork and hair vegetable 好事發財 ('ho si fat choi').
That last, in a cantonese-speaking environment, is a must.

There are also several other very appropriate dishes (described here: Lucky Foods), but I am less vested in them, and again, I am Caucasian, with no family in the area. So no. Not going to bother.

No gok jai (角仔), no lo hei (撈起).

Yes, I'll probably have dumplings at some point, and also noodles for good luck and long life. Plus a nice fish. Fish has a propitious connotation.


What I'm really looking forward to is the fireworks.
Several weeks of explosions.




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CHINESE NEW YEAR 2020

In roughly three weeks (Saturday January 25) we will be welcoming in the year of the rodent. No, not necessarily the rat, even though that's what it's being called in English. The character used is 鼠 ('syu'), which means both 'mouse' as well as 'rat'. For rat specifically, 老鼠 ('lou syu') is used, but sometimes that means mouse; 小老鼠 ('siu lou syu') means 'a little mouse'.

鼠

Mickey Mouse is 米奇老鼠 ('mai kei lou syu'). A little syu (小鼠 'siu syu') is a mouse, but it could also be a tiny rat. A little white mouse (小白鼠 'siu paak syu') is the guineau pig in experiments, especially when referring to humans.
Your computer mouse is either 鼠標 ('syu piu'; "mousy ticket-thing") or 滑鼠 ('gwat syu'; "slippery mouse").

This data is offered in hopes that confusion will be averted.
Or guaranteed.



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NEW YEAR'S PORK AND EGG STEW

Some things transcend the time and place. One of those things is Red Stewed Pork. Which is appropriate at any time of year, provided the eater isn't limited by ideological dietary constrictions or doctor's orders. With the inclusion of hard-boiled eggs for textural effect and to absorb some of the flavours, it is quite suitable for the lunar new year period.
My cardiologists haven't told me what not to eat yet, they're probably still waiting with baited breath to see if this stubborn white dude gonna explode, so sometime in the next week or so I'll make this dish.
With some cooked saang choi on the side.


滷蛋紅燒豬肉
LOU DAAN HONG SIU CHYU YUK

Two pounds streaky pork belly (五花肉).
Two or three slices of ginger.
Two or three hard-boiled eggs.
Two or three whole star anise.
Two or three stalks green onion.
Quarter cup or more soy sauce.
Quarter cup or more sherry or rice wine.
Five or six soaked black mushrooms.
Two TBS sugar.

Peel the eggs but leave them whole.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Dump the pork into the pot, boil for about ten minutes, take it out and let it cool. When it's cold, cut it into chunks.
Heat some oil on the bottom of a stew pot or kastrol, add the ginger, stirfry briefly and add the green onion, which you have cut into one or two inch lengths and whacked slightly with the blunt edge of your cleaver. Remove all solids before they brown with a slotted spatula, add the pork, and gild it. When it has good browned edges, spoon off some of the grease that the heat had released, add the sherry or rice wine to sizzle, stir loose the crusty bits, then put everything else in the pot with water to generously cover.
Simmer on low heat for well over an hour.

This is a soppy version, with plenty of juices.
Good on top of rice or noodles.

The number of hard-boiled eggs can be increased if there are more people.
Increase soy sauce and sherry or rice wine plus water appropriately.
Equal parts soy and wine, one to two parts water.
Plus slight modifications else.



If you don't know what else to cook, cook this.
When you're lazy about writing, talk food.
Everything goes better with sambal.




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HYECK FAAN AND OTHER PHRASES

So what happens when on the 2ᶮᵈ day of the lunar year you walk into a bakery filled with elderly Cantonese types who all know you speak their language? A hearty chorus of "san nin faai lok". Happy New Year. Warm and welcoming. As one of the regulars there I joined in when the next familiar face came in, and the next.

新年快樂!

In between new arrivals, I listened in on a conversation that involved lots of old mothers, despicable acts, and unspeakable body parts, all used for emphasis and exclamation. No, shan't reproduce those sounds here, because there really is no reason for you to know them if you don't already. Suffice to say that the speech defect is exactly the same as a Dubliner employing the "F" word. Or how a Dutchman uses "k", "l", or "kl".

I will note, however, that in dialect a familiar obscene imperative verbform characteristically loses the "t" or "d" with which it begins in city speech.


Oh, let's change the subject: San Nin Faai Lok!

San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok. San nin faai lok.


Plus several other congratulatory phrases. San tai kin hong, maan si yu yi, seui seui ping on, and something that sounds the same as 'fish' (but means a surplus).
May you have fish all the time. But mostly san nin faai lok.

While I was enjoying the first egg tart and third cup of HK milk tea after my recent surgical adventure -- see, I'm well on the road toward recovering my old self -- many flaky pastries were consumed, the noise level hit the roof, caffeinated beverages were swilled, and one Ah Sook was asked why he was leaving so soon. "Meuwhaai h'-hyek faan luh!" Which I believe means that as a matter that you should have taken for granted (too many slurred-together particles) he was going home to have his dinner.


After departing I smoked a pipe while observing dusk falling over Waverly. Fathers and their little daughters, pretty in bright new clothes, headed home. Rosy cheeked tykes alternated with elderly ladies, even the thuggish teenage boys seemed well-behaved and scrubbed. More places in C'town were open than the day before.

Later, I too hyecked some faan. Roast meats, fresh vegs, rice.
And another cup of a stimulating beverage.
Followed by a second pipe.



San nin faai lok.




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CHINESE NEW YEAR'S EVE HAPPINESS

Having just returned home, the prospect of two days off work beckons. And given that I am still recovering from the procedure on Friday, and a bit bushed, you will understand that the break is gilded even more. Now, initially I had planned to go down to Chinatown tomorrow for porkchops, but there is a great chance that the restaurant to wish I wish to go is closed for Chinese New Year. Today, Monday February 4, 2019, is New Year's eve. Good thing that there is a tonne of food in the house.
About the only thing I may accomplish tomorrow is visiting my bank.

In any case, happy New Year to everybody.


新年快樂，歲歲平安，萬事如意，身體健康 。
May your New Year be happy, the coming years be peaceful, all things come to a desired fruition, and may you have vibrant good health; 'san nin faai lok, seui seui ping on, maan si yiu yi, san tai kin hong'.


I'm still thinking about those porkchops. My cardiologist has not yet given me the lecture about what not to do, so it's still all wide open.
Nice fatty porkchops!

I am obsessed.

I wonder if any good places to eat are open tomorrow.


Meanwhile, for dinner in a while, duck. Rice, gailan, and a sambal. Plus a cup of coffee. My apartment mate is in her room, in bed, reading -- it looks like she probably didn't go out all day, because once a month she takes a Monday off -- and given how beastly buggery cold the weather is, that was a wise choice. Except for the fact that I am vibrant and go stir-crazy from inactivity, I would opt for a similar course tomorrow.
Oh, and the unfortunate circumstance that I cannot smoke at home, what with my apartment mate being a non-smoker......
That's where Chinatown comes in. Everybody there has relatives who smoke, many of them are the relative who smokes, and most people there do not sneer venomously at smokers, because they take for granted that men have bad habits.

If you see someone looking five days post-operative and fragile, with a pipe in his mouth and a gleam in his eye down there tomorrow, that will be me.


The fragility lessens with each day.
Great leaps of improvement.


By next week I should have a sun tan and look like a young Greek god.
Golden curls, instead of salt and pepper mouse colour.

Or something very similar.
Improved.





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A DAY FOR NOODLES

One thought that came unbidden yesterday was "why are all these little Chinese girls wearing pretty new clothes, while I'm still trudging around in these sorry old rags?" The answer, of course, is that I am not a little Chinese girl, and prefer to gradually break in new clothes, so that they fit me like an old shoe eventually. This coat is a good example: yes, it's starting to look disreputable, but I've got a tube with tamper and pipe cleaners in one breast pocket, my lottery tickets in the other, some paper napkins for wiping my spectacles plus matches and an extra tamper in the pocket underneath it, and on the other side under the cleaners there are pipes and tobacco.
I can guarantee you not a single one of the tykes have that.
Except for the coat, though, it was all clean.

Okay, the coat was, erm, grotty.
Perhaps old and smelly.
But stylish!


It is customary to wear new clothes on the first day of New Year, which was Friday, February sixteenth. And children especially, because of course they look neat, and outgrow everything. More than us crusty old farts they need new garb regularly. Plus, cute. Major motive.
One marked individualist had a nice BLUE coat, instead of the red all of her peers wore. Sweetheart, you are outstanding!
Kudos on pushing the envelope.


After dropping by my bank I went in search of a place to have lunch. Many of my favourite haunts were closed for the first day of New Year but I did find a place for garlic noodles and grilled pork (燒豬肉蒜麵).
Afterwards a pipe while wandering around. Happy kiddies, the sounds of firecrackers, a lion dance at the intersection of Grant and Pacific, drums, scraps of red on the sidewalk, and enormously loud firecrackers outside Red's Place on Jackson Street.

No one except the tourists looking askance at my smoke.
They do that because they lead such clean lives.
Our healthy "big boned" visitors.


The perfect end to the first day: a cup of very strong black tea with milk and sugar, and a glass of Scotch, after the last pipefull, a Virginia and Perique flake smoked outside among the bums and drunken millennials, because my apartment mate said something about the smell of tobacco .....

[If you smell marijuana on Polk Street, that ain't me. I'm old school, and my second hand smoke will traumatize you, unlike the recreational stuff, which is grown by little green men deep in the Amazon, who recycle and hug dolphins on a daily basis.]


Man, I can still taste that siu yiuk with garlicky noodles!
Laai min (瀨麵), often served with 肉碎。
It was absolutely delicious!



I'm having more noodles today.
Home-cooked this time.




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BETTER LUCK NEXT YEAR!

Okay then. I've had my dumplings (symbolically, gold ingots OR money purses) and a green vegetable (good luck and profits), as well as an exceptionally sweet orange. And I've got a day off tomorrow.
Now it's time to go outside for a while, so as to make sure that I am the first one to enter in the new year. Thus precluding any thing bad coming in, as well as unpleasantness. As an auspicious bare minimum.
And that is the extent of my observance.

It should work.


春節

There's a whole lot more I could do to properly welcome the New Year, but seeing as I am not Chinese nor married to one, making a huge opera out of it would be more than a little ridiculous, and as I am a bachelor and not parent to any offspring, the didactic aspect of setting a good example AND passing out tonnes of leisi ( 利是 / 紅包) to little tykes is not required.
In fact, being a Caucasian, it wouldn't be expected either.

But just in case, I've got some red envelopes.

I'll have them with me tomorrow.


Happy New Year, y'all.
年年有餘，一本萬利！
大家新年快樂。




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BLACK VEGETABLE, DRIED OYSTERS, GOOD LUCK, AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Nearly a fortnight ago a friend in Singapore remarked that there was New Year's music everywhere. Because Chinese New Year is coming up. Well, in Singapore they started early. Here in San Francisco I didn't hear any till a few days ago. Okay then. Tinkly children's voices chanting 'gong-si gong-si gong-si ni' and similar cheerful stuff.

Stockton Street has a number of stalls selling new clothing, flowers, New Year's cake, and various ingredients you will need for Dried Oysters And Black Moss (好事發財 'ho si fat choi') or Vegetarian Feast / Buddha's Delight (羅漢齋 'lo hon choi') and similar good luck dishes.


Of course, all I really care about is lei si.
I'm unmarried, a bachelor.
Single.

Please ignore the fact that I am older than you, with grey in my beard. As an unmarried person, I deserve tonnes of little red envelopes!

I'm also so Caucasian that I glow in the dark.
So a lot of lei si is unlikely.


Still, I wish you and yours a prosperous and happy new year, with good health and sweet things. Here are two festive recipes, the materials for which are available all along Stockton Street.


好事發財 (prosperous affairs and strike it rich)

海參燜豬手 (sea cucumber and pork knuckle)


The Spring Festival (春節 'cheun jit') starts on Friday February 16 this year.
The parade will take place a week later, Saturday February 24.

Just like every year I shall not watch it.
I am not fond of crowds.


新年快樂 'San nin faai lok'.
萬事如意 'Maan si yü yi'.
身體健康 'San tai gin hong'.
五福臨門 'Ng fuk lin mun'.
舉家歡樂 'Geui gaa fun lok'.




