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Gung Hay Fat Choy!!

For those who have tried my mom’s cooking, or have seen pictures of her cooking, you know how good of a cook she is. That’s why I don’t need to be a good cook. In fact, I just need to know my food and know how to appreciate her cooking. This Chinese New Year, she put together an awesome menu, making 7 out of the 8 dishes we had:

2013 Chinese New Year Dinner

For Chinese new year, it’s quite normal in Cantonese food culture to make dishes that have special meanings. It all starts with the pronunciation of the ingredients and how they sound like certain new year’s greetings. With that, not only did my mom cook, she also creatively named each dish. If you can read Chinese, this post will be a treat for you.

Here is the menu and the main ingredients in each dish:

1. 包羅萬有迎新歲 – soup with abalone 鮑魚, conch 響螺 and fish maw 花膠
2. 五福臨門賀豐年 – meat platter 拼盤 (this was purchased at T&T)
3. 發財就手齊好市 – braised pork hock 豬手 with black moss 髪菜 and dried oysters 蠔豉
4. 東成西就旺生財 – braised shitake mushrooms 冬姑 with lettuce 生菜
5. 大吉大利慶新春 – marinated pig’s tongue 豬脷
6. 金銀滾滾年有餘 – deep fried fish balls 鯪魚球
7. 鴻運當頭哈哈笑 – jumbo prawns 蝦 in a ketchup sauce
8. 一屋金磚甜蜜蜜 – rice cake 年糕 wrapped in spring roll wrapper

Can you tell where she found her inspirations? Kudos to my mom for a delicious dinner and entertaining us all with such a thoughtful menu.

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone!