Monday, January 23, 2012
A Chinese New Year gathering of friends and food at the Superlounge In my family, Thanksgiving and Christmas pass without much fanfare, but Chinese New Year is the real celebration. I was a little bummed I couldn’t make it out to California this year, especially as my dad was visiting from Asia for the holiday. Instead, we decided to have our friends over for a favorite type of Chinese meal of mine: hot pot! For the uninitiated: Hot pot involves cooking fresh vegetables, tofu, seafood, and meat in stock over a communal pot. It’s often described as Chinese fondue, which I find hilarious (but helps people get the idea).  We headed down to Deluxe Market in Chinatown to pick up ingredients for our feast - a supermarket not for the faint of heart. (Imagine unrecognizable body parts of a variety of animals behind glass cases and pushy ol’ Asian grandmas trying to to swipe the last pack of dumplings.) After a particularly claustrophobia-inducing trip, we ended up coming home with mushrooms, taro, bok choy, napa cabbage, tofu, fish balls, vermicelli, and 12 (12!) platters of meat - beef, lamb, and pork belly. Based on our well-stocked fridge, we may have gone slightly overboard with our estimates of our friends’ appetites.  Michelle brought over her portable stove, everyone contributed a variety of sauces to supplement our pathetic stash of Asian condiments, and we got to cooking. Though our apartment is hardly cut out for hosting groups (is anyone’s in New York?), I couldn’t have been more content seeing our group of friends kneeling around our coffee table, dipping and eating away.  I love the idea of hot pot, or huo guo. To eat huo guo is to weilu, or “encircle the stove.” It means bringing together the two things the Chinese cherish most: food and family. More than anything, it reminds me of home - and I love that even when I can’t bring myself home, I have a little New York family that’ll bring the home to me.  If you celebrate, Happy Lunar New Year! And even if you don’t - eating in abundance is the cornerstone of this holiday, which I take to mean binge eating will bring me great luck in the new year. So go forth - and eat lots. 

A Chinese New Year gathering of friends and food at the Superlounge

In my family, Thanksgiving and Christmas pass without much fanfare, but Chinese New Year is the real celebration. I was a little bummed I couldn’t make it out to California this year, especially as my dad was visiting from Asia for the holiday. Instead, we decided to have our friends over for a favorite type of Chinese meal of mine: hot pot!

For the uninitiated: Hot pot involves cooking fresh vegetables, tofu, seafood, and meat in stock over a communal pot. It’s often described as Chinese fondue, which I find hilarious (but helps people get the idea). 

We headed down to Deluxe Market in Chinatown to pick up ingredients for our feast - a supermarket not for the faint of heart. (Imagine unrecognizable body parts of a variety of animals behind glass cases and pushy ol’ Asian grandmas trying to to swipe the last pack of dumplings.) After a particularly claustrophobia-inducing trip, we ended up coming home with mushrooms, taro, bok choy, napa cabbage, tofu, fish balls, vermicelli, and 12 (12!) platters of meat - beef, lamb, and pork belly. Based on our well-stocked fridge, we may have gone slightly overboard with our estimates of our friends’ appetites. 

Michelle brought over her portable stove, everyone contributed a variety of sauces to supplement our pathetic stash of Asian condiments, and we got to cooking. Though our apartment is hardly cut out for hosting groups (is anyone’s in New York?), I couldn’t have been more content seeing our group of friends kneeling around our coffee table, dipping and eating away. 

I love the idea of hot pot, or huo guo. To eat huo guo is to weilu, or “encircle the stove.” It means bringing together the two things the Chinese cherish most: food and family. More than anything, it reminds me of home - and I love that even when I can’t bring myself home, I have a little New York family that’ll bring the home to me. 

If you celebrate, Happy Lunar New Year! And even if you don’t - eating in abundance is the cornerstone of this holiday, which I take to mean binge eating will bring me great luck in the new year. So go forth - and eat lots. 

Posted at 4:33 PM 17 notes

Notes

  1. annieisms reblogged this from teresawu and added:
    This happened yesterday! Happy...Teresa’s post to read all about
  2. rexcerebri reblogged this from teresawu
  3. stphn said: It isn’t the holidays without hotpot =)
  4. teresawu posted this