This year the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival falls on September 8, 2014.  I wanted to do a craft with the girls to celebrate the festival. Last year we made paper lanterns, and now that the girls are a year older, they were ready to make glass lanterns.  The girls had a lot of fun painting the glue on the glass jar and sticking the paper to it, but that was nothing compared to the excitement when they saw their lanterns light up.

The moon is celebrated during this festival because of legends like Chang E Flying to the Moon or Jade Rabbit or Wu Gang Chopping the Laurel Tree.  Lanterns are carried and lit throughout the festival to celebrate the brightness of the moon.

Happy Lighting,
The Dumpling Mama xo

When my grandmother and I chat, I sometimes share my frustrations with my Grouchy Husband’s terrible temper or challenges with my mother-in-law. I wish she would tell me “he is wrong and you should yell back at him” or “she is being unreasonable and you should not do what she wants”, but she never did. Her response was always the same, (面子), translation, “save face”.
Face is not the front part of someone’s head. Face is a complicated concept that is very important in Asian cultures. Your “face” is a combination of social standing, reputation, influence, dignity, and honor. It’s how the world around you sees you. You can “give face”, “gain face”, “lose face”, and “save face”. How you manage your face will have direct impact on your personal and business relationships.

Giving Face

Giving face is making someone look good.  It is also treating someone with respect that is above their “perceived” social hierarchy, for example, housekeeper, lawn-mower, etc.  The best way to accomplish this is by giving genuine compliments.  Doing it in front of other people will make your efforts even more successful.  Be careful, over doing this can make you look fake and suspicious.  This is my favorite “face”.

Gaining Face
Gaining face is done by your remarkable actions and behaviors.  It is also having strong, harmonious relationships where you are spoken of in the highest regard.   Worldly examples of this are getting a promotion, dressing nicely, and buying a nice car.

Losing Face
Losing face is any mistake or way that makes you look foolish to other people.  A common way of losing face is losing your temper in public.  Shouting, arguing, or causing a scene in public are severely frowned upon.  My Grouchy Husband has a bad temper and this is the ugliest personality trait.  When he gets mad in public, it not only makes him lose face but also me for being his wife.

Saving Face
Saving face is any and all ways to prevent losing face.  As frustrating as it can be, always stay calm until a resolution is met, even if you need to make a small compromise.

How to Manage Face

• Avoid pointing out someone’s mistakes openly in public.  Instead, find a time to tell them when you are with them alone.
• Give sincere compliments.
• Politely refuse a gift at first, but then accept with an abundance of gratitude.
• Show extra respect to elders.
• When offered, always allow your host to pay for your meal.
• Always leave your home looking clean and neat.  Comb your hair, make sure your clothes are not wrinkled, put together outfits that fit your body and match style and coloring, have a clean face.
• Keep your parents updated on significant accomplishments, ex: high grade point averages, acceptance into high profile competitive colleges, high paying jobs, promotions, new car and home purchases.  Allow them to proudly talk your accomplishments to their friends.
• Never lose your cool in public.  Always find a calm way to resolve issues even if you have to make a small compromise.

Did I miss anything?

The Dumpling Mama xo

As a way to help my girls experience the culture and tradition of Chinese New Year and the year of the horse, we attended the Lunar New Year Family Festival at Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA).  I’ve recently found this museum and just love the family events.  My girls find them interesting and and they really enjoy the activities.

I recruited my brother to come with me to the family festival.  He is always overwhelmed with all of the chaos at children events but really gets into participating with them.

One of the drop-in-art-and-craft was silk screening with Tomie Arai, the artist behind the exhibit, Portraits of New York Chinatown.  I’d never seen silk screening so this was such a treat.  I give Tomie Arai a lot of credit for creating this children’s activities.  We were all fascinated.  The whole process is actually very simple.  First, paint is brushed over the horse stencil.

Second, remove the paper with the stenciled horse.  Then you just let the paint dry for 5 minutes.

Even my Baby had a turn to make one.

We let our screen printed horses dry next to all of the other crafts we had made that day.

Once the paint dried, the girls made cards for the year of the horse.

One activity we did at the last event, Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, was chinese calligraphy.  For younger children, they put the horse character underneath the paper to trace.  Older children copy the character by site.  My Princess really enjoys the activity.

The Lunar New Year Family Festival was more crowded then the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival and by the time we got there, the lion dance performance and workshop, the main event, was full.  The girls really enjoy the crafts and these were still open so we were still good to go.  Next year, we will definitely get there early to have our choice of all activities.

