Chinese New Years Parade

American holidays are not the only holidays filled with tradition and superstitions. In fact, Chinese holidays probably have even more considering their holidays are a few thousand years older than ours! One of the most important and most celebrated Chinese holidays is the Chinese New Year, which took place on the 14th of February this year. The festival usually lasts for 15 days, and will start sometime in February or so, depending on the lunar cycle.

This holiday is so old that its origins are almost unknown, although there are many stories and tales about how it came to be. One of the most popular legends is one of a horrible and voracious beast named the Nien, who would eat people and crops on New Years Eve. To keep the beast away, lanterns are lit, red couplets are put on doors, and firecrackers set off all night. These keep the beast away because he is said to fear firelight, the color red, and loud noises. The next day was a day of celebration for keeping the beast at bay.

Along with the history comes many superstitions and practises which add to the splendor of this holiday. the month before the start of the celebrations, the whole household is thoroughly cleaned. This is meant to sweep out the bad luck from the past year in preparation for the new year. Some people also repaint their windowpanes and doors, usually red, and then they are decorated with couplets and other paper trinkets with the chinese symbols of happiness, wealth, and longevity on them. People also do certain things such as dress in red, and eat a certain dinner, adding to the unique taste of this holiday. A big tradition on New Years Day is the ancient custom of Hong Bao (in Mandarin) or Lai-See (in Cantonese), which in English just means Red Envelopes. Married couples give all the children and unmarried adults in their family red packets containing money, and refusing an envelope is to refuse good luck.

Well, on the 14th of February this year our class actually went to Chinatown and was able to shop and see the parade. To get there we took the train into Chicago, which I was pretty comfortable with since I had made several trips there this past summer. Then we walked a few blocks to take the Metra straight to Chinatown. This was the first time I had ever been to Chinatown, and so I was nervous after our teachers explained how crowded it would be. I did not want to become lost in such a densely populated area, and I was wishing that I had looked at a map or something beforehand. I'm one of those people who feels comfortable when I have some sort of knowledge to help me in diffucult situations, and so coming unprepared left me a little anxious.

Since it was February it was pretty cold out, and Converse shoes were probably not the smartest idea to wear, but seeing all the new sights made me forget that part for a bit. The second we arrive, I see a wall covered in dragons, matching the ones in the Forbidden City in China. Already my surroundings are a lot different from the Chicago I know! The buildings are very different, with their Oriental styles and colorful designs. There is a giant archway over the street with a red and gold banner celebrating the Chinese New Year. We had quite a bit of time before the parade started, so we went into a few shops. I had heard about Lai See from my friends with Chinese heritage, and so I really wanted to buy some red envelopes on this trip. Not only did I buy envelopes but three pairs of chopsticks so that I could cook some Chinese cuisine for my family and (hopefully) learn how to manage with chopsticks before the big trip in June! i also bought some [fake] Chinese coins for either scrapbooking later...or maybe a necklace. There are some things out there that you just have to buy because they're there, and that was one of them! Within the stores I got to see many trinkets that helped me understand the culture a little better, although many stores seemed to be toruist traps.

For the parade, we kept on switching spots since other people kept on crowding us out until we gave up our futile search for a view and just sent Shelby up to the front to take pictures. She was the photographer of the group, and managed to get some great shots, which are on her blog at: http://www.shelbyhchina2010.blogspot.com/. During the parade we saw some pretty cool things, from these women in red dancing with scarves to a hummer and some giant floats. Many local schools had their marching band in the parade, along with some Scottish bag pipers, which was...interesting. The air was full of celebration throughout the whole parade, which was only broken either by the police coming by and making the crowds back up against the wall or the tall Polish ladies in front of us who tried to crowd Shelby out of her spot. As the parade went on, we ate our lunches from home and pretended to dance to the DJ's music across the street when really we were just trying to keep our feet warm.

