Happy Chinese New Year - The Year of the Dragon

Hi Everyone,

Happy Chinese New Year or some people say Happy Lunar New Year or in Chinese Gung Hay Fat Choy! 2024 is the year of the dragon which is the fifth animal of the Chinese zodiac, its the only mythical creature in the zodiac and they are seen as a symbol of good fortune.

I had a lovely family meal today, I had invited @livinguktaiwan around for a Chinese New Year lunch which consisted of some of our favourite dishes that my Father makes. The UK gas hob is never good enough for wok cooking so my dad brought over a makeshift cooked for outside, it still wasn't good enough so a project I need to add to my garden is an outdoor kitchen made for wok cooking.

My Father was born in Hong Kong and learnt all his amazing cooking skills from working in Hong Kong before coming over to the UK before he turned 18 and worked in Chinese takeaways here. I definitely need to learn from him because his cooking is divine.

We had my favourite dish which is crispy noodles with lobster cooked with ginger and spring onion in an oyster sauce. The picture doesn't do it justice but it is so delicious!

We also had my Father's famous roast duck that is cooked to absolute perfection. The skin is so cripsy and I love eating that with some rice but today I had to settle for some crispy noodles with my duck.

We also had my favourite vegetable which, in the UK, is called Chinese leaf which is boiled before tossed in the wok with some garlic. It went perfectly with all the dishes and it was the perfect trio of dishes for a lovely family Chinese New Year.

We finished the meal with some pineapple cakes which we bought from Costco just for this meal. My Auntie said to heat them up slightly which makes them taste better which it did. I ended up eating three, maybe four, I can't remember but they were delicious with some HK Style Milk Tea.

I have finished the day with writing this post as well as a glass of Bushmills Whisky as I had given some to my Uncle who said that if you add a bit of distilled water it'll open the flavours. It's chemistry, in his words, which I was never good at but I had to give it a try and it was very tasty! It may be my new favourite bedtime tipple.

I wish you all a prosperous year and may it be filled with an abundance of smiles and laughter.

Until next time, stay tuned.