The Dumpling Mama xo

To prepare our home for Chinese New Year, besides cleaning, we decorate.  You are suppose to clean your home and then decorate but I usually do it at the same time because I’m not that organized.  Chinese New Year decorations are red and gold because:

• Red – considered the luckiest color.  Symbolizes good luck, reunion, health, happiness, harmony, prosperity.  It represents all things positive in Chinese culture because of its association with fire, the sun, brightness, life and energy, the yin in yin and yang: .
• Gold – symbolizes wealth and good fortune.

My Princess loves crafts so I scoured the internet to find something we could do together and wouldn’t be that hard for her little 5-year-old hands.  I found a DIY (Do it Yourself) tissue paper tassel garland from HGTV that was simple and we could customize to red and gold for Chinese New Year.  I needed one additional supply, tape, because I couldn’t get the tassel loop to stay without it.  My 36-year-old hands aren’t that DIY experienced.

Materials needed:

• 20×20 or 20×24 tissue paper or mylar, makes 2 tassels.  Note: tape doesn’t stick that well to mylar
• scissors
• tape (optional)
• ribbon or cord

Cut Fringe:

• Fold a piece of tissue paper in half and in half the other way so it looks more like a square.
• On the edge where the fold is, draw a line 1 inch below the fold.  You can faintly see my line drawn in pencil.

• Cut strips toward the fold until you get to the line.  In the HGTV instructions, you will see the fringe is very skinny.  Even with the grown-up scissors, it was easier for My Princess to cut thicker strips.  Either way, the tassels look great.

• Once all of the fringe is cut, unfold the paper once and cut along the fold to create two tassels.

Twist Tassels:

• Unfold one of the tissue papers.  Begin rolling one end tightly.  I used two hands to roll but only used one hand to take the pictures (other hand holding the camera).  Continue rolling to the end.

• Fold the middle in half and twist to create a loop for hanging.

• I used a piece of tape to hold the loop in place.  You can also use a piece of ribbon or cord.

• The tassels will be tangled from rolling so you have to slowly untangle.

• And your tassel if finished!

Creating the Garland:

• Cut a piece of ribbon or cord 3 to 4 inches longer then the area you are hanging the garland.
• Tie the tassels 3 to 4 inches apart.  Leave enough room so the tassels don’t crowd each other.  Don’t feel like you need to create a color pattern.

• Use a pushpin to hang the ribbon or cord.

Enjoy your Chinese New Year tassel garland!  It’s easy enough to put away and put up again next year.  The best thing about the garland is everyone who has seen it has been so impressed and that puts the proudest look on My Princess’ face.

Do you have any simple DIY Chinese New Year decorations?  Would love to hear them.

The Dumpling Mama xo

Chinese New Year is tomorrow and I am busy getting our home and family ready for the celebration this weekend.  I just finished my least favorite but very important preparation task, a thorough cleaning of our home to symbolize sweeping out or “cleansing” any misfortune or lingering bad luck from the current year.  Because it is such a thorough cleaning, I tend to start right after the American New Year, drag my heels a little, and finish right on Chinese New Year’s Eve.

Guidelines to Chinese New Year Cleaning

• Avoid sweeping during Chinese New Year season, Chinese New Year’s Eve to 15 days after Chinese New Year, especially the first three days because any upcoming good luck would be swept away.  If you absolutely must sweep, collect the dust in the corner to keep any good luck inside the house.
• Trash old and unused items.  This includes dated magazines and paper, clothing, toys, and expired food in your pantry.  Clean out the closets and garage.
• Clean sheets and towels.
• Repair or replace anything broken.  Everything from a squeaky door to a burnt lightbulb.  You don’t want anything weighing down any positive energy.

How I do My Chinese New Year Cleaning

• I use a vacuum and a microfiber mop to clean the floor.  Using a broom to sweep isn’t efficient for me and never feels quite as clean as a vacuum.  I usually clean the floor on New Year’s Eve and then do my best to hold off until after the first three days of New Year to clean again.  With two little ones always spilling and tracking dirt from outside, it can be very challenging.
• This is a thorough cleaning  so I make sure I go behind furniture, inside light fixtures, and around crown molding.  This is a great time to catch up on my backlog of podcasts and audiobooks.
• I try my best to organize, recycle, dispose of things as they come into our home.  Because the girls get toys all the time and need new wardrobes each season because they grow so fast, I put away and give away these things on a regular basis.  For the Chinese New Year cleaning, I focus on closets, the pantry, and junk drawers.
• Of course we all clean our sheets and towels on a regular basis.  This time of year, I do it all within a day or two.
• Anything important like a refrigerator, lightbulb, or television,would be fixed soon after it was broken.  Anything not very important like an alarm clock or play jewelry would probably find it’s way into a junk draw or closet and would be thrown away because it clearly is not a necessity.  I try my best to reserve this time to fix or replace things that don’t fall into either of these groups.  This year I replaced all our bed pillows because they were stained and the ends were tattered.

Did I miss anything?

Happy Cleaning,
The Dumpling Mama xo

source: Huffington Post 

We just had our Chinese New Year Eve reunion dinner to celebrate all of our accomplishments and close out the year.  It was a little early but with everyone’s schedules and my grandmother having a table available at her favorite restaurant, this was how we accommodated everyone.  Traditionally, children are suppose to return to their families.  I’m very fortunate to live close to my parents and grandparents so we are always able to celebrate reunion dinner together.

Reunion Dinner Symbolic Foods

Almost every dish eaten during reunion dinner has symbolic meaning or a name that sounds like the Chinese character for fortune, happiness, longevity, and prosperity.

• Specialty soup to represent one of the New Year themes, for example, bird’s nest soup for youthfulness and long life or shark’s fin soup for prosperity.
• Fish and poultry dishes are served whole with head and tail.  Using a knife is considered unlucky because it could sever the good fortune of an entire family.  Green vegetables are also served uncut.
• Green vegetables symbolize the freshness of “evergreen” and store good fortune in their roots.
• Uncut noodles to symbolize longevity and life.
• The meal usually contains eight dishes because “eight” (八, ba)  sounds like “prosper” (发, fa).
• An abundance of food is at dinner to ensure leftovers and symbolize an excess of good fortune in the new year.  The fish in particular is never completely eaten because it symbolizes prosperity.  Traditionally, no cooking is done on New Year’s Day so the leftovers from reunion dinner came in very handy.

Here is how my family celebrates reunion dinner.

My grandmother hosted reunion dinner at her favorite restaurant, Delight 28.  This restaurant has changed names throughout the years but the food has stayed delicious.  My grandfather also use to be an owner of a restaurant next store so coming to this location has a lot of history.

First, my mom hands out red envelopes to all of the serving staff to ensure the food in our reunion dinner will be extra delicious.

Growing up my mom or grandmother would cook this dinner but now it’s been easier to go out.  We’ll hang out with each other before and after dinner, and a few minutes before our reservation, we’ll walk over to the restaurant, eat a great dinner and not have to clean up.  Glorious!

This year my sister and her husband, Mike, were able to come in from Boston to join us for reunion dinner.  My Baby is still working on her posed smile.

We drank a fish stomach soup.  Fish stomach, or fish maw, is said to improve complexion, fertility and blood circulation.

Snails in black bean sauce.  My grandfather taught me to eat and love these.

Sizzling steak.

Bird’s nest.  This was the best looking dish at our meal.

Crispy skin chicken (complete with head and tail) with oyster chips on top.

For my family, this dinner is traditional because we come together and eat symbolic foods for fortune, happiness, and prosperity.  While we honor our culture, we also acknowledge our family in the world today and do things that are less traditional like choosing taste preference over symbolism.  Instead of ordering a whole fish complete with head and tail, we ordered a family favorite, black bean, ginger, scallion fish.

Once the food started to come out, there wasn’t much conversation, just a lot of chop stick clicking.

Honey walnut shrimp. This is a favorite dish of my Uncle Donald (my mom’s brother), Aunt May (his wife), and Cousin Jennie (their daughter).  In this dish, the shrimp are usually coated with mayonnaise but we always ask for it on the side which I’ve heard taste much better (I’m unfortunately allergic to shrimp).

One of our long life noodle dishes was stir-fried cellophane or glass noodles.  We don’t usually order this dish in the restaurant but we might start because it was amazingly good.  It was my favorite dish of the whole meal.

Peking pork chop.  This restaurant does it the best.

Buddhist delight wraps.

Of course, lobster!  Complete with head and tail.

Lots of leafy green vegetables.  This was just one of the four vegetable dishes.

Our second long life noodle dish, mushroom noodles.

Then there was a break for some silly time.  My girls love Cousin Jennie.  She has new, cool, brown hair.

For dessert, we had oranges.

They were so sweet the girls just wanted more and more.

Finally, the sweet red bean soup.  My Baby could drink everyone’s bowl if we let her.

One other less-traditional aspect of our dinner is we have way more then eight dishes.  There were probably closer to eighteen (haha!).  There were fourteen of us at dinner so eight dishes would not be enough to feed my hungry family.

Wow, just writing this makes me full all over again from eating all of the food.  Do you have any favorite dishes from Chinese New Year Eve reunion dinner?

Cheers to all our accomplishments this year,
Chrissy xo

I grew up in upstate New York, about three hours north of NYC, with my parents and siblings. The rest of my family lived in NYC so we were always visiting for holidays, birthdays, summer or when we had time off from school. We, of course, would come down to celebrate Chinese New Year with our family, and go home with a car full of chickens, fish, vegetables, fruit, candies, calendars, and decorations. We would spend the next week or so eating all of the traditional Chinese New Year foods. I distinctly remember the bags of oranges, tangerines, and the huge pomelo. There were always multiple bags and each of the bags were completely filled. My mom would give some of the oranges and tangerines away, the tangerines with stems would be placed on top of the TV and stove, and the rest we ate for what seemed like forever. The amazing thing is my grandmother through her 70’s (she is now in her 80’s) would somehow carry these heavy bags of fruits from the market to her home for us.

Chinese Word Symbolism (the reason why you see these fruits everywhere during Chinese New Year)

• Oranges (橘, ju) is similar to the Chinese word for lucky (or gold/wealth) (聚, ju).
• Tangerines (桔, ju) is similar to the Chinese word for luck (吉, ji).
• Pomelo (油字, you zi), the largest citrus fruit that tastes like a grapefruit, symbolizes abundance because it’s Chinese character sounds like “to have” (有, you).

What I Do

• About 2 weeks before Chinese New Year I buy:
  1.  a pomelo
  2. at least 12 oranges
  3. at least 12 tangerines
  4. tangerines with stems (few days before New Year’s Day). I buy a pair for each place I want to put them. For example, I want to put them on top of the TV and the stove, so I buy 4.  Note: try to buy the ones with the healthiest looking leaves.  If you don’t, by the time New Year’s day comes, your leaves will be dried out (like mine pictured above).

• I arrange oranges, tangerine and the pomelo in a fruit bowl. Oranges and tangerines on the bottom, pomelo on top.
• We try to eat oranges and tangerines everyday until days or a week after Chinese New Year (to keep the Chinese New Year luck going as long as possible). I buy more if I run out.
• Whenever we visit with friends and family, I try to give oranges and tangerines.

Rules to Keep in Mind

• DO buy tangerines with leaves because the leaves represent longevity. Use them for home decoration and gifts.
• DO serve oranges and tangerines at the end of a meal because their sweetness represents luck.
• DO bring oranges and tangerines as gifts when visiting family and friends.  The bright orange color symbolizes gold, luck, and wealth.
• DON’T serve or give 4 oranges or tangerines because the number 4 (四, si) sounds like the word for death (死, si).  Avoid giving any number with a 4 in it, like 14 or 40.  Give 2, 6, 8, 9 because these are all lucky numbers.
• DO use decorations with oranges and tangerines as a symbol of good luck.

What do you do with your lucky fruits?

The Dumpling Mama xo

We just got back from a wedding in New Orleans.  My Grouchy Husband has a lot of family in New Orleans and Cousin Linda’s son, Daniel, got married.  Uncle Frank and Aunt Sue are Linda’s parents.  They love to cook and eat, and have always treated me like family even before I was dating my Grouchy Husband.  When my Grouchy Husband and I lived in New Orleans during college, we would regularly visit them and they would always ask, “Are you hungry?”.  It didn’t matter what state our hunger was in, out of respect, we always said yes.  Everything they cook is so delicious and in their amazing kitchen or outdoor grill they would feed us.  And on the very rare occasion they didn’t have food in the house, they would take us out to eat.  While in New Orleans for the wedding, we ate multiple times in their home.  I ate raw oysters, fried oysters, soft shell crab, fish, gumbo, roast beef, all of my favorites.  The smoked drum fish was unbelievable.

Asking “Are you hungry?”, is a way for Chinese people, especially elders, to show their care and consideration.  Acknowledging their offer, eating their food and joining them for a meal is a show of respect, and a way to reciprocate your care and consideration.  Many of these elders came from small villages in China where food was not abundant.  Providing food to eat would make someone happy by taking care of their health and overall well-being.

I’ve been asked this question not necessarily during a meal time, sometimes not a single pot was on the stove, sometimes not even near a kitchen.  It doesn’t matter if I just finished a 10-course Chinese banquet meal, the respectful response is always “yes”.  The Chinese culture is not known for its verbal expression so I’m happy to show that I care by eating. Easy enough even though it might not always be easy to work off my hips (but that’s a story for another day).

Uncle Frank and Aunt Sue have always been so good to me.  They have always asked if I was hungry, fed me while I was in college and are still feeding me today.  I look forward to spending time with them and eating their food. I love that I have found a way to show how much I care for them.

Always Hungry,
The Dumpling Mama xo