You can learn to determine Chinese New Year day yourself as long as you have access to a calendar which shows the phases of the moon (this site has one that's easy to follow: http://stardate.org/nightsky/moon/). First, locate the date for the Winter Solstice – usually December 21st or 22nd - and count 2 new moons from that date. The second new moon is the first day of Chinese New Year.
The fifteenth day after Chinese New Year day is Lantern Festival (the first full moon of the New Year) and marks the official end to the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival. Every festival has its special food and the Lantern Festival Day is no exception. On that day it is traditional to enjoy yuan xiao, or glutinous rice balls filled with either sweetened black or white sesame paste, red bean paste or ground peanuts. The white rice balls (a little smaller than a ping pong ball) are served floating in the boiling water in which they were cooked. The hot liquid is garnished with fragrant sweet olive (osmanthus) blossoms. The floating rice balls remind us of the first full moon of the New Year.Copyright© 2009 Helen Chen. All rights reserved.
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I know noodles are a huge staple in Asian cuisine. Are there specific noodles that are only made with certain types of dishes? What is the difference in styles?
ReplyDeleteDanielle: There are many different types of noodles, but there are basically two types made with either wheat (with or without eggs)or rice flour. There are also noodles made from bean flour. In general all the noodles can be used interchangeably in soup, stir fried or even deep fried. There are traditional and regional specialties that may be made with a specific type of noodle, but in most cases the choice of noodle type is fairly flexible and left to the cook.
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