It's still Chinese New Year!

modified photo, original photo courtesy of my sister (@michmonster)

If only all holidays lasted two weeks!  It used to be that (as I was told when I was younger) CNY lasted for a month, because of the time it took for people to visit family and friends in neighboring villages.   The way I look at it, that was a great way to start the New Year (back then) : look at all the walking they did!  There are so many traditions I learned when I was younger...but the funny thing is that my family really never enforced any of them.  The one I remember most vividly is having to wear a brand new outfit on New Year's Day, and it didn't even have to be red.  Other than that, I felt like the cleaning, taking out the trash, the scissors, etc. were not omitted from our daily lives.   Among it all, though, I was mostly excited about the big family dinners, with all its delicious food.  Being that most of the New Year's dishes have meat in them, I will have to find some great vegetarian substitutes.  However, there is one dish :

"Jai - Buddhist New Year's Day Vegetarian Dish

Also known as Buddha's Delight, this popular New Year's day dish is loaded with symbolism. It is a Buddhist tradition that no animal or fish should be killed on the first day of the lunar year. Vegetables are considered to be purifying, and many of the ingredients in this dish, from lily buds to fungus, have their own special significance. This article from the Honolulu Star Bulletin includes two restaurant versions of the dish." - (pulled from about.com)

Ironically, I have never liked this dish because of black moss, but the recipe about doesn't call for it like this one does.  You'll hear it here: It is my mission to make this dish one that I like!

Gong Hay Faat Choy, Sun Leen Fai Lok, Gong Xi Fa Cai, Xin Nian Kuai Le! 

#cny #familytraditions #happytimes #yearofthehorse #jai