The Year of the Pig is Here

by Jamie Rhein on

Chinese New Year is here so the Year of the Pig has arrived. The pig, also referred to as a boar, is the last animal of the 12 year lunar cycle. There is a folk tale that explains the order the animals appear in the Chinese zodiac. If you’ve ever read a placemat at many Chinese restaurants you already know that each animal has distinct personality characteristics and the animal sign you are born under influences the life you will have.

Wherever there is a large Chinese population, you can bet you’ll find a celebration. Some places like in Singapore and Taiwan have celebrations over a 15 day period. This is a major time for folks to head out on vacation. I know, I used to live in both countries. We headed out ourselves along with everyone else scrambling for plane tickets. If you’re traveling to any of these places, be prepared that some businesses may not be open, at least not if they are run by a Chinese person. This is the time for visiting family and relaxation.

Here are some things to look for to help you celebrate.

  • Hung Bao (Ang Pow)– Red envelopes mean prosperity, long life and good fortune. Usually adults put money in the envelopes and pass them out to children.
  • Firecrackers – Their loud bang scares away evil spirits and bad luck and also brings spring rain for crops.
  • Lion Dance– The dancers wear a stylized lion’s head mask and mimic the movements of a lion. (It’s actually more involved than that). The lion scares away evil spirits and brings happiness and good fortune.
  • Live flowers stand for rebirth and growth.
  • Oranges and tangerines stand for “abundant happiness.”

A traditional Chinese New Year food to look for is zong zi which is glutinous rice wrapped up in leaves and steamed. Some have peanuts, egg and meat inside and can be found at many Asian grocery stores. I even can get them in Columbus, Ohio.

Here are links to various Chinese New Year celebrations around the world.

The photo is of a card designed by Chia-yi Fan for a New Year card design contest in Taiwan.

GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of December 31

by Adrienne Wilson on

With so many interesting stories coming out and into the New Year it made selecting this week’s five a bit difficult, yet I think I’ve gathered a well-rounded batch for you to review.

5. Think Before You Click:
Here is the sad tale of a German tourist who accidentally booked a ticket and flew into Sidney, Montana when he actually wanted to go to Sydney, Australia. The lucky fellow was able to make it to his intended destination with the help of family and friends, but talk about a costly mistake! Ouch.

4. Ask The Pilot:
Looking for the answer to all your flying questions? Why not “Ask the Pilot” or pick up the book to see if your question happens to make the selection of commonly pondered questions.

3. Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum:
When a former president is no longer with us it is a big deal to say the least and many feel the need to pay some sort of tribute. The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum is just one place to start or perhaps you can think and thank him on your way from the ATM as he was the dude that made it legal to pull money from a machine. Not as grand as a trip to the museum, but its just a thought.

2. Paddling Baja Dispatch: Day 2:
After another great trip, Erik returns to share with us the details of paddling Baja. In this dispatch he talks about his guide Carlos, jagged coastlines, incredible rock formations, Mexican food, and rum and of course he does the favor of including some very cool photos from the affair. There is more to come, but in the meanwhile catch up on this if you already haven’t.

1. Chinese Shish Kabobs:
Death-wish or delicious? I don’t know about the food found in the pictures from Neil’s pal Pete, but I do know they make my skin crawl to the point where these Chinese shish kabob would be staying far from the taste-buds and only close enough for photo ops. Do proceed with caution.

On Chinese Street Food

by Adrienne Wilson on

Go World Travel features a fine culinary travel piece by Larry Jer who after spending months in China decides to risk everything to sample – Chinese street food. We’ve all been tempted on one journey or another to give into the aromas drifting off the grill or pan from some street chef looking to tantalize your taste buds, fuel your stomach as well as make an honest living. Sometimes trying those delicious smelling street treats isn’t as easy as one might think. For Larry having Chinese street food was much like a trip to the circus. I can understand that, but it wasn’t until Larry found he needed to get the weight he’d lost by avoiding most foods in China that he gave in to the street vendors. In addition to developing balls or courage to try the food for weight concerns, he also found gobbling down silkworm added dimension to his stay in China. How about that? Dimension in silkworms? Mmm…

Read the rest for yourself. Foodies can surely appreciate Larry Jer’s very nicely written travel tale.

Dining in Dushanbe: Chinese Restaurant

by Adrienne Wilson on

Lunch at the Chinese restaurant was like a blur. Perhaps it is not even fair of me to provide a review considering all the factors: eight very jet lagged and hungry foreigners together for the first time with one very quaint young waitress. I would not wish that situation upon anyone, but allow me to talk only on the food.

My taste buds lead me to a spicy chicken dish and I sampled some of the fried rice off a companion’s plate. Now, I have had a large amount of Chinese food in my lifetime and in comparison to all the rest this little Chinese joint next door to the Indian spot off of Rudaki doesn’t get any medals. The food was okay, but I’ve had much better Chinese in parts of Alabama. On the up side it’s a great place to stop if you’re searching for fare less greasy/oily than some of the traditional Tajik finds around the town.

Affordable (low-mid range) and extremely accommodating staff.

Building or Chinese Menu Item?

by Iva Skoch on

Seeing pictures of the proposed new biomedical research center in Chengdu, China (Szechuan province) reminded me of some menu items I tried in that city last year. One reporter called the proposed building “the blob.”

The Szechuan province, of course, is home to that terrific spicy food that is ubiquitous in Chinese restaurants everywhere, usually on the menu right next to an asterisk or a nearby ‘chili pepper’ icon, signifying “this food is hot as hell.”

The traditional and most popular way of eating food in Chengdu is the hotpot. Basically, you’re given a large bowl of boiling, flavored oil that sits atop your table, while you cook skewers of various foods in the oil–kind of like fondue without the cheese. Most of the time, you have some rough idea of what it is you’re cooking, since you picked it off the shelf yourself. The best oil, we were told, was as old as possible: as oil burned off and was eaten, the bowl was topped up; if you cleaned the bowl and used fresh oil, you killed the taste. The older the oil, the better. The table has a hole in it and sits above an industrial-sized propane tank and burner, one to each table. With the cooking-oil-slick floors and open flames everywhere, it’s an American trial-lawyer’s dream.

Back to the building: the building, it seems, was meant to look like a cell, peppered with meeting room pods which were meant to look like embedded proteins around the outside. And the shape? You can see for yourself. Care for a dip in the interior’s “mitochondrial” pools?

Yep, looks and sounds like something I’d be dunking in a bath of ancient, bubbling oil, filled with chili oil and fish heads.