It’s five more days to the last day of the Lunar New Year or Chap Goh Mei in Hokkien. Restaurants are still serving Yusheng (raw fish salad). I had Yusheng with smoked salmon and crispy fish skin for the first time last week. It was surprisingly nice.
This post features Anne Lise’s Lunar New Year home-cooked celebration meal in New York, where she is doing her Masters. She takes home-cooking to a completely new level. She sent photos with the following message: “Spent the weekend cooking for my friends for Chinese New Year!! Some standout dishes were braised pork belly with taro (which was a real labour of love, because the pork had to be boiled, fried and steamed), steamed barramundi and fried nian gao with sweet potato like how my ahma does it.”
Anne Lise’s friends are not surprised by her feats. She enjoys cooking and there is no limit to what she will try. Anne Lise bakes, so the pineapple tarts were home-baked.
I must confess that my only achievement as a student abroad was to organise a Chinese New Year dinner at a restaurant. I can’t remember what was served, or whether the food was good. It was just good that those who celebrated Chinese New Year could get together for a meal.
It took me a few days to recover from making dumplings (see previous post). I attempted to make a snake for the Yusheng, but it looked more like a caterpillar. I cooked ee fu noodles for my mother’s birthday and made a mango pudding. I keep to what I can manage.
Wishing you happy celebrations for the rest of the Lunar New Year days, and don’t forget to have tang yuan (glutinous rice balls) to complete the Lunar New Year celebrations.
By Chayo, HomSkil Editor 1, 7 February 2025
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