Planning A Dinner For The Chinese New Year

Here’s the confession: I have Chinese ancestors (several generations ago), but I’m not that Chinese oriented. I don’t speak the language, never been to China, don’t celebrate Chinese new year at home, or do anything very Chinese at home…except maybe observing a bit of Feng Shui when it comes to architecture/interior design, because it might upset my mum if I go against, at least, the basic Feng Shui rules.

So why am I planning a dinner for the Chinese new year?

In our ward, we take turns feeding the missionaries. We’ve got four of them at present and, boy, have they got such a wide area to tackle stretching over several towns!

For this month, I thought I’d do something fun and not so ordinary, and I thought, why not a Chinese new year inspired dinner? On the Chinese new year?

So off I went, being best friends with Google again, and researched ideas for the menu and decorations.

For the menu, I’m planning:

Dumplings

Spring Rolls

Chinese noodles

Sweet and Sour Pork

Tapioca pudding

Chinese New Year Cake

Of course, there shall also be lots of citrus fruits: oranges, mandarins and the like. I reckon I’ll make ginger tea and orange juice for the beverages. I’ve chosen these foods in hopes that I’d be able to prepare most of them (or at least, parts of each dish) the day before, or earlier in the morning, as I’d be working that day. I’ve read that you can make the tapioca dessert up to two or three days in advance, so that’s cool.

And yes, they shall be served with chopsticks. 🙂

For the decorations, I’ve bought a couple of red Chinese lanterns from the local variety store, an Asian-looking ceramic dish and a bamboo steamer from the Op shop, and some red papers to make more decors. I also intend to make small red lanterns using the red cardboard, and perhaps put some battery-operated tea lights inside each. Exciting!