It doesn’t hurt that both families are interested in having
a good relationship together. We can all
be understanding of the differences between the two cultures. It takes a bit of effort to try and think and
behave in a way that doesn’t offend each other’s cultural biases.
Let’s get to what actually happened on our “personal” Lunar
New Year. Brenda, my lovely wