New Year's Day dinner - China style.
My dearest, best friend J invited me to join her and her boyfriend with his family for a (mostly) home cooked New Year dinner. She said that she asked me because I am the only family she has in town (she is from another city) - I felt so moved by that - but she is like family. My only family in town. Here is what we ate. 6 people.
The spread
The red wine is unusual. I supplied that.
Squid with peppers
Beijing Duck
Pork and Chinese Yam Soup
White Cut Chicken
Broccoli
Beef with Peppers
Steamed Pork Balls with Sticky Rice
The Universal Dip served with all meals in this part of China.
These dishes were all home cooked apart from the Beijing duck. That was bought from the market and served with the usual accompaniments. J cooked the squid. I taught her how to cook squid years ago and she is now brave enough to depart slightly from my way by adding bell peppers instead of the hot peppers I use. Being from southern Guangxi, she is not a spice girl.
Everything was very good, but the pork balls with sticky rice were outstanding. And I don't usually like sticky rice much. I only ate the first one to be polite, then had several more. Mama was over the moon but in true Chinese style claimed she hadn't made them properly. Denigrating your own cooking is the height of good manners.
A great start to 2017 eating.
