It's the year of the Pig! If you were born in 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983 or 1995 - you were born under the sign of the pig. Like the pig, you are highly regarded for your chivalry and pureness of heart, and you often make friends for life. For pigs in 2007, any recent setbacks or obstacles can be overcome so look forward to a year in which to really shine, either personally or professionally.
D & I decided to celebrate Chinese New Years on Fri. 02/16 at our house. D loves Chinese food but I can't make homemade food like my mom & dad. Sorry - the genes were mutated when i was born but D & I always make time for Chinese Sundays every week. This time, we decided to bring our friends over for a hot pot dinner party to celebrate Chinese New Years.
What is "HOT POT"? Hot Pot is delicious dinner gathering with groups of family and/ or friends who sit around a table and eat from a steaming hot pot in the middle. Hot Pot is not a passive activity: select prepared raw food from plates scattered around the table, place them in the pot, wait for them to cook, then scoop them out of the soup, dip them in Asian sauce, and then eat them hot, fresh, and tender!
My parents used to host huge family hot pot parties at our house; it was such a great idea that D & I wanted to pass the tradition onto our friends. D & I bought all the traditional hot pot ingredients along with lots of sake & asian beer to drink. We also provided some grubby Chinese pizza, dumplings, sticky rice, shuomai, moon cakes (of course, store-bought). YUM YUM YUM! We were worried no one would show up but we ended up having plenty of people showing up to our dinner party! Let's not forget, after dinner, D creatively gave away red envelopes that contained a number. He had each person come up and put their hand in a big box and pulled out a cheap Chinese trinket that we bought at the Chinese Store. We also bet our "American" friend to eat a 1000 year old black egg (fermented duck egg) for $40 bucks! Amazingly enough, he survived the ordeal the next day.
We had such a great time with friends, that we plan on having more hot pot party sequels!
