Chinese New Year Dinner - Asian Pearl Restaurant

Traditional our family would go out for a family feast to celebrate Chinese New Year.  This year we had our dinner at the fancy Asian Pearl restuarant.  The place was huge and comfortable.  They have many fancy food listed on their menu. A lot of delicatesen such as whole abalone, shark fins soup, bird's nest and other expensive gourmet dishes were on their menu.  We ordered these common dishes from the menu:

Honey walnut shrimp

Crab sauce over greens

Shrimp stuffed mushroom with vegetable

  Fried milk over fish filets - not that good

Fish cake with chinese broccoli - not crazy either

Scallop fried rice

We also ordered a dish of drunken chicken and stir fried lamb chops which I really liked.  I forgot to take pictues of them.  Most of the food were good but they were really pricey.  They also have great selections of dim sum everyday during lunch hours.   

順峰魚港

  Asian Pearl

43635 Boscell Rd,

 Fremont, CA 94538

Tel: (510) 979-1368

Garden Buffet Graduation Party

My daughter just graduated from high school a couple of weeks ago. We threw her a graduation party in our beautiful backyard last weekend. I was worried the weather would be too cold to have a garden buffet outside. We were lucky that the weather turned a bit warmer that day and it was lovely outside. Everyone at the party complimented the nice setting of our beautiful backyard. They all enjoyed the nice summer weather and outdoor garden buffet.

I made these fruit platters for this special event:

My friend made these unusual sweets.  They were fruit dipped in chocolate and one of the unusual flavors was a banana dipped in peanut butter chocolate, and it was just so good.

Strawberries dipped in chocolate and coconut

Bananas dipped with peanut butter chocolate and grapes in chocolate.

My in-law did the catering and she brought so much food to the party.  Starting from the left were: (Top row)Filipino lumpia, fried fish with Thai sauce, shrimp eggrolls, mustard greens, eggplant with anchovy, (bottom row )Salt and pepper shrimp, Shrimp with honey walnuts.

More food here: Peking sparibs, fried garlic chicken, Hong Kong style fried noodle, and seafood tofu with lettuce.

We had these mini cheesecakes and a tiramisu cake for desserts:

Our guests got to enjoy the slide show about our daughter.  The song I picked for the slide show was "Isn't she lovely" by Stevie Wonder.  It was wonderful to have all our friends and relatives there to celebrate the special event with us.   I hope my daughter had a wonderful time as much as we did on that day.  I am just so glad that we had our event hosted outdoors instead of indoors because it made it extra special.  It sure will be a nice memory for all of us.

Happy Mother's Day

This is the first year I am having a Mother's Day without my mom.  My mom passed away last year.  It still hurts when I think of her.  My daughter made a video and gave it to me for Mother's Day last year.  I was very touched by the content of the video and the lyrics of this song.   I would like to dedicate this song to my mom.  I picked the video with lyrics so that you all could understand the precise meaning of the song.  To all the mothers in the world who gave and still are giving their best to their children, this song is also for you!  Happy Mother's Day!

Because You Loved Me

Chinese New Year Feast

We were having big feasts over the weekend. Since the kids were at home all day, I was on my feet cooking to make more food for them.  Chinese New Year is a big event in the Asian countries.  Families would travel back to their homes to reunite with families to spend the most important day of the year together.  Thus New Year Eve's is what we call a reunion dinner (Tuan Nian Fan團年飯).  When I was a kid, we would have a very late dinner around ten o'clock at night and stay up past midnight. We loved to stay up late and play poker cards and watched TV with family.   I followed the tradition and gave my kids the red envelopes to put under their pillows before they went to bed.