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CHINESE TEA EGGS: 茶葉蛋 CHA YE DAN

Friends have probably discerned that I like crackly things, particularly porcelain glazes. Often I will yearn for an object ONLY because of its fine tracing of hairline fractures that form an elegantly webbed visual.
I've got some oft-repaired bowls which speak to me, as well as a few celadons. On casual ceramics, the crackled pattern may be accented by melting sooty oil into the surface over a flame. Antique pieces often already have such an effect, due to age.

It should not surprise you that I am also fond of tea eggs.

Tea eggs are a convenient snack as well as a much better choice for picnics than devilled eggs, plus they keep better and are far less likely to queasify your digestive organ.
A wise choice.

Easy to make also.


TEA EGGS: 茶葉蛋
['chaa yip daan']

Six eggs.
Four TBS good black tea.
Six TBS soysauce.
One or two pieces dried orange peel.
A slice of ginger.
Two or three star anise.
One stick cinnamon.
Two or three whole cloves.
One TBS sugar.
Pinch of salt.

Put eggs in a pot with barely enough water to cover, bring to a boil, then turn low and simmer for two or three minutes. Place the lid on the pot and let it stand for over ten minutes more; the residual heat will further cook the eggs.
Remove the eggs, and rinse in cold water till they can be handled.

Tap the eggs all over with the back of a spoon to crack the shells, and roll them around a bit without loosing any pieces. This will allow colour and flavour to penetrate, and yields a lovely patterning.

Place the eggs back in a pot, add the four cups or more of water plus the various other ingredients, and simmer for about four hours. Turn off heat, let it cool, then put it overnight in the refrigerator.

They can be eaten cold, but you could also gently warm them up first.


CHUEN JIT 春節

Tea eggs are quite common during the Spring Festival (note the clickable label underneath this post), as they can be eaten on the first day, when people do not cook, but they are also available throughout the year.


Please note that it is a good idea to keep an eye on the pot, and not go off to do something else in the meantime. Otherwise you might return to the kitchen to find a charred mess. Protein-rich substances, such as, for instance, eggs, smell rather frightful when burnt.
As I have discovered.


GLOSSARY

Eggs: 蛋 'daan'. Black tea: 紅茶 'hung chaa' (red tea); in Hong Kong cooks use Pu Erh (普洱茶 'pou nei chaa') or tuo cha (沱茶 'to chaa') instead for tea leaf egg. Soysauce: 豉油 'si yau'. Dried orange peel: 陳皮 'chan pei'. Ginger: 生薑 'saang geung' (fresh ginger). Star anise: 八角 'baat gok'. Cinnamon: 香桂 'heung gwai', 肉桂 'yiuk gwai'. Cloves: 丁香 'ding heung'. Sugar: 糖 'tong'. Salt: 鹽 'yim'.




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CHINESE NEW YEAR: THE MENTAL FEAST

This coming weekend marks the shift of years in the Chinese world. And, consequently, it is probably a lousy time to find something to eat in Chinatown. I suspect that many of my favourite restaurants will be closed, at least for one day, conceivably a full three days or even an entire week.

It will also be a crappy time to get a haircut; that's bad luck, and many barbers will not bother re-opening till the second week of February at the earliest.

Most bakeries won't start baking again till Tuesday or Wednesday.

These aren't fundaments of my belief-system, but as an inveterate Chinatown food-snarfer, I must perforce keep such matters in mind.
If I were an aficionado of Vietnamese food, the same would hold.


I am, in fact, a white guy.

Just in case you were wondering, white guys are described in this post: Chinese and Westerners.
It's a good guide to the genus, and you are encouraged to read it.


My long-time apartment mate is Chinese, and will, in consequence, be walking on eggshells. I suspect that her boyfriend may end up having a hard time of it, as he is not super diplomatic, and, being somewhat Asperger in his approach to life, the universe, and everything, tends toward literalism and blunt truth. So does she, but to a lesser extent. She's a little more normal.
I, on the other hand, am close to being neuro-typical.
And I'm a fairly subtle creature.
So I'm cool.

I also have no Chinese relatives to be concerned about, or to make me worry what the family plans are this year. Nor do I need to be apprehensive about surprise revelations -- who really must get married, which building is being sold, or where the family get together for the new year will be INSTEAD of where everyone was told to meet -- and, being white, it doesn't matter that I'm single; I shan't be getting any leisi anyway.

[Leisi 利是 (also called 利事)，or hong bao 紅包 in Mandarin, are packets of lucky money which the older people give to the kiddiewinkies, and which married folk give to their not-yet matrimonized kin. Within the family it can be quite an amount, and it is as unsubtle a way of putting the young folks in their place as any. Sort of a "here, junior, you aren't married yet, and why not, please don't talk, you don't rank very highly" said with money. Little children love it. It's more cash than they had all year. Boys frequently get more than girls.]


If I were Chinese, I would be married by now, and have teenage kids. The house would have been thoroughly cleaned in preparation for the new year, matched scrolls would have been prepared for either side of the front door, and I would be worrying about where all the money is coming from. Because celebrations are always more expensive than planned, and there's always a relative who must be aided, so that he or she can also fulfill their obligations at this time.

My wife would probably be tense, seeing as a lot of cooking will have to be done for the end-of-year feast on the last night of the Snake, and that food will have to last into the new year (Horse), as one isn't supposed to cook on the first day.
And there's always a sister-in-law whose version of Buddha-Jumps-Wall ('fo tiu cheung' 佛跳墙) or Bhudda's Delight ('lo hon chai' 羅漢齋) is far more scrumptious than anyone else's...... which her mother-in-law will artlessly point out, in the spirit of prompting "necessary" self-improvement and trying harder next time.

By the end of the first week of the festival, my wife might be seething with resentment, which she would keep bottled up inside. Firstly, it's bad luck to say negative things (unless you are an elderly matriarch, in which case you can get away with darn well anything), and secondly, to whom could she speak of it?
Certainly not to me, because I would be expected to respect my parents.
I might even feel obliged to ignore all problems, and put my mind in a locked-down state of denial for the duration.
La la la I can't hear you.

A Caucasian wife would probably be sublimely oblivious to every intended "unintentional" slight or sneer from the old mother, which, contradictorily, would be a source of great frustration and irritation to me and mom.
I could even have to apologize for her ignorance.



But, as I stated, I am neither Chinese, nor married.
Which might be the very best of both worlds.
No obligations and complete freedom.
Instead, I get to observe.



