Written by Antai 2022 Cohort
Chinese New Year is known as Spring Festival, a traditional Chinese holiday and a major one. There are lots of history and customs of the Spring Festival. However, nowadays, the most important thing is for the whole family to gather together and celebrate the new year. This year is the first time I am not at home with my family. We made dumplings this year with several friends and had a hot pot together in my apartment.
Dumpling is one of the essences of the Spring Festival. So the first challenge is to make dumplings. At home, I rarely help with the dumplings and the feast. Because my mom is a gourmet cook and also my aunts. Usually, at Spring Festival, we have families stay together. My uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, parents, and me. Many good cooks among a big group of people, so I never got the chance to cook at the festival. This year I got my case; for convenience, I just bought ready-to-use dumpling wraps from T&T. However the dumpling’s core, I had to create by myself.
I choose my favourite three-ingredient dumpling, and the three ingredients are shrimp, pork, and chives. I spent the whole afternoon on it. First bought ingredients from T&T and Costco. Second, cut pork shoulder into small pieces and grind it with a food processor. Third, peel a whole tray of shrimp.
Then is the most festival-ish thing, making the dumplings while watching TV with families and friends. One thing I miss the most is the fireworks. I didn’t see any in Vancouver this year; I heard just some “bang” sounds. In my childhood, I always played with firecrackers with my friends. We used to break them and use the powder inside to manage lots of tricks, such as pairing them together in a particular order, filling the gap with the powder then lighting it with a joss stick. Such fun memories; whenever I smell fumes from gunpowder, it takes me back in time.
The most challenging thing to do this year is to make Spring Festival greetings. The first thing is the time difference. FaceTime my family in the middle of the night, and they were just before dinner. They showed many delicious foods on the table, which are hard to get in Vancouver. The last few months in Vancouver have been good. I hope this new year is better.