one week of vacation! (not here though...)

HAPPY NEW YEAR, again! According to the ancient lunar calendar, the Chinese New Year was February 18th this year...a Sunday. This week is a week-long holiday for those in Taiwan...(and perhaps China, I am not sure)...lucky ones they are!

My mom and grandmother held their annual Chinese New Year's bash at their house...usually 50-some people attend the event! Although it is potluck (mochi-yori) style, my grandma slaves away making her famous tasty specialties...ohhh, I drool just at the thought!

As a child I shunned such Chinese festivities and hated attending them. Our Chinese school sponsored an annual Chinese New Year's party...for some reason, I did not particularly enjoy them. To celebrate Chinese New Year's I tried to make baked sweet mochi-rice cake (chewy rice cake filled with either walnuts+raisins or red beans), the Hua family way. Unfortunately I seem to have used the wrong ingredient (perhaps wrong type of rice flour?!) so it did not turn out as it should have. Booo...I guess I will try again!

Strangely enough, I seem to know much more about Japanese customs and culture than that of my own heritage: Taiwan/Chinese... (much to the chagrin of my family) I guess that is only natural. The longest I have ever lived in China or Taiwan is a month and a half, max. Funny how most Japanese expect me to know a lot about Chinese culture when in fact, some random ESL teacher living in Taiwan likely knows more about it than me!