Like your fave dumplings it’s time to wrap up the year (seriously this time)
A bit about Lunar New Year, how I celebrate it, and elevated recipes for your planning.
The Gregorian calendar is a boring solar calendar that makes no sense. It’s unnecessarily complex and confusing. We get uneven months that don’t line up with the seasons and a random month that sometimes has 28 or 29 days, depending on whether it’s a leap year or not. I gave it a hot go trying to appreciate it, but coming across this article just reminded me to not waste my time lol.
Cue the lunisolar calendar. We get to look at the moon again, and it’s waaayyy more pleasant than looking at the sun. BTW if you need a date night idea go watch the moonrise. Find the relevant horizon, some grass, a bottle of wine, and fish and chips. Romantic. I went with my mans to Coogee and did just that. It was luxe, we had a great time, the moon always looks bigger closer to the horizon.
(Moonrise over the Sydney Opera House. Photo credit: Stanton Champion)
See, so much naiiicer (❤ω❤). Anyway, lunisolar is the way to go and we should double down on LNY celebrations by making it relevant to all (incl. self-identifying gweilos). Not all azns go by the lunisolar calendar and celebrate LNY btw.
A quick history lesson babes
LNY aka CNY aka Spring Festival falls on different dates between late Jan and mid Feb, determined by when new moon becomes visible. In China, it’s also called Spring Festival as it lands on the end of winter/ start of spring and is all about that new chapter, new me, new life feels. Its history can be traced to 3,500 years ago (yeah, China’s civilisation was old, like bronze age old) and its legend originates with the myth of Nian (sometimes Nien, 年兽; pinyin: nián shòu), a horrible monster with the features of a lion, unicorn and ox. Nian would come out from its slumber every Winter to EAT. And not the good kind of eat, but the kind where your macros consist of villagers, their village, their crops, and gamy Chinese kids. TBH sounds like me once a month mwa mwa.
However, despite its chaos apparently some sage old man with long silver hair and beard (likely Pai Mei from Kill Bill) found out how to drive away the beast: the colour red and LOUD NOISEZZ. And now firecrackers, fireworks, lion dances, and painting your home red make sense to you.
(Pai Mei vs Nián Shòu. Photo credit: Me)
So, that time of the year where LNY falls went from shitting yourself out of overwhelming anxiety and fear, to shitting yourself the day after from all the food and celebration in saying bye to Nian and all your Ls from last year (or constipation if you have a sensitive gut like yours truly xx).
How I celebrate LNY
I clean and get in the spirit, spend time with my family and friends, and I EAT like Nian other.
I clean my home to get rid of last year’s bad juju, and to provide a mess-free welcome to the new year. This year, I threw out all the clothes I know I will never fit into again, and that one LA SENZA quadruple push up bra I used to hypnotise my mans back then lmao. I put up the famous fu symbol (which means good fortune and luck) that you see plastered on every Chinese small business and home.
I also make my dining room pretty – its dragons and red flowers this year.
My family in Aus isn’t very big so we keep it intimate with my parents and cousins. But this doesn’t translate to my mum who goes gangbusters anyway in the kitchen, whipping out at least 15+ dishes every year. Jenny is a Shanghainese woman born to parents from the Cantonese-speaking region of Guangzhou, so her cooking is a blend of shang-tonese techniques and flavours.
There are symbolic dishes you need to eat every year. My fave ones include:
Dumplings: my mum makes an egg-skinned dumpling called dan jiao to bring prosperity into the new year as their shape resembles gold coins. I feel most Chinese people haven’t really tried this. The world lost their minds when I posted my mum making this.
Rice cakes: nian gao for growth as it’s a homophone for tall year, symbolising being better e.g. good grades, a promotion, business growth.
Sticky rice balls: tang yuan for unity and togetherness (it’s also a homophone for this).
Whole steamed fish: the word fish is yu which is a homophone for the word surplus, and we have the saying: nin nin yau yu which sounds like every year have fish but can translate to every year have surplus.
Spring rolls: chun juan for prosperity, with the crispy golden rolls resembling bars of gold.
Watch this video for a full idea of what I had last year, you’ll understand why I’m only starting to get hungry again now…
Lucky dragon LNY hot hits
If you’re inspired to put on a lil spread for LNY this year, here are some recipes I want to share with you.
Lobster noodles. I know you can do it babes, start off the new year luxe. Video to follow here
Soy braised whole chicken with ginger and green onion sauce. Written recipe and a lil write up here. Video to follow here. Eating a whole chicken symbolises togetherness, and together with your taste buds you will die.
Stir-fried egg noodles with prawns. Another longevity noodle hit. Video to follow here.
Soy sauce longevity noodles. Written recipe here. This is all for long life baby (you’ll need it if you don’t have a balanced diet).
Whole steamed fish. Video to follow here. Written recipe here.
This year I’ll be working with my friends from Sydney Fish Market to make Singapore chilli crab and XO scallops with vermicelli, and my friends at Aurum Poultry Co for Shandong chicken. Stay tuned babes xoxo.
I can’t help but feel it’ll be a prosperous one for @luckydragonsupperclub and because you’re here, for you too. 2024 IS THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON BABES!
Until next time xx.
❤️❤️❤️