Gung Hay Fat Choy!

To all I wish “Peace and Prosperity” in the Chinese New Year of the Pig. Tonight we celebrated with a contemporary twist to traditional dishes. We began with a trip to the Asian Supermarket for a few ingredients and plans to watch some of the festivities it was hosting. It was so well attended I could hardly get into the parking lot! So I didn’t get to see any dancing or martial arts demos, but since I had my camera, I thought I would share some pictures of the market I brag about all the time. Although there wasn't a cloud in the sky, it was super windy and cold.



Sorry about the close-up of the cart bin in the next shot. There are 3 more wings this size in the center, with 7 restaurants and various retail shops.

My menu selections for tonight were based on foods that symbolize health, prosperity, happiness, good fortune, and family unity. Chase and I are interested in neither fertility nor longevity. In fact, I specifically avoided the fertility foods – yikes! Our main course was Jai, or Buddha’s Delight, symbolizing happiness, prosperity, and purification. The stirfry included tofu, broccoli, shitakes, bamboo shoots, carrots, bok choy, water chestnuts, green beans, snow peas, and peanuts.

The Jai was served with jasmine rice with green onions, wakame, and almonds, which symbolizes harmony and good luck.

And baked spring rolls filled with broccoli slaw, red pepper, and daikon radish. Spring rolls symbolize wealth.

For dessert I tried my hand at a recipe I found at Vegalicious – Rice Balls with a Chocolate Heart and an orange sauce. Rice balls symbolize family unity and happiness, and oranges symbolize good luck and prosperity. A day before, I prepared the rice and decided to use the Chocolove Bar that had been in my pantry over a year. It’s so good. I can’t believe I didn’t eat it for all that time! Can you see the little heart in each square?

The rice balls were a little difficult to form, especially after I shoved the chocolate into them. I rolled them in panko crumbs, then set them in the fridge. After dinner, I prepared the sauce and fried the rice balls. These were quite difficult to work with. First I should say I really suck at frying. Two balls fell apart as I was frying them. In the meantime the sauce had jelled and was no longer a syrup. But here is what I ended up with, not much like the photo at Vegalicious!

The taste was nice, especially the chocolate. And the orange with the chocolate tasted a lot better than I had anticipated. I should have taken the easy and foolproof route and made a rice pudding with orange juice and chocolate chunks. Plus my house smells like fried stuff, which I really really don’t like.

If you have a holiday tomorrow, I hope you enjoy your time off. Even though the courthouses are closed, the law firms will be hard at work!