Happy New Year!

I meant to take photos last night at our New Year’s Eve gathering, but forgot… at any rate, by the end of the night our brains had all turned to wonton anyway. We still have fifty kabillion of them left over, and they are all mushed together in a bowl so that you have to carve them out with a spoon when you want to eat any. [I remember very clearly this particular tactile experience]

It was our usual Saturday night dinner, but with tons more food to usher in the New Year properly – which, if you know how much food we normally have, is really saying something. Ying, Ståle, Ed, Margaret, and Jason came over to share the meal (and the preparation). So much cooking and chopping and wrapping and steaming! We didn’t eat until nine. Then we had:

1. For longevity: Soup with wontons and longlife noodles.
2. For wealth: Steamed whole tilapia with ginger and green onions.
3. Thanks to Ying’s mommy: Marinated steamed chicken.
4. Because I had extra tomatoes: Scrambled eggs with tomato.
5. Because we made too much filling: More wontons.
6. For vitamins: Stir-fried Napa cabbage with onions.
7. Because it is yummy: Fresh papaya slices.
8. For ascendancy in the world: Chocolate hazelnut cake. (Cake = gao.)

After that we played Loaded Questions until 1:30 or so, when the Pasadena contingent went home. Erik, Margaret, Jason and I sat around for a little longer, mumbling about happy foodings and being all floppy-over-tired, until Jason went upstairs to sleep and we tucked Margaret in on our sofabed.

To properly produce luck for the New Year, one should have leftovers, especially of the wealth (fish), and we have all that in abundance. I steamed two tilapia and we have an entire one that nobody touched. It also occurs to me that when Margaret stayed the night, we also had friend-ness carrying over from the old year to the next, and that is lovely.

Happy New Year to all! May we all have more wonton than we can eat. 😉 As far as I’m concerned that’s as good a benediction as any!

[This post was imported on 4/10/14 from my old blog at satsumabug.livejournal.com.]