Family gives up convenience for ‘homey feel’
Print Edition
RURU Gao lives with her parents and grandparents like most young locals do before marrying. Her apartment is always noisy and the family excited when Chinese New Year comes as friends and relatives gather.
“I will knock at grandma’s door in the early morning for yasuiqian (压岁钱, money given to children as a Spring Festival gift) even though I am too old to accept money now,” Gao said.
She says the family had been celebrating Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner in restaurants for years because of the convenience, but have recently decided to stay home to ring in the Year of the Sheep.
“The restaurants, no matter how nice, just don’t have that homey feel,” Gao said. “Plus most of the appetizers are from traditional food stores and some of the other dishes are semi-finished from the restaurants, so my mom only has to stir fry or stew them and they’re ready.”
Usually one week before New Year, Gao and her mother began their busy festival shopping. They went sourcing food at Shanghai No. 1 Food Department Store on Nanjing Road E.
“The store’s distinctive scent, a mixture of xianyu (咸鱼, preserved fish) and lachang (腊肠, preserved sausage) is both appealing and nostalgic,” Gao said. “It makes me think of my childhood.”
Preserved fish, various zaohuo (糟货, a variety of ingredients marinated in rice wine, such as nails, fish and crab) and zuihuo (醉货, raw shrimp and crab marinated in baijiu, a Chinese spirit distilled from grains) are the main appetizers the Gaos have for their festival dinner.
Gao’s mother will also buy dried bamboo shoots and Jinhua ham to make yanduxian (腌笃鲜, a typical Shanghai soup of bamboo shoots, salted and fresh pork, which is usually served in the winter).
The food store also sells candies and nuts, which the family likes to stock up on and serve to guests during the holiday.
The Gaos also will go to the dimsum shop nearby for two classic Chinese desserts — niangao (年糕, Chinese cake made from glutinous rice) and babaofan (八宝饭, steamed glutinous rice ball filled with red bean paste and topped with nuts).
“They both have auspicious meanings in Chinese. ‘Gao’ means up and ‘bao’ means treasure and bountiful,” Gao said.
On the first day of Chinese New Year, Gao’s mother used to make danjiao (蛋饺, egg dumpling). Its golden color and ingot shape are omens of wealth and happiness.
Her mother usually stuffs them with minced pork and shredded shrimp.
“It’s not easy to make the egg skin,” Gao’s mother said. “If it’s fried too fast the skin will break easily, but it burns if you fry it too long.”
Gao adds that they have added one Western element to their family reunion dinner.
“We love to pair the food with a bottle of light and fruity Beaujolais,” said Gao.
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