Chinese New Year Banquet Menu

[Gastro888]

Hey, dudette888! 

If you go traditional CNY, it might be a very enjoyable, educational dining experience for your non-Chinese dinner guests, yes?  At which restaurant will this spectacular banquet  be held?

Just nosy

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spaghetttti girl!

I agree with you. After reading this post I'm leaning towards a traditional menu with the glowing narrative. (Yes, you buff and debonair 'fei-jai' I'm referring to you. )

Mark's Duck House! Everyone's all over the DC area and MD restaurants aren't as good as the VA ones (well, for Cantonese, IMHO...except for Oriental East's dim sum) and it's a good location.

My fear is that the sea cucumber will go to waste as I know some people are texture phobic. Anything squishy and they go ick. Baaaah.

[hzrt8w]

Yes, not everybody here can cook. It's partly because so many people have full-time "domestic helpers" (maids).

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Aprilmei: you must be living in the neighborhood of the top one percentile of the population. I grew up in the neborhood of the commons. Still many people don't do serious cooking at home. We may not dine at the high-end restaurants. But in Hong Kong there are always eateries with decent food to fit everybody's budget.

I think the easy accessibility to good food at reasonable price is the prime reason why no one has the incentive to cook at home (and having such a small kitchen is also the main factor). No practice, no performance...

Gastro888, you probably want to pick dishes to fit the taste of most of your attendees, even at the expense of being non-traditional.

[Gastro888]

That's where I'm having the problem - go full out traditional or cater to people's tastes. PCL and spaghetttti do make good points about going t traditional and giving people who otherwise would never eat a traditional CNY meal a chance to experience it. However, it all goes back to "what if no one likes it and the food goes to waste"?

[Ben Hong]

Gastro: you have enough variety on your menu that everybody can find something to like. If I were to plan something of that magnitude, what a few diners like or dislike would be very, very, low on my list of priorities. Like not on it at all.

Stick with the traditional. It is your event and CNY is the MOST traditional of all our festivals. If people are insensitive and ignorant enough to expect and eat things they only like, give them the addresses of a few take out places. Fie on them.

[herbacidal]

Ben's right, stick with what is appropriate for the theme of the meal, which is Chinese New Year.

But diners should be notiified ahead of time that what they will be having is not meant to offer something that everyone will enjoy.

Including the menu in the invitation is probably the best course of action.

Wait, you mean there's single Chinese / Chinese-American women my age range here?

Okay, I need to dress nicer and comb my hair.

Edited February 3, 2005 by herbacidal (log)

[Ben Hong]

Hoo Boy, Herby, I know this beautiful sweet Toysan mui who goes by the handle of "gastro888" and she posts on....... And she cooks!!!

Seriously gastro, shouldn't you have a dish of "jai" (Buddhist vegetarian dish) also?

[Gastro888]

"Fie on them". When did we become British? (Well, there was that whole HK colonial thing...)

Ai ya, now I understand why everyone was so happy when I volunteered to organize this. It's my first time and I want it to be a good experience. Hopefully they'll have the traditional menu ready soon so I can scope it out.

Once we have this banquet, I'll post pics.

Herbacidal, you are correct.

But if you expect any of us to mend your socks, I'll kok you!

[Gastro888]

Hoo Boy, Herby, I know this beautiful sweet Toysan mui  who goes by the handle of "gastro888" and she posts on.......   And she cooks!!!

Seriously gastro, shouldn't you have a dish of "jai" (Buddhist vegetarian dish) also?

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"Ai ya! Ah sook-sook seng mai joh ngoh bay yen day!" (Cantonese)

(Ai ya! Uncle wants to sell me to someone!)

Yeah - loh han jai, right? As a kid, I went ginko nut picking with my mom and dad. Oh man, the car REEKED of ginko nuts for days. If you're ever in DC and you need fresh ginkos, the city is littered with trees.

[herbacidal]

I'm still not used to seeing them called gingko nuts.

We used to call them dingleberries.

They were all around my elementary school when I was a young'un.

Now they fall from the tree across from my house.

But Gastro, socks are so cheap now.

How are you at patching holes in other articles of clothing?

[Ben Hong]

Jeez, am I witnessing the blooming of a romance here? Herb, you do me proud with your exhibition of Chinese practicality and pragmatism. Socks indeed!!

Gastro888, you're up.

[Shalmanese]

When I was living in Hong Kong, the cost of the ingredients would often be more than the cost of the prepared meal at a cheap eatery, albeit, with 3 times the fat and crappy produce.

I mainly cooked at home because I love it but I certainly would eat out every day if I didn't enjoy cooking.

[spaghetttti]

Jeez, am I witnessing the blooming of a romance here? Herb, you do me proud with your exhibition of Chinese practicality and pragmatism.   Socks indeed!!

Gastro888, you're up.

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Yeah, Gastro888! Let me tell you, from what I've seen, Herb is cute!

Edited February 6, 2005 by spaghetttti (log)

[Dejah]

Jeez, am I witnessing the blooming of a romance here? Herb, you do me proud with your exhibition of Chinese practicality and pragmatism.   Socks indeed!!

Gastro888, you're up.

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Yeah, Gastro888! Let me tell you, from what I've seen, Herb is cute!

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Well, he enjoys food . . That's important!

[aprilmei]

Yes, not everybody here can cook. It's partly because so many people have full-time "domestic helpers" (maids).

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Aprilmei: you must be living in the neighborhood of the top one percentile of the population. I grew up in the neborhood of the commons. Still many people don't do serious cooking at home. We may not dine at the high-end restaurants. But in Hong Kong there are always eateries with decent food to fit everybody's budget.

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Not true. So many people here have domestic helpers and they're not rich. Even families living in one-bedroom places - that's four people (father, mother and child, plus the domestic helper) will have a maid living in one small apartment. Full-time maids cost only HK$3,250 per month (that's about US$400). That's the legal rate, btw; some helpers from Indonesia are paid about half that rate. I've been in homes where the domestic helpers live in the kitchen - they sleep under the table. I don't think that's legal - I believe they're supposed to have their own room. And paying them less than $3,250 is DEFINITELY illegal but it goes on all the time. I don't actually know all this stuff first-hand because I don't have a maid (although my boyfriend does).

[Gastro888]

Man, I'm not on for two days and I miss the party! hee hee.

Dingleberries? Um, where I'm from we use that term for somethin' else.

Wah, Ben...you definitely puttin' me on the sellin' block now. How many pigs did herbacidal give you so far? Bolts of silk? No wait - Philly cheesesteaks!

Oh, I can do all the domestic things - I just choose to outsource them. Let me guess, mom still wash your clothes, huh? (just teasing!)

spaghetttti, nice picture. I love a man in black.

Back on topic, I actually had some neen goh yesterday at a lunar new year's party. It was plain and brown, not studded with dried fruit or dyed red. It kinda tasted like "woon jai goh" that my mom makes but alot stickier. My Japanese friend said it tasted like mochi to her. It was good - but I don't know if it was because it was good or because we were eating it at 1:30am after dancing all night and we were starving.

edited b/c english ain't my first language....

Edited February 7, 2005 by Gastro888 (log)

[Makan King]

I would suggest going traditional for the CNY banquet. Most of the dishes aren't really all that unusual, and actually feaure familiar ingredients. It would be interesting for your guests for you to explain the cultural significance of each dish as it arrives.

Have you had the sea cucumber at the restaurant where you are hosting this dinner? Sea cucumber is not an easy ingredient to handle. I love sea cucumber (especially braised with pork belly and black mushroom in a rich soya sauce gravy) and would recommend it. But, if the restaurant doesn't do it well, then I would suggest giving it a miss.

You can actually combine the sea cucumber with the soup dish. At home, my mom and grandmother makes an incredible soup every CNY that we all drain to the very last drop (and there are literally vats of it too). A home-made chicken stock is filled with dried scallops, fish balls, home-made pork and crabmeat balls, fish maw, sea cucumber, cabbage, as well as the stock from tinned abalone. It is light, yet rich and full-bodied. I love it!

In chaozhou (teochew) tradition, leeks are also a must for the CNY table, since it's name in chaozhou sounds the same as the word for counting (as in counting money).

A nice touch would be to place two mandarin oranges at each place setting, as a good luck token for your guests as they take their seats.

Happy New Year everyone! May the year of the rooster bring an abundance of good health, good fortune and much happiness.

[Gastro888]

I love sea cucumber! I just don't like eating it if it's not well cleaned. *cringe*

Thanks for the party favor idea! I was thinking to do to oranges for everyone or I was going to order small jade party favors online. You know, those jadite things on a string. I also was going to type up the menu on red paper and have an explanation of all the foods as well.

Does anyone else have any party favor ideas? I was thinking candy.

My friend and I will be adding another authentic touch by wearing cheongsams. Speaking of which, I need to get one!

[Ben Hong]

Uh, er, hmm...Gastro888...you will be posting pictures of you in the cheongsam, no? Oh, a few pictures of the food would be nice...too.

[Gastro888]

OK, Uncle Ben, now I'm convinced you're trying to sell me off on eG!

[herbacidal]

Gastro, you have to post the pic.

Yetty found the unflattering pic of me here just because I'm a sucker for the gratitutious action shot.

You gotta give me a reason to visit DC. Thus far, I've visited Egulleteers in San Francisco and NYC.

[Gastro888]

Ai ya! Typical Asian male response. Always gotta see a picture first. Do you want to see me mending socks or doing embroidery?

NOW I saw the picture of you. I thought spaghetttti was joking with the picture of the black chicken. Dude, where's your "fai gee"?

The menu's STILL not done yet - sigh. @#$! Ai ya....

[PCL]

Candied fruit would make great party favours.

Fireworks, yes, fireworks, lot of them. Big Bang time.

Make of all that what you will.

Sedate CNY dinner tonight with mum, dad, sister, wife, and possible outcast cousin.... see, politics already... can't wait... hungry, not eating lunch today...

[Gastro888]

Ai ya. Outcast cousin. Dude, that's my role.

Candied fruit! Fantastic! I could wrap it up in red netting.

[Ben Hong]

Oh, show the boy a pic. Now tell me your respective astrological signs. Bolts of silk, suckling pigs, whatever. But a bit of tea money works well too.

[spaghetttti]

Gastro, you have to post the pic.

Yetty found the unflattering pic of me here just because I'm a sucker for the gratitutious action shot.

You gotta give me a reason to visit DC.  Thus far, I've visited Egulleteers in San Francisco and NYC. 

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Ai ya!  Typical Asian male response.  Always gotta see a picture first.  Do you want to see me mending socks or doing embroidery?

NOW I saw the picture of you.  I thought spaghetttti was joking with the picture of the black chicken.  Dude, where's your "fai gee"?

The menu's STILL not done yet - sigh.  @#$!  Ai ya....

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Oh, show the boy a pic. Now tell me your respective astrological signs. Bolts of silk, suckling pigs, whatever. But a bit of tea money works well too.  

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Heheh, Ben - I love this!!! Herb, please accept my sincere apologies. (I still think you're cute). Perhaps this one is better. Gastro, please be patient, all good things come to those who wait. (It's the last photo, after all those pizza shots )

Ahem, Gastro -- do like Uncle Ben says.