At the end of the day I was exhausted and cold and ready to go home, yet I felt as if I had not see it all yet. I would like to go back some other day to see the rest of Chinatown- the part I wasn't able to see due to the immense crowd! Overall, the firld trip was fun, and spiked my interest and curiousity for the coming trip in June.

Chinese Cooking Experience

Recently in our class we have been experiencing some basic Chinese cuisine. One week we had some Chinese tea, and the next week we cooked a whole meal. This meal was a chicken stir-fry with every vegetable from carrots to water chestnuts thrown in. We also made egg drop soup and fortune cookies. Although the cookies did not originate from China, they were still alot of fun to make! After this experience the teachers decided to have us experiment on our own. We were given a packet full of recipies and were told to create a dish or meal on our own or with a partner, and have others try it. Shelby and I decided to make Huo Tui Tan Ch'ao Fan, a traditional dish comprised mainly of ham, egg, and rice. Our main dessert would be hot bananas in coconut milk. We also decided to make the egg drop soup and fortune cookies, since they were such a favorite in class.

The first dish, the ham and egg dish was simple enough, or so we thought. We heated oil in a pan and cooked the onions. Then we added the rice, egg, ham and salt to the pan. Where we went wrong was that we had not let the rice cool from cooking previously, which changed the texture of the dish a little. All we had to do after that was add soy sauce to taste- a great idea for breakfast some time!

The egg drop soup went smoothly, probably because the recipe was simple enough for our basic culinary skills! After heating up the chicken broth, we slowly dribbled egg into the boiling broth, which immediately cooked the raw egg. Once all the egg had been added, strips of spinach was put into the soup and cooked thoroughly. This in the perfect soup to make in a quick fix.

The next thing we created were the hot bananas in coconut milk, which turned out amazing. We boiled coconut milk and dissolved sugar and cinnamon into the pot. Then we added sliced bananas and boiled them until they were soft, but not mushy. This dish was a favorite of many, because it was so sweet!

All our dishes were completed except the hardest, and arguably the most complicated: the fortune cookies. In class almost everyone had not been able to fold their cookies correctly, and so we wanted to make the perfect fortune cookie! We whipped eggwhites and sugar, later adding butter, vanilla, almond extract, water and flour. Then we poured the mixture onto a cookie sheet in circles 3-inches in diameter. This was baked in a 375 degree oven for 5-7 minutes until the edges began to brown. Then came the hardest part- putting the fortunes in the circles and folding them fast and precisely enough so that they all looked nice. We had a couple of shots since we had a lot of batter, and managed to make 2 or 3 really nice ones! This recipe was definitely the most fun to make out of all the dishes.

Our Fortune Cookie Folding Fiasco!

Here are some reviews of our food:

Shelby's mom:
“I was amazed at how good everything tasted! The presentation of the meal was very professional. I was surprised that one could make ‘homemade fortune cookies’! All in all, it was a very delicious meal and the girls should be quite proud of their accomplishment.”

Savannah:

“Shelby and Natalie’s food was amazing. I especially liked the banana and coconut milk dessert. Loved it!”

Katie:

“Chinese cuisine is highly praised and admired for its beauty and preparation. The beauty and grace of the dish is paid unique attention. When such a thing is homemade it’s completely sensible for someone to be skeptical, but after tasting the four dishes that were prepared for criticism, I was delightfully surprised. The egg drop soup, although deceiving in appearance, was fortunately editable, even good. The rice, fortune cookies, and coconut bananas were also quite incredible. Most were humorously deceiving in looks but impeccable in taste. The only unfortunate part of the meal was that it was served cold due to the frantic preparation and mess. After spending at least two hours making the food, my servers spent another hour cleaning and carefully styling the table, taking constant pictures. All in all the meal was made beautifully.”

This project was an amazing way to experience the culture and cuisine of China in your own kitchen! I loved every second of it, and even though the food got cold after all of our picture-taking, it still tasted great!