Traditionally, all families would bring out and prepare the most expensive delicacies dishes like abalones, scallops, shark fins, bird nest soup, sea cucumbers.  The tremendous amount of food prepared at this time of the year was meant to symbolize the wealth and abundance for the household.  I made the traditional dishes every year at home. For Chinese New Year feast, a whole fish to represent togetherness and abundance,and  a chicken for prosperity and happiness are a must on the table.  The chicken must be served with a head, tail and feet to symbolize completeness.  The oysters, black moss seaweed and dried bean curd symbolize abundance and good fortune . The Vermicelli or noodle is for long life. There are always long lines in the Chinese food stores on the New Year's Eve  as people get their fresh roasted pork, chicken and other cooked dishes.  I also got the live Black Bass fish and shrimp from the supermarket.  These are the traditional dishes I served on New Year Eve: (I was not able to take picture on that day because I was too busy eating))

Chicken with ginger and scallion oil

Roasted pork

Steamed Black Bass in ginger and onion sauce

Dried Bean Curds with Black Moss Seaweed soup

Vegetarian Dish with Black Moss Seaweed and Vermicelli

Shrimp with Chili and Scallion sauce

On New Year's day, it's traditional to wear new clothes and shoes on this day. We eat what's left over from the dinner before. It usually starts with a vegetarian dish first.  After that we would wish our parents Happy New Year and good health before they give us red envelopes which are monetary gifts for good luck for the New Year.  Then we go to relatives' home with oranges, tangerines and gifts to wish them a happy new year.  I followed the same tradition and gave my kids the red envelopes for the New Year. These were the dishes I made on New Year Day; the delicacies were made with chicken stock that had abalone,dried scallop and other ingredients.

Lettuce Wrap with Vegetables

Grass Fish with sweet and red vinegar sauce:

Shark's Fins Delicacy Soup:

 

Braised Oysters with Shiitake Mushrooms:

  

Snow Ears with Dried Scallop soup:

Happy Year of the Tiger and Valentine's Day

 

Wishing all of you, a prosperous Happy Year of the Tiger！

and Happy Valentine's Day!

 

San Francisco China Town Flower fair

Over the weekend, we went to San Francisco Chinatown for the annual event of the Flower Fair to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year.  This festival always takes place on the weekend before the lunar new year. It had a festive atmosphere in which families came to buy their Chinese new year flowers and snacks while enjoying traditional Chinese food, dance, music, and cultural displays. The streets in China town were blocked off from street traffic.  I could not believe it was packed with people everywhere. The news reported that including both residents and visitors, attendance at the two day fair was estimated to be about 400,000.

 I was very puzzled why there were many long lines, what were they lined up for?

They lined up to play games to receive free gifts.

The Fortune God Statue - a very important man! He brings fortune to you in the New Year!

There were many booths with variety of  fresh, exotic flowers such as orchids, chrysanthemums, and other flowers of which I don't know the names of.  Families come here to choose their favorite blooms for good luck and good fortune. 

I did not know why Chinese had to buy flowers for new year ( I thought it's just to decorate the home for the New Year) so I went online and learned this:  "Flowers are believed to be symbolic of wealth and high positions in one's career. A home with a plant that bloom on New Year's Day signifies a year of prosperity. Every traditional Chinese household should have live blooming plants to symbolize rebirth and new growth. The Chinese firmly believe that without flowers, there would be no formation of any fruits. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to have flowers and floral decoration in the home for the New Year."  Interesting, isn't it?

Booths sold wind chimes and other decorative items for good luck.

Cute children's Chinese clothes for the New Year - It's Chinese tradition to wear new clothes and shoes on Chinese New Year Day.

New red envelopes for money to be given to the children on New Year Days. It's traditional that the person who's married gives the red envelopes to those who are not married during the Chinese New Year period when you see them and wish you Happy New Year. 

 

Booths that sold CD or DVD, most of the time the Chinese New Year holiday songs were sold out if you got there late!

Live Show on the stage:

  

Street Artist - playing a Chinese music with a Chinese instrument - Erhu!

Vegetarian Food and boiled tea eggs

 

 Food and snacks for Chinese New Year