Lunar New Year Trip to Taiwan - January 7 ~ February 6, 2020
New Year is a time for family gatherings in Chinese culture. It is important to be home with family during this 15-day celebration enjoying good food and each others company. Nowadays, most people won't be able to spend the whole 15 days celebrating due to work and school but at least spending a few days with family is desirable.
FIL is basically not into the traditional idols or ancestors worshiping lifestyle. Very possibly because MOR is a Christian minister and he has a lot of respect for his son. We feel very fortunate that he is so open-minded and takes no offense in our Christian commitment. This makes our New Year celebration a lot easier without having to follow most of what the Chinese practice during this important period of the year.
One thing that is still an important activity in our family is the making of the New Year cakes (Nian Gao) before New Year's Day arrives. FIL is the expert and everybody else in the family would be helpers, especially the male members of the family because of the strenuous movements of lifting and handling the huge cakes. Now that FIL is basically behind the scene, it is the sons, son-in-law, and grandsons who are responsible to get things done the proper way.
Getting the batter ready.
A lot of stirring and mixing.
FIL putting in the final touch before putting the cake in the steamer.
He was writing something on the batter.
"Love"
Done!
This will be shared with other family members and relatives.
Garbage collecting in Taiwan is very different from what we are used to in the U.S.
Basically, the garbage truck will come everyday and everyone will have to take their garbage out for disposal. When you hear the melody of "Fur Elise", get ready to take out the garbage and hand them over to the collector. If you missed it, you'll have to wait for the next day.
For our New Year's Eve dinner, we have ordered some dishes from this catering place.
While taking our morning walk, we dropped by to check on the progress of the orders.
Walking between corn fields.
FIL was taking us on a different route this morning.
Taking a break at this shady area.
Apparently this is a circular biking route between Yizhu and Budai.
Love this cute sign post.
I wonder why I did not have any photos of our New Year's Eve dinner?! Possibly because I was busy getting dinner ready for the family even though I did not have to do all of the cooking. We had an excellent dinner with FIL and also MOR's brother's family, including his sons, their wives, and their kids whom we don't get to see very often. They all live in other parts of Taiwan.
On the second day of New Year, it's "daughter coming home" day in Taiwanese tradition. Which means the daughters who are married will return to their own family and enjoy a day of being home with their parents. We were invited by SO and SC to join them for dinner at a restaurant called Ho La in Lucao as their daughter would be home on that day. This is a popular restaurant in town and it was a full house that day. To make things easier, they were only serving one set of menu at every table. All the dishes were very good.
Abalone and other shell fish.
Stuffed crab claws
This was the best sticky rice dish that I've ever had!
Herbal chicken soup
Braised pork leg
Sweet and sour fish
Lovely dessert. Deep fried pastries.
A very special dinner!
Then on the third day of the New Year, we were invited to join SC's side of the family for a gathering at another nearby town, Xiaying. The restaurant is under the name Ji-Chen Original in a renovated old building. This restaurant specializes in dishes made with herbal or medicinal ingredients, which the purpose of strengthen regimen. A very different kind of menu from the regular restaurant so I was quite excited to try this out. Because of the busy day and the large groups, we had pre-ordered our selections a few days ahead to make things easier.
Main entrance of the restaurant.
Kids favorite!
Waiting to be seated.
Main building
There is a store on location selling their own products.
This was one of the dining rooms where we were seated.
Certainly colorful!
Pamphlet about the restaurant.
A sample menu, pretend to be a royal order from the emperor.
Menu
While waiting for our meal, the owner took those who are interested on a tour to see other parts of the building.
Lots of stories and history behind the restaurant.
Cashier counter was decorated like an old fashion medicine shop.
Finally, our food was ready.
Everyone can pick and choose what they want in their set. Like the kind of soup, main, rice or noodle, dessert, etc.
They also have different kinds of hot pot also.
An interesting meal and I did enjoy this unusual menu.
Even though they were cooked with herbs and medicinal ingredients, one can never tell from the taste of these dishes. Nicely done! I don't mind coming back for more in the future.
R: The salt fields in previous post were interesting to see!
ReplyDeleteAn elaborate New Year dinner! What was in that huge cake you all made? On the 2nd day, what was the filling of the dessert pastries? All look exceptionally good.
Love it about the garbage. These interesting tidbits you include are excellent - they give a everyday feel for the place!
P
Hi, Patricia! I think one of the huge cake just had rice flour and water. If there is anything else, it could be some kind of secret ingredients because I was not watching close enough. I think there is also another one that was made with radish. I am not into gooey stuff, so I wasn't paying attention.
ReplyDeleteI think the filling of that fried pastries was red bean paste. I could be wrong though.