No, I shan't frantically clean house. Might acquire some fruit or flowers before new-year's eve, and consider eating Mexican food on Saturday. Light a stick of incense close to midnight, just to clear the air, and as I may have mentioned a few weeks ago, take a short walk so that I am the first person entering my door in the new year.

For the rest of it, I'm taking it easy. If my apartment mate is out (as I expect her to be), I'll be reading and snacking. Probably won't smoke as much while at home, so that she has no cause to find fault or accidentally utter any bad luck remarks, but I'll make up for it by swilling tea like nobody's business. My home is a sanctuary.


Looking forward to wishing several people well in the first few days.


新年快樂、歲歲平安、生意興隆、萬事如意。
San nin faai lok, seui seui ping on, sang yi hing lung, maan si yü yi.




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CHINESE NEW YEAR: LEI SI (利事), FAMILY DINNER (年夜飯), AND HAPPY WISHES (吉祥話)

In another three weeks it will be Chinese New Year, which is on Friday January 31 in 2014. This event entails a bit of preparation. If you are Chinese, you will have paid off your debts, cleaned the house (年廿八，洗邋遢 'nin yaa baat, sai laa taat' - "on the 28th. day scrub out the trash"), bought new clothes to be worn on that day, and started preparing little red packets of leisi (利是 'lucky money') for younger kin-folk, friends' kids, business associates, and favoured customers.
You are calculating all the leisi in advance, because it is so important, and it will require careful thought and financial planning.
There cannot be any mistake or oversight.


利是 (利事)，紅包。
LEI SI, HONG BAU
[The red envelope.]

The monetary amount will be carefully graduated. Your unmarried kin get more -- much more -- than the children of your friends or junior business associates. And favoured customers will likely only get a token amount, just enough to buy them some shots of whiskey.

The money should always be an even number, because odd sums are associated with the mollificatory envelope given to guests at funerals. For similar good-luck reasons, four is to be avoided (sound like death), and eight is very appropriate (sounds like striking it rich).

You must also prepare many incidental packets for spur of the moment gifting; a single ten or a twenty dollar bill is actually quite common in Chinatown, so is a five. Anything else should be two crisp bills.
If you slipped in a fifty or hundred, no one would complain.


The nominal purpose of the red packets is to spread joy and make sure only happy and propitious things are said.
But there is an undercurrent to the act which could be of equal weight.
Especially in families, where leisi is a serious affair.

Money, of course, is power. But money is ALSO a message. What you could be telling your adult unmarried offspring by handing over the packet of cash is: "why aren't you married yet yes I understand that you can't seem to find any one who actually likes you enough to do something stupid we might have to find you someone or bribe the local orphanage please graduate from college first and for crapsakes do something with your life idiot." This is a complicated and nuanced statement; it may require quite a bit of moolah.
The only thing you might actually voice is 學業進步 ('hok yip chün pou'; "achieve progress in your studies"). Their muttered response could be 龍馬精神 ('lung maa jing san'; "may you have the vim of a dragon or a horse"), which wishes the older person a longer and more energetic life.

The leisi for everyone else simply says: "you are younger than me".
Along with "be happy, please don't say anything unlucky".
And: "I would like you to have a good year".

If the recipient is actually older, but NOT married, it still says that they are younger.

It goes without saying that employees should be given leisi, in addition to any bonuses that are their due, such as an entire month's salary, so that they too can fulfill their obligations at this crucial time.
Withholding salaries is an extremely bad idea.
So is absconding with the cash box.
Though not unheard of


年卅晚
NIN SAA MAAN
[The thirtieth evening.]

Possible the most important thing to do, however, is celebrate New Year's Eve with family. Train stations and airports will be jammed, scenes of utter madness and chaos, as hundreds of thousands of migrant workers and middle-class people posted to distant provinces scramble to get home before that night. And home, often, is either the village from which the clan originated, or the place where the most senior members of the family live. Couples who haven't seen each other all year because they work in different cities are desperate to meet again, and spend time together. College students will return, if possible -- difficult in the United States, where Lunar New Year is scarcely known -- and overseas relatives might plan to spend a few weeks 'down on the farm' (返鄉下 'fan heung haa') in the old country, if finances permit.

The new year's eve dinner (年夜飯 'nin ye faan') is immense, so that everyone can start off the year satisfied, but also so that there will be enough food left over that no cooking at all needs to be done on the first day, when lighting fires and running water is considered bad luck.

Essential dishes will include a whole steamed fish, because the word for fish sounds the same as 'surplus' (魚 'yü'; 餘 'yü'), as in the phrase "nin nin yau yü" (年年有餘 "may there be a surplus every year", OR "may there be a yearly surplus").

A whole chicken, usually plain poached or boiled, then perhaps brushed with sesame oil, is also served, which is suitable as an altar offering, and often there will be a roast duck alongside, because the combination of those two symbolizes a happy couple and a harmonious household.

Another dish which is popular is Luo Han Chai (羅漢齋 'lo hon chai'), a vegetarian hutchepot which combines bamboo shoots (竹筍 'juk suen'), beancurd sheet (腐竹 'fu juk'), black mushrooms (冬菇 'dong gu'), carrots (紅蘿蔔 'hong lo baak'), bean thread noodles (粉絲 'fan si'), dried golden needle lily (金針 'kam jam'), gingko nut kernels (白果 'baak gwo'), lotus seeds (蓮子 'lin ji'), water chestnuts (馬蹄 'maa tai'), small cabbages (白菜 'baak choi'), soaked black wood ear fungus (木耳 'muk yi'), and fried wheat gluten lumps (炸麵筋 'jaa min gan').
The ingredients are added according to their required cooking time, the broth includes yellow rice wine (黃酒 'wong jau') and soy sauce (豉油 'si yau'), but rarely garlic (蒜頭 'suen tau') or ginger (薑 'geung'), which are not really acceptable according to Buddhists. Utter heretics would also add fresh shrimp (鮮蝦 'sin haa'), dried oysters (蠔豉 'ho si'), oyster sauce (蠔油 'ho yau'), and any other vegetables that strike their fancy, or even pork.

Mmmmm, pork!

Luo Han Chai is brought to the table in a casserole, from which dinners help themselves. Sharing food like this is an embodiment of both fortuity and family togetherness. For the same reason, instead of luo han chai, a sumptuous hotpot may be featured.
If Dried Oyster and Hair Moss is NOT served as a separate dish, then the hair vegetable will be added to the Luo Han Chai.

Dried Oysters and Hair Moss (蠔豉髮菜 'ho si fat choi') is a traditional preparation which sounds particularly lucky in Cantonese, being a phrase wishing everyone good business affairs and prosperity (好事發財 'ho si fat choi'). The dried oysters are rehumidified, then stewed with braised fatty pork, with stock, wine, and hair vegetable (髮菜 nostoc flagelliforme) added in a fairly small quantity, just enough to clearly demonstrate its presence.

Recipes for 好事發財 can be found by clicking this link:
dried oysters with black moss.

Further essential dishes are assorted meats in a savoury sauce, something with vegetables that are round or circular when sliced (mushrooms or carrots), one or two dishes with luxurious ingredients such as sea cucumber or fish maw, and anything with a red or orange hue.
White vegetables must probably be avoided.
Because white is an unhappy colour.


Dumplings (餃 'gaau'), which are reminiscent of gold ingots (a traditional good fortune design) are also a very good idea, but if you are Cantonese you might prefer to eat them the next day, along with such snackity things as year cake (年糕 'nin gou'), turnip cake (蘿蔔糕 'lo baak gou'), and others.


Melon seeds, fresh citrus fruits (lucky colours!), and a selection of old-fashioned candies (particularly those made of lotus root, because of its connotations) are also important.


吉祥話
GAT CHEUNG WA
[Good wishes.]

It's not just about money and foods. One important aspect of the entire fifteen day festival is what comes out of your mouth. What you say may cause bad luck, and to avoid even the chance of maladicta jinxing the year, many businesses will be closed for at least one day, often several, upon the start of the celebration.
In addition, several phrases are so ingrained that people will utter them automatically, sometimes without thinking, but never the less very sincerely meant.


Here is a good selection to start; you might want to internalize these sentences:

新年進步 San nin chuen bo: New year advances and progress.
心想事成 Sam seung si sing: Hearts desires become complete.
富貴長春 Fu gwai cheung chun: Wealth, honour, and a long spring.
年年有餘 Nin nin yau yü; Year after year surplus.
新年快樂 San nin faai lok: New year happiness; happy new year.
新年大吉 San nin taai gat: New year greatly fortunate; be lucky this year.
歲歲平安 Seui seui ping on: Year after year peace and safety.
生意興隆 Sang yi hing lung: Business prosperity.
萬事如意 Maan si yü yi: All your aspirations be fulfilled.
身體健康 San tai gin hong: physical health.
長命百歲 Cheung ming baak seui: Long life one hundred years.
闔家全福 Hap gaa chuen fuk: Entire family complete happiness.
五福齊天 Ng fuk jai tin: five good fortunes equal to heaven.
五福臨門 Ng fuk lin mun: five good fortunes approaching the gate.
吉慶多福 Gat hing do fuk: Auspicious happiness much good fortune.
舉家歡樂 Geui gaa fun lok: Entire family joyous.
福疊富貴 Fuk daap fuk kwai: Fortune upon wealth and honour.
福壽如意 Fuk sou yü yi: Good fortune, longevity, and all desires.
福如東海 Fuk yü tung hoi: Good fortune as vast as the ocean.
福壽雙全 Fuk sou seung chün: Good fortune and longevity both complete.

If all else fails, you can always fall back on "gung hey fat choi" (恭喜發財). It's more of a congratulatory phrase than a new year wish, but it works.
'Reverent happiness and get rich'.
We all want that.


年節, 過年, 春節, 農曆年初一～十五
NIN JIT, GWO NIN, CHÜN JIT, NUNG LIK NIN CHO YAT DAU SAP NG
[The annual event, passing the year, Spring festival, agricultural calendar year beginning one through fifteen.]


1. The first day of the new year is 元旦 ('yuen daan'; perfect dawn). It begins at midnight, and setting off fireworks is a traditional way to scare away any evil or ill-fortune, besides scaring the bejayzus out of recent immigrants to the city from the Midwest. Then you light incense at the family altars, and welcome the protective deities of heaven and earth. Buddhists will not eat meat on this day. Relatives visit each other, and everyone honours the most senior members of the family.

2. The second day officially "opens" the year (開年 'hoi nin'), and married women pay their respects to blood kin, especially their parents. In Hong Kong, a representative of the government is sent to the Che Kong Temple (車公廟) to get the city's fortune for the year read.

3. The third day (赤口 'chek hou'; crimson gullet) is a lousy day for visiting people,but an excellent time to burn offerings and set celebratory fires.

5. The fifth day is the birthday of the God of Wealth (財神 'choi san'). It's good to pay your respects to him, as well as to Lord Guan (關羽、 關公、 關二哥; 'gwan yü', 'gwan gong', 'gwan yi go').
Make noise, set off firecrackers.

7. On the seventh day, don't eat meat. There's a Buddhist reason.

8. On the eighth, have a celebratory dinner for your family or employees, and mark the birthday of the ruler of heaven (天公 'tin gong'). Which is actually tomorrow.

9. Ruler of heaven. See number eight.

13. Buddhists will avoid meat again on the thirteenth day, and businesses will pay reverence to Lord Guan, in the hope that he will look out for them in the coming year.

15. The fifteenth day of New Year is the Lantern Festival, which marks the end of the festivities.



後記 HOU KEI
[Afterword.]

Things you should avoid at all costs immediately after the year has begun because they are symbolically bad luck include saying negative stuff, speaking of disease or death, criticizing other people, sweeping or house-cleaning, throwing stuff away, and running the water excessively. In fact, try not to let any water at all go down the drain on the first day or two, as water stands in for wealth.

If you are white, none of this applies to you.

So don't get your knickers in a twist.

Just make sure they're clean.

And, perhaps, new.


Final note: wash your hair sometime on the last day before new year, as you should not bathe on the first day. Plus get your hair cut beforehand.
And you might want to leave the house just before midnight for a quick smoke outside, so that you are the first person to enter in the new year.
Also prop the broom upside down against the front door.
It scares away thieves and burglars.
Or so I've heard.



恭賀新禧
Gung ho san hei.




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A MOOD OF APPROACHING SPRING

Matchstick blinds do not afford privacy. They aren't meant to. What they do is let light enter with a breaking of the rays, and lend a sense of distance to the world. But in the evening the view lessens, while brilliance within makes the room from without appear warm and cozy, albeit slightly anonymous.
You cannot tell the details, though the outlines are clear.

On Monday I had gone out to the front steps with a pipe at around five thirty.
It was not yet dark though twilight was nigh. I had intended to take a short walk, but the evening sky above Lafayette Park was lovely from my vantage point, and the trees near the bus stop added magic to the scene.
So I lit up and remained where I was, drinking in the various sights. Across the street, and slightly further down the slope a window shone brightly, the room behind plainly visible through the blinds.
A man sat on the couch next to the fenestre, shortly joined by a woman who snuggled up beside him and fell asleep. No, I have no idea of their ages; their features were masked by distance and the matchstick blinds. They could have been husband and wife, or father and daughter.

All over the city people stayed home on Monday; it was the second day of Chinese New Year. That would likely explain why I have never seen them in their living room before now. New Year is the perfect time for people to be together, and for family members to enjoy each other's company. How you start the year is indicative of how it will continue.


My apartment mate left shortly after noon. I suspect that she spent the rest of the day with her boy friend. I stayed at home, puttering around and reading. The pipe at twilight was the fourth bowl of the day.
Virginia, with an echo of autumn fruit.

Shortly after six o'clock I went back in and fixed myself a cup of tea.
Plus hot buttered toast and marmalade.

The image of the two people across the way stayed with me; my mind's eye remembers nice sights, and will replay such things without any prompting.
They looked extraordinarily at ease together, peaceful and content.
How sweet to slumber next to a family member.


I'm quite fond of our block. There's a very tall acacia by the bus stop nearby, then charming gloomy darkness under the trees near the church at the other end. A line of handsome buildings opposite, and a friendly second storey window with matchstick blinds opaquely shielding a cozy living room.
It looks like the perfect place to perch during a daytime storm.
Imagine looking across to leafy boughs, made hazy behind a veil of water, oneself hidden in the darkness of an unlit room. Perhaps lazily flaked in a dreamstate, as the rain outside washes everything clean.
Doze for an hour or two during the afternoon.
Then awaken to a cup of tea.



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SEA CUCUMBER REVISITED

Over a year ago I detailed how to prepare sea-cucumber. This past Friday, an anonymous commenter wrote: "Add sliced pork to the dish above for extra delicious!" Indeed! Adding pork to any dish involving sea-cucumber is a fine idea. One of the most traditional combinations involves sea-cucumber, black mushrooms, and pork knuckle.
It's particularly good, I have been told, for people with arthritis or stiff joints, as well as young mothers.

Not being a young mother, I will just have to take their word for it. As you may guess, a fifty-three year-old pipesmoking bachelor (me) is not likely to become a young mother anytime soon. The obstacles are daunting.
Arthritis, however, is a possibility.
Not a problem at this point.
Occasional twinges.
Rarely occur.


海參燜豬手 (HOI SAM MUN JU SAU)
PORK KNUCKLE & SEA CUCUMBER

Two sea cucumbers; soaked, cleaned, thickly sliced.
More than a pound of pork knuckle.
Ten dried black mushrooms (冬菇), soaked and sliced.
Garlic and ginger, slivered.
Two tablespoons rice wine or sherry.
One tablespoon soy sauce.
One tablespoon oyster sauce.
One tablespoon sugar.
Pinch of five spice powder.
Pinch of ground pepper.


First blanch the pork knuckles in boiling water to remove scum for about ten minutes. Then rinse them thoroughly under cold water. Heat a dash of oil in a pan and add the garlic and ginger. Once they start colouring, add the sliced black mushroom and the rice wine or sherry. When the liquid is nearly gone, add the sliced sea cucumber, stir briefly, and pour in water to cover. Don't include the pork knuckles yet, but add everything else. Simmer for twenty minutes, then add in the pork knuckles, and simmer on very low heat for two hours, or longer. Make sure that this dish is 'soupy', as the combination of the sea cucumbers and pork knuckles with their gravy over rice is wonderful.

"Add pork, for extra delicious!"

The next dish is somewhat different, yet rather similar.
It features many of the same ingredients.
And is just as good.


蒸海參扣肉 (JING HOI SAM KAU YUK)
SLICED PORK & SEA CUCUMBER

Two sea cucumbers; soaked, cleaned, thickly sliced.
Half a pound of five flower pork (五花腩).
Six black mushrooms (冬菇), soaked and sliced.
Plenty of slivered ginger - two thumbs.
Two TBS rice wine or sherry.
Half to one TBS shrimp paste (鹹蝦醬).
One Tsp. sambal ulek or raw chili paste.
Generous pinch of sugar.
Medium pinch of corn flour.
Small pinch five spice powder.


Blanch the piece of pork in boiling water for five minutes, blanch the sea cucumber also, but only briefly. Rinse the pork under cold water so that it can be cut into pieces of roughly the same size as the sea cucumber, which you will have simply drained. Mix the pork with the shrimp paste, sambal ulek, sugar, corn flour, and five spice powder in a broad shallow bowl, and when the sea cucumber is cool enough to handle, add it too. Strew the slivered ginger over the top.
Bring the water in your steamer to a roiling boil, place the bowl inside, and steam on high for two hours. Garnish with fresh cilantro after removing from the steamer.
The juices especially are delicious with your rice.

This isn't the most low-fat dish on the planet. So serve it with some nice lan sam (蘭芯) or mustard greens (芥菜), and plenty of tea to assist digestion.


NOTE: You can either follow the directions I outlined in my earlier article for soaking sea cucumber in preparation for these dishes, or ask your merchant.
Not all sea cucumber is the same, and some take longer to soften, sometimes up to six or seven days.
Remember to change the water twice per day.
I usually go for those that are about as long as my hand in their dry state, and look repulsive and rather blackish. They tend to be easiest to clean.



AFTER WORD 後記

Relating to Chinese festive occasions, such as the New Year (春節, 初一), which will be on Sunday February 10th. in 2013, any dish that features sea cucumber is extremely appropriate. The term 'hoi sam' (海參) is a very close homophonic duplicate of 'happiness' (開心) in Cantonese.

