Chinese Food on Christmas - Do You Do It?

[chef koo]

[Lonnie]

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They're not the only ones. We're a large family of practically all adults who are adventurous eaters. The closest we get to any religious affiliation is Unitarian Universalist. Oh, and half the family is of Chinese descent. So we ordered a huge take-home meal from a very good Asian (Chinese, Thai, Japanese) restaurant. The son who just graduated from the CIA made a venison rillette with an apple cranberry chutney as an appetizer, plus he made three pies for dessert. And nobody got exhausted in the kitchen. Much more time to enjoy each other's company.

Lonnie

[tsquare]

This one had a nice chicken and sausage jambalaya!

[BeeZee]

Roasted veggie lasagne for us!

[Domestic Goddess]

This year's Christmas had me making Chinese food on Christmas day and the day after. I made Mapo Tofu with beansprouts pancakes as a side dish on Christmas day. The next day, I fixed steamed spareribs with bean sauce, chopseuy and crispy dried anchovies. My kids are loving it!

[Sararwelch]

I'm jewish, and I can say that my family always goes to the movies, chinese food is optional!

[Jambalyle]

We went to the movies to see The Pursuit of Happyness. We ran into several temple members at the theater who, indeed, had Chinese before the movie.

We opted to head home and finish off the leftovers from our friend's Tamalada we were at on Saturday. Definitely preferable to walnut shrimp and sweet and sour pork!

[Dejah]

We retired from the Chinese restaurant biz in 2002, but I still have panic attacks on Xmas eve and New Year's eve remembering how crazy busy we were on those days! This holiday season was the only time we prepared and froze the most popular items like chicken balls. Yeah, I know, it's not authentic, but they were traditional on the Canadian prairies.

Our chicken balls were hand cut from chickens we dissected ourselves. Each piece was dipped in egg wash, hand breaded in cracker meal and formed into perfect balls about 1.5 inch of pure meat. All other restaurants deep fried their tiny bits of meat in one inch thick batter.

Chinese food was definitely the tradition in this city for Xmas eve, New Year's eve, and New Year's day. On Dec. 24th, we would close at 8 pm, and I would rush home to the prime rib already cooking in my oven. New Year's eve and New Year's day, most orders would have been placed days before. We would organize 15 "order forms" per 20 minutes, and that could total 150 containers of food! There can also be "cater" orders for 50 thrown in. There is no point anyone popping in to pick up an order, or calling in for food to be delivered in 30 minutes.

We get a rest on Xmas Day.

New Year's eve consists of two waves: supper time, and 11 pm to midnight. New Year's day is just supper rush.

Now, on those days, we have non-Chinese food at home: lamb on the 24th, turkey and ham on the 25th, and prime rib and seafood on the 26th. New Year's party was a potluck at friends.

On the night that all members of my family (brother, s-i-l, their 3 daughters, and my own three kids who have all worked at Soo's) are home and around the dinner table, our favourite game is "Soo's Menu". Our items continued to use the numbering system set up by my dad when he started the biz in 1972. When I took over the biz and introduced some authentic dishes, and Szechuan items, the numbers grew. It's nostalgic and hilarious trying to match a number yelled out by someone to the name of the dish.

That's the Christmas tradition in a family who used to own a Chinese restaurant.

BTW, Pam, which Chinese restaurant did you go to? Kum Koon for dim sum?

[Pam R]

BTW, Pam, which Chinese restaurant did you go to? Kum Koon for dim sum?

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I didn't uphold the tradition this year. Sad, I know. Last year it was Shanghai, I hadn't been in years - I knew every other customer there!

Thanks for sharing the tradition from the 'other side'.

[ghostrider]

Well, we did it up in Maine, cuz after the huge Christmas dinner at the in-laws, we just wanted a light supper, & believe me, NOTHING else was open up there.

[...tm...]

My parents are as Catholic as they come and we've had a tradition of takeout Chinese food on Christmas Eve for quite some time now. It makes sense, really, since there are a lot of shennanigans going on--you have to wrap the presents (or obtain them at the last minute if you are as irresponsible as some of us), dress up in ridiculous holiday sweaters, and attend an interminably long mass. Cooking would just be one more thing to do on an already busy day. Plus, the presents get opened before 1 am.

[hzrt8w]

...New Year's eve consists of two waves: supper time, and 11 pm to midnight.  New Year's day is just supper rush.

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Back in my days working as a waiter in Chinese restaurants:

There was absolutely no hope of getting any break of any kind working on New Year Eve. From 5pm to 1am - 8 hours of mad rush, the whole place was jam-packed. The waiting list will scare the would-be customers away ("2 hour minimum waiting").

The other day is... Valentine's Day.

Christmas Eve is easier, as a good majority of patrons dine at home.