Chinese New Year is this weekend.

[elleng]

It comes with the new moon - January 28 for clocks in Asia, but the evening of January 27 for the Americas. It rings in the Year of the Rooster. Gong Xi Fa Ca, y'all!

[pscot]

1. At least we won't be eating rat this year

And who know how you prepare dragon.

[Yonnie3]

2. A friend from mainland China would invite me to the New Year celebration.

It was a party for the local Chinese, mainly those that worked in local restaurants and a few Caucasian friends. The food was quite different from the restaurant menu. There were gigantic platters of dumplings. A few had a cashew inside. If you found a cashew you got a five dollar bill. Much hilarity ensued as some of the teens would eat dozens of dumplings to find cashews. Then there were platters of whole fish, mounds of savory shrimp, pork, beef and chicken as well as vegetables. There was also a traditional red bean soup which was sweet.

Later in the night there would be a lottery, after that the restaurant owners would distribute red envelopes to their employees with a bonus. Then finally, the tables were cleared and several tables of mahjong play would appear. They would play until dawn and there would be plenty of cash on the tables. I never joined in, but enjoyed watching the spirited play.

Alas, Jin has retired and moved to the west coast, so there is no party invite for me.