I spent a lot of time last night with a YouTube video learning how to say "Happy New Year!" in Mandarin. I'm happy to report that I got my chance to use the phrase at the local Chinese restaurant tonight. I was pleasantly suprised that all of the Mandarin speakers understood what I was saying! YAY! Well, they giggled at me a little bit and each of the employees had to stop by our table to have me greet them with a "Ni Hao!" and "Xin Nein Kuai Le!" but it was all fun. Or... maybe they were giggling at us wearing our matching "Happy New Year" red t-shirts. Kevin has decided that we'll call the few phrases that we know are our "Dixie Mandarin" because our pronounciation has to sound really strange to native ears.
We went to the "big city" tonight in search of goodies for Chinese New Year. The Asian grocery that we shop is very much Korean and had literally nothing for CNY except for some red envelopes at the checkout. It's so true you can find anything on eBay, as I had Kello Kitty red envelopes mailed to us from Taiwan for this year's CNY. Then we checked out World Market and found almond cookies and some Chinese candies. YAY! I don't have to try and bake some! As you know from my previous post on glutinous rice balls, my Chinese cooking isn't going so well... and I tried the special CNY cake and didn't like it. I'm anxious enough waiting for baby news, and the last thing I need right now is more dissapointment in the kitchen.
-
Did you get the "milk candies"? It's kind of a white nougat with peanuts. I-Chwen picked up some for New Years this year.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you are diving into the traditions.. stomach first. Can't think of a more appropriate way to get to know Chinese culture and traditions than through food. Just like a turkey on Thanksgiving, food is a big part of celebrating.
Kevin
I'm impressed that you've even attempted to make Chinese goodies in your kitchen! We were spoiled for a while by having a professor from China living with us...she tried her best to teach me how to fix Chinese home-cooking...but, alas, I have a severe cooking disability!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!