Chinese New Year By Sherry Lin

             Sherry Lin#18 6.2

ELA-Food Memoir D#2

6/5/16

Chinese New Year

  By Sherry Lin

I’m sitting in class anxious for the last bell to ring. I need to get home now.

“Brrrrrrrrrring!”

The bell! I know my mom is waiting for me at her restaurant. I walk to the 125 street train station in the cold but sunny day. Before each train comes I keep on hoping it is the A train.

I know this train will be the A train. Nope the D, C, or B train., I think over and over in my head as each train passes by.

When the A train finally arrives, it is as fast as a cheetah. But when I am finally on it, it is a snail. I count each and every second until my stop at 181st street. I speed walk to my mom’s restaurant.

“Hi mom!” I say in Chinese.

“Hi.” She says back, also in chinese.

I think she could see how excited I am to go home to pray and celebrate Chinese New Year.

“Do you want to go home now?” My mom asks me.

“Yes!” I say back.

During the walk home, I think of all the food waiting for me. When I walked into the small

kitchen, the smell of salt mixed with raw fish and meat filled my nose. Then all of a sudden my dark

brown eyeball met the lifeless eyes of a pale, featherless, dead chicken. I see allof the other food laid out on the tan colored kitchen table.  So then, my mom gave me some red paper.

         “Can you cut the paper?” My mom said as she handed me the red paper and a pair of scissors.

         “Sure.” I said back.

          So first, I cut the red paper into little mini squares. Then, I carefully placed each piece of red paper on each dish on the table. Third, I set up little red cups in a row next to each other in front of all the food and poured wine into them. Then, my mom sets up two red candles on the sides of the table and lights them on fire. After setting up we got scented sticks and lit them on fire to pray. Only me and my brother,  Rory prayed because children are usually the ones praying because they need a good education and adults don't really need to but they can.

            Then we did this again in my mom's room but with new food, wine, and scented sticks. We did this again because this way we would make more of the rooms in our apartment lucky. Every time I celebrate Chinese New Year I see a lot of red because red is a lucky color in Chinese culture. After praying we took a  pot and set it on the white kitchen floor. My brother opened the window while my mom lit a tan, squarish, and thin piece of paper on fire. I stare at the fire as it consumes the piece of paper. I also see the dark smoke drifting out of the window. I think back to when my grandma told me the pieces of paper were like money to the dead and the gods. So when we burned the papers we were giving money to the dead and to the gods so they would take care of us. So we brought the food to the restaurant so my father could cook it. We brought chicken, fish balls, pig feet, and the noodles to the restaurant. My parents cooked the noodles with the fish balls. It was very soupy, but I liked it.

 “What do want us to cook the pig feet with, Sherry?” My parents asked me.

           “Can you cook it with the special soy sauce broth?” I replied.

           “Sure.” My parents said.

           I picked up my fork and tore into the big pig feet. It was creamy and salty at the same time. We steamed the chicken with salt. We cooled down the chicken so we could dip it in soy sauce. The meal was complete with other dishes like steamed vegetables and white rice. After we ate the oranges, apples, boiled eggs, and a chinese pie.

Chinese New Year Recipe

Ingredients:

1.  A raw duck or chicken

2. Raw pig feet

3. A big knife with salt over it

4. Fish balls

5. Uncooked noodles

6. Fruit:

6.1.Oranges

6.2. Apples

7. Chinese pie

8. Meat wrapped in a thin flaky skin

9. Wine

10.Little red wine cups

11. 2 red candles

12. Red paper

13.Scissors

14. Scented sticks

15. Money for the dead and the Gods

16. A big pot that is heat resistant on the inside

Steps:

1. Pace each type of food in bowls. But leave a little bit leftover for later.

2. Cut the red paper into little squares.

3. Put 1 little red square on each dish.

4. Light the candles and place them on each side of the table.

5. Light 3 scented sticks and pray.

6. Repeat steps 1-5 again in another room.

Steps for Pig Feet and Soy Sauce Broth:

1. Clean pig feet.

2. Place in pot with soy sauce and add salt and spices until you are satisfied.

3. Cook until Meat is cooked.

4. Serve with white rice.