Chinese New Year in Norway 2010

So here are my photos from CNY (almost a month ago on Valentine's Day!) 

It's not a lot, just some to show that I did celebrate and have a good dinner during this important Chinese festival on the lunar calendar. Chinese New Year celebrates the first day of Spring after the cold winter months.

To make myself feel more festive, I had stuck some pathetic small angbaos (but pretty ones of course), or red packets on my bedroom wall. I only had 10. On a wide white wall. Hmm.

First of all, kudos to Mei, who despite her husband passing away recently, made us such lovely spring rolls. They are the best homemade spring rolls I've ever tasted!!!

They took her one whole day to prepare - shred the veggies to pieces, cook the vermicelli, wrap the insides in the fried tofu skin, then tie them pretty with gift ribbons. We guests finish them off by boiling them in the soup and putting them in our mouths.

Ahhh...such bliss!

I really feel at home with this way of eating (called steamboat), 'cause that's what I eat every Chinese New Year's Eve with my family.

Looks a little like a streetside stall, doesn't it? No insult to Mei..just the mess we guests made. Her house is a big one on top of a hill. She used to be from Shanghai. Do the previous statements make sense? I s'pose not..*oops*

Mei made the most delicious chilli sauce to make me feel even more at home. Even Viking Man likes this style of dining. It builds a sense of closeness to one another.

Basically everyone tucks into the same hot pot of water with their morsel of veggie or meat, then scoop it up when it's cooked.

We assume that the boiling soup burns away all bacteria of course.

It wasn't a big celebration, but I'm glad it had a bit of Chinese-ness in it.

:) pixy