I suggest preparing it either for New Years Eve, at the great family get-together to end the old year, (年夜飯 nien yeh fan), or a few days later, when you can cook and clean again. The eighth day (Feb. 17th, 2013) is the perfect date for an "open the year" feast.

If you made 好事發財 (ho si fat choi: dried oyster with hair vegetable -- 'good affairs and attaining prosperity'), you already have either the streaky pork belly (五花腩 ng fa nam) or the pig's knuckles (豬手 ju sau) on the table. So it might be best to simply prepare the sea cucumber according to the recipe given in that earlier article.



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CHINESE NEW YEAR 2012

In another three weeks it will be new year. Yes, I know - you thought that was yesterday.
What I mean is 'Chinese New Year'.
Which in San Francisco is a MUCH more important and enjoyable festivity.
For one thing, it does not involve hordes of white people getting drunk.
That, by itself, is a mighty good thing.
I won't tell you what some of the downtown intersections remind me of at present.

Chinese New Year in 2012 is on January 23rd.

The parade is normally fifteen days afterwards, and serves to mark the end of the holiday.
But this being San Francisco, this year it will actually be held five days later, on Saturday February 11th.



春節
TSWUN JIT


For your easy reference, here are posts relevant to Chinese New Year that have appeared on this blog over the years.


CHINESE NEW YEAR - LUCKY WISHES, LUCKY FOODS
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/01/chinese-new-year-lucky-wishes-lucky.html
A description of the naming conventions for dishes traditionally considered auspicious at the New Year's family dinner, with the vocabulary explained.
[LINK I.]


HO SI FAT CHOI 好事發財 DRIED OYSTERS WITH BLACK MOSS
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/02/ho-si-fat-choi-dried-oysters-with-black.html
The most Cantonese of good luck New Year dishes combines dried oysters and black moss. It's a wordplay, and it's delicious.
Explanation and three recipes. But you can adapt or tailor your own.
[LINK II.]


CHINESE NEW YEAR: CLEANING
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/02/chinese-new-year-cleaning.html
The most important part of your New Year preparations. Because you will avoid sweeping and wasting water for at least three days.
[LINK III.]


CHINESE NEW YEAR - TWO WEEKS OF EXPLOSIONS
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/02/chinese-new-year-two-weeks-of.html
The schedule for the two week celebration explained, last year's dates. In 2012 the first day is Monday January 23, 2nd day January 24, 3rd day January 25, 4th day January 26, and so forth. The fifteenth day (Lantern Festival, 元宵節 yiun siu jit) is Monday February 6.
[LINK IV.]


CHINESE NEW YEAR, PLAYING WITH YOUR FISH: LO HEI, SANG YI HING LUNG
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/02/chinese-new-year-playing-with-your-fish.html
Amazing things you can do with seafood! Like giddily throwing it about.
An ancient tradition invented back in the sixties.
Again, explanations and vocabulary. Pok cheui beng!
[LINK V.]



Basically, it all boils down to this: Pay off your debts and obligations at the end of the old year. Clean the house before Monday January 23rd.
Arrange trays of oranges, pomelos, and candies in the main rooms. Buy some flowering plum branches or narcissus.
Then have a wonderful festive meal on Sunday the 22nd with all members of your household, give presents and red packets of money to the younger ones if you're married and they're not, and set off tons of explosives for the next two weeks. Have fun.
Happy new year.


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CHINESE NEW YEAR, PLAYING WITH YOUR FISH: LO HEI, SANG YI HING LUNG

As part of the ongoing celebration of Chinese New Year, I beg to inform you that today is the very best day to toss your crackers.
Or play with your fish. There are crackers involved, but they aren't the main focus.


餘陞 YÜ SING
Surplus (wealth) ascending.

In an ancient Chinese ritual invented 47 years ago in Singapore, a salad made of raw fish and various other ingredients is mixed and eaten by diners hollering auspicious wishes for the coming year. Raw fish, as you remember from a previous posting, is a homonym in Chinese for surplus and hence prosperity. This is often done on the first or second day that everybody is back in the office as a festive way of starting the business year.

It's still primarily a Singaporean thing (based on lucky puns that don't really work in Cantonese), but just like Christmas and Valentine's day, it is one of those foreign festival things which Chinese people have no problem adopting.

Baruch Hashem they aren't into green beer and river-dancing. Yet.

[No, I will NOT be explaining Saint Paddy's Day to my Chinese readers in another month. There are just some things which shouldn't spread any further.]

魚生 YÜ SANG
Lucky raw fish.

Ingredients:
Sashimi grade salmon.
Carrot.
Daikon radish.
Cucumber.
Pomelo or sweet grapefruit.
Japanese red pickled ginger.
Red bell pepper.
Green bell pepper.

Garnishes:
Pok cheui crackers.
Roasted or fried peanuts.
Toasted sesame seeds.
Lime wedges.
Freshly ground white pepper.
Pinches five spice and cinnamon powders.

For the dressing:
Quarter cup plum sauce.
Quarter cup olive oil or other mild cooking oil.
Two TBS vinegar.
One TBS sesame oil.
A little hot water.
[Double the dressing recipe as appropriate]

Slice the salmon thinly, and shred the vegetables. Peel, segment, and de-sac the pomelo.
You need roughly equal amounts of the various salad ingredients - the quantity of carrot is variable, so also obviously the pickled ginger and the pomelo.
Place the salad ingredients on a platter with the fish in the centre for the simple version, or on separate plates around a large mixing bowl for the more involved version.

Put the pok cheui crackers, peanuts, and sesame seeds in separate bowls.
Whisk the dressing ingredients, adding a little hot water to make it pourable.


撈起 LO HEI!
Tossing the fish.

The simple form is to assemble everyone around the table. Squeeze a little lime onto the salad ingredients for a fresh taste.
Mix the various components together, add the ground pepper, and cinnamon.
Then have everybody use their chopsticks to help toss the salad and incorporate the dressing while uttering good wishes.
Add the pok cheui crackers, peanuts, and sesame seeds last.


The more involved version has the 'master of ceremonies' present each ingredient to view before adding it to the platter in a particular order, with the other diners chanting the appropriate propitious phrase at every addition.

