Happy CNY! Normally CNY is a pretty big national holiday in Korea. Everyone gets together and indulge themselves with healthy festive foods. I didn’t use to like being called to the kitchen by my mum and aunties, which meant no playing but working. They made me open the jars of spices and sauces when they needed extra hands. We all had to sit around and make hundreds of dumplings which I was not good at and very slow. After hours of cooking, a big table full of nice food and drinks was for guys. Kids had a small table set-up next to it with less food because adults and kids don’t sit together in old days. I understand now, though, kids are messy eaters and noisy. Then of course these lucky guys just eat and leave. More work for women who didn’t even eat a proper meal because they were busy replacing the empty plates for new ones and feeding kids. I felt sorry for my mum and aunties on CNY after seeing how much physical work they actually do for a family gathering. Having said that they didn’t seem to mind at all, a lot of giggling and chit-chats happening in the kitchen. It was all about cooking with love! Oh good memories 🙂 I think some families don’t do this kind of big gatherings any more nowadays because they are busy with their life or rather want to go on overseas holiday. But really, family comes first, nothing more important than that. I would love to be back home for CNY which unfortunately I haven’t done for almost 10 years since I’m living far away from my family. So this year I’ve decided to invite some of my friends and their partners over for dinner to celebrate CNY and have a feast. Bring back my spirit of feeding “the family”!
Entree
– Creamed spinach& artichoke on tea bread
– Pork buns
– Mango salsa in wonton cups
– Caramelised pear and onion crostini
Main
– Black tea braised pork on rice
– Crispy potato with thyme and broccoli salad with blue cheese and mustard vinaigrette
– Caramelised carrot, dates, orange & quinoa salad with pomegranate dressing
Dessert
– Lemon panna cotta in a tea cup with home-made sesame honey comb
I wish you all an amazing, prosperous and peaceful 2014 x