Chinese New Year begins today - the year of the Tiger. One of my best friends Jennifer, visiting from Santa Barbara, and I ventured out to Ranch 99 Market in the Pacific Asian Mall in Richmond. Everyone was aflutter over New Years. It could have been Christmas, the mall was that buzzing. Beautifully flowering plants were being scooped up, red envelopes were disappearing off the shelves, and forget about trying to find a book about the different years.
We decided to have a Lunar New Year dinner celebration so we entered Ranch 99 Market. The aisles were stocked with tasty treats and food that you never see at a Safeway - strange looking fruits and vegetables, pork in forms you'd never imagine (powdered?), and other "challenging" food. (Note: Chinese friend Triane told me that there was no food I could throw at her that she would shy away from. I lobbed one over the net thinking I had her, "Gefiltefish!" "You call that challenging! HA! Jewish food isn't challenging. We eat chicken feet!" She got me.)
Jen and I began stocking up. : Shrimp Har Gow, Crab Shu Mai, Steamed Chicken Bao, Chicken and leek potstickers, green onion pancake, bok choy, pea sprouts, shrimp won ton soup, almond cookies, peanuts, ginger candy and then, at the bakery, custard cakes. YUM!
We cooked up a storm and feasted like kings with a ton of leftovers for less than $10 per person. Yum-me! Jen and I agreed that our heritages shared something: we love big, cheap food. As my Oma would say to me, "Ess Ess mine kin" (eat, eat my chile), and as Jen would say to me, "Chur fan Gwy-lo" (eat rice, white she devil).
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