[Phrases: Carrot: 鴻運當頭 ('hong wan dong tau' - "great luck will be yours"). Daikon: 步步高升 ('bou bou gou sing' - "steady increases"). Cucumber: 青春常駐 ('cheng chun seung chu' - "enjoy permanent youth"). Ground Pepper: 大吉大利 ('taai kat taai lei' - "great luck and great profit"). Cinnamon Powder: 招財進寶 ('chiu choi jeun bou' - "beckon wealth and invite precious things"). Oil: 多多油水 ('doh doh yau soei' - "much more funds"). Peanut: 金銀满屋 ('kam ngaan mun ok' - "gold and silver fill the house"). Sesame: 生意興隆 ('sang yi hing lung' - "business prosperous and thriving"). Pok cheui crackers: 翩地黄金 ('pin dei wong kam' - "expeditious arrival of money"). Fish slices: 年年有餘 ('nien nien yau yü' - "surplus year after year"). Plum Sauce: 甜甜蜜蜜 ('tim tim mat mat' - "may everything be sweet and good"). Pomelo: 越碌越有 ('yuet lok yuet yau' - "more work more wealth").]

Then everyone uses their chopsticks to toss the salad as high as possible.

The more involved version really is a recipe for disaster. Might make you want to rethink the ancient tradition.
Perhaps next year, ceviche!
You'd have to give up on the auspicious puns and wordplays of the lucky phrases above, but you wouldn't be cleaning dried fish out of the chandelier for the next several months either.
And there's less chance of someone's chopsticks accidentally going up your nose, too.
It seems a small price to pay.


At this point, having digested the various possibilities, you may decide to do a simple version of this. After all, everyone needs prosperity, your business could use a bit of surplus, and communal totemic activities are both fun, and in some ways, sacramental.
Who knows, it might actually bring luck. It's festive!

Then it hits you.

What the heck are pok cheui crackers?!?

Well, they're similar to fried wonton skins.....


薄脆餅乾 POK CHEUI BENG GON
Brittle crispy biscuits.

Three cups all purpose flour.
[Or 1½ cups semolina flour and 1½ cups white whole wheat flour. ]
One cube red fermented beancurd (南乳 naam yu).
Half teaspoon salt.
Half teaspoon baking powder.
Half cup water, plus two tablespoons.

Put the flour in a large bowl, make a well in the flour, and add the red fermented beancurd, salt, baking powder and water. Mix in a circular motion to a smooth dough. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest for two hours or so.
Then dust your working surface with cornstarch, and roll out the dough to a flat sheet. Fold over, roll out again. Repeat once or twice more, rolling out very thin the final time. Cut the dough crosswise into thumb-size rectangles. Deep fry till crisp. Drain on paper towels.
They will keep for a couple of weeks in a tight tin.


As you will have noted, pok cheui crackers are like cow's ears.
Just better.


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詞彙 JI WOEI
Glossary .

As an aide to those wishing to learn Cantonese, here are definitions of the characters in this post in the order in which they occur:

餘 Yü: Surplus, excess. Enough. Left over. Remainder.
陞 Sing: To rise, ascend.
魚 Yü: Fish.
生 Sang: Alive. Living. To give birth to. Activity.
撈 Lo: To haul up, dredge.
起 Hei: Rise, raise; begin, start; risen; one of a class.
鴻 Hong: Goose; great, large; enormously.
運 Wan: Move, transport; fortunate, lucky.
當 Dong: Suitable, fitting, proper; should, ought.
頭 Tau: Head, first.
步 Bou: Step, pace; advance.
高 Gou: High, lofty, elevated.
升 Sing: To rise, ascend (same as 陞).
青 Cheng: Blue, green, black, young, fresh.
春 Chun: Spring.
青春 Cheng chun: youth.
常 Seung: Common, normal.
駐 Chu: Reside, occupy; to halt.
常駐 Seung chu: Resident, to be stationed.
大 Taai: Great, big, vast.
吉 Kat: Auspicious, propitious.
利 Lei: Gain, advantage, profit.
招 Chiew: Beckon, summon, invite.
財 Choi: Wealth, richness.
進 Jeun: progress towards, advance.
寶 Bou: Treasure, jewels: precious.
多 Do: Many, much; again.
油 Yau: Oil.
水 Soei: Water, liquid; money flowing, homonym for payments.
金 Kam: Gold; funds.
銀 Ngaan: Silver.
满 Mun: To fill, to be full up, replete.
屋 Ok: Residence, house.
生 Sang: Alive. Living. To give birth to. Activity.
意 Yi: Idea, meaning, thought; intend, anticipate.
生意 Sang yi: Doing business, engaged in commerce.
興 Hing: Flourish, prosper; excited.
隆 Lung: Prosperous, grand, intensive.
興隆 Hing lung: Prosperous, thriving.
翩 Pin: Speed aloft, fly fast.
地 Dei: Earth, land; intensifying particle.
黄 Wong: Yellow, golden hued.
金 Kam: Gold; funds.
年 Nien: Year.
有 Yau: To have; there is, there are.
餘 Yü: Surplus, excess. Enough. Left over. Remainder.
甜 Tim: Sweet.
蜜 Mat: Honey.
越 Yuet: Exceed, over, surpassed; Vietnam and Canton, etcetera.
碌 Lok: Record, write down; employ, utilize, hire.
越 Yuet: Exceed, over, surpassed; Vietnam and Canton, etcetera.
有 Yau: To have; there is, there are.

薄 Pok: Thin, slight, weak, stingy, poor.
脆 Cheui: Crisp, fragile, brittle.
薄脆 Po cheui: Thin and crispy.
餅 Beng: Cookie, cracker, biscuit, pastry.
乾 Gon: Dry; penetrating, generative principle.
餅乾 Beng gon: Biscuit, cracker.
字 Ji: Character, letter; word.
彙 Woei: Collect, compile; assembly; hedgehog. Also written 匯 and 滙.
字彙 Ji woei: Glossary, lexicon; vocabulary.
南 Naam: South, southern.
乳 Yü: Breast, teat, milk; dairy product; creamlike substances, tofu products.
南乳: Naam yü: Red fermented tofu; tofu matured with rice-wine yeast.
春 Chun: Spring.
節 Jit: Festival, holiday; node, joint, section; classifier for segmented things.
春節 Chun jit: Spring festival, Chinese New Year.

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All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
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Please note the two clickable links: 南乳 (red fermented bean curd) and 春節 (spring festival).