My first Chinese New Year celebration.
By craftwave
@craftwave (1338)
United States
March 3, 2007 1:07pm CST
I just returned from California where I visited my daughter and her husband who is Vietmanese. While we were there we went to Fresno to my son-in-law's parents and celebrated the Chinese New Year with them. I learned alot on that trip. I have never eaten rice in so many different ways. I also tried alot of different foods and candies, learned alot of history and traditions. I learned about giving money in the red and gold envelopes and the giving of a gift to the host and hostess, among other things. Listened to music played on a Dan Bau. It was really interesting. Especially since our hostess spoke very little English and our host while he spoke English good, he found it hard going to try and explain about the food and traditions in English so he had his daughter or son interpret for him. Later in San Diego we went to a Chinese New Year street festival. Again I tried more new foods. I love the pork sticky buns. We got to watch the dragon dance and listen to some traditional music. I love to know more about the traditions and the foods.
3 people like this
4 responses
@Avichail (694)
• Indonesia
4 Mar 07
That sounds like pretty exciting moments for you! Glad you like it a lot. Vietnamese and Chinese food are a bit different. I've been to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam for a couple times and I still cannot eat some of the food because certain ingredients put in it. It was quite funny for me because usually I'll gain weight while travelling, but when I went to Vietnam, I lost 4 pounds for not eating well, LOL...!
But in overall, they are very similar to Chinese because we come from the same root. And their alphabets are so amazing because they have many forms. A mix of French, Chinese, maybe even Thais, very difficult to learn. But it's all very interesting. Have you considered visiting Vietnam one day?
1 person likes this
@craftwave (1338)
• United States
4 Mar 07
The thought had occured to me but who knows if I'll ever get there.
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@Avichail (694)
• Indonesia
6 Mar 07
Just want to add about the coconut candy you mentioned. Are they come in cubes, transparent-like cube, a bit like hard gel and sweet? If so, it's not the coconut sauce I mentioned yesterday, but something else. And yes it can be put into puddings, like cherry or jelly. I don't know how it's called in English.
@craftwave (1338)
• United States
6 Mar 07
I think there is some candies like that in the package. There is also long strands of cooconut candy, colored pink , white and green. Not as sweet as the other stuff. thanks once again for your help.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Mar 07
Oh That sounds wonderful. I too love to learn customs and history. I love to learn about other country's foods. Your vacaion sounds like it was just up my alley. I love to do things like that. I love to learn new things. I believe that knowledge is power. Sounds like you really enjoyed yourself.
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@craftwave (1338)
• United States
5 Mar 07
I love finding about different cultures too. I also love trying out the foods and find out how they are made. I tried to post a picture with my discussion but for some reason it didn't come thru so I'm trying again with your response.
@lucy02 (5016)
• United States
4 Mar 07
That sounds like fun. I love Chinese food so I would probably never want to leave. My husband is Japanese and the town he grew up in (Lodi, CA) has an Obon (Japanese Festival) every year and I've been wanting to go to it for awhile but we can never get out there during that week.
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@craftwave (1338)
• United States
4 Mar 07
It was fun. My son-in-law and his sister were telling of of all the different new year celebrations that the different ethnic groups celebrate out there in CA. and the different times of year they celebrate, mostly in the spring. Hope you can make the trip some day.
1 person likes this
