新年快乐!

Today is Chi­nese New Year, and our mul­ti­cul­tural house is cel­e­brat­ing the begin­ning of spring (not quite there yet in Canada!) and the begin­ning of the year of the Snake.

Mark and I dressed in red for the day, and we hung a 福 (the Chi­nese char­ac­ters for “good luck”) upside down at the front door. We are watch­ing Bei­jing TV on the com­puter and Feng really wishes he could find a few fire­crack­ers to cel­e­brate properly—but no such luck in Canada.

Wel­come to our Canadian-Chinese-French house­hold where tra­di­tions and cus­toms from all over the world are celebrated!

Mark was born in the year of the Dragon that is com­ing to a close today. I didn’t exactly plan it but this sign is con­sid­ered very aus­pi­cious in China and my in-laws were quite happy to have a “baby dragon”. Feng is a tiger, another great sign, and I am… a pig. Yep. Guess my French par­ents didn’t check the Chi­nese horo­scope before decid­ing to have their first child!

Wher­ever we are in the world, we’ve always cel­e­brated Chi­nese New Year one way or another, includ­ing mak­ing dumplings in hos­tels a cou­ple of times or head­ing to the near­est Chi­nese restaurant.

Today, our main task was to “包饺子”, i.e. make the tra­di­tional chive and cel­ery dumplings. We took turn putting the home­made fill­ing (chive, cel­ery, meat and spices) in the lit­tle wrap­ping squares and had din­ner with my in-laws.

Happy Chi­nese New Year to all of you!

You can see the full Win­ter – Ottawa on Flickr.

Mark, the “Good Luck” Char­ac­ter and I

Mark Says “Happy New Year”!

Minced Cel­ery and Cabbage

The Secret Ingre­di­ent: Jiucai

The Secret Ingre­di­ent: Jiucai

The Secret Ingre­di­ent: Jiucai

Some Chive’s Gona Get Hurt…

My Mother In-Law, The Expert

My Mother In-Law, The Expert

Mak­ing Dumplings

Mak­ing Dumplings

Mak­ing Dumplings

Mak­ing Dumplings

Mak­ing Dumplings

Mak­ing Dumplings

Boiled and Ready to Eat!

Happy Chi­nese New Year!

Mak­ing the Dumplings

The Fil­ing and the Chives