Wednesday, January 28, 2009

prosperity through hard work

Our conversation on Saturday night:
Somebody: I think I am only going to go to sacrament meeting tomorrow.
Me: What? Why?
S: Well, it's a holiday.
M: Uh, only kind of. It's not really a holiday here.
S: It's a holiday for me. If it was Christmas, would you go to all three hours of church, or would you only have sacrament meeting?
M: We would only have sacrament meeting. But it's not Christmas.
S: What if it was Christmas and Thanksgiving and New Years all rolled in to one?
M: But it's not. It's just the Chinese New Year.
S: I don't even know you.
M: Whatever. If you feel good about it...
S: Oh, I feel good about it.

We celebrated the Chinese New Year with a fancy-pants Chinese dinner that Somebody spent a week preparing for and a full day cooking. It was spectacular. Besides the six dishes below, we also had dumplings, a mushroom/tofu dish, and noodles (I don't know how I missed getting pictures of those.) Oh, and below you see oranges, steamed tilapia, bok choy, squid, shrimp, and pork all cooked and sauced to perfection.Amazing. The boy knows how to cook. He said that it never felt quite like it was New Year's Eve, and that somehow something was missing (possibly his Chinese family?), but at least he could drown his sorrows in good food.

Two years ago, as part of a last honeymoon, Somebody and I, along with my parents, traveled to Taiwan during the two weeks of the Chinese New Year. The main purpose of the trip was to have a wedding dinner with Somebody's family and to give me and my parents a little exposure to a culture completely foreign to us. I have been my typical lazy self and never really finished my postings of that trip. The laziness ends now. Starting today, and for the remainder of the New Year, I'll post what we were doing on this day two years ago. Prepare to be blown away by my gripping stories and my very blond hair. You can catch the first days of the New Year by following the links below.

Chinese New Year's Eve (Saturday, February 17, 2007)
New Year's Day
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday

3 comments:

Lauralee Altice said...

haha that is so funny! I feel like I have that convo with "somebody" too sometimes! He is so silly!

Paul and Rebecca Jones said...

You guys are too funny. I can see you having that conversation :)

Karla said...

Here in Mormonville land we have all three meetings even on Christmas. The food looks great! How did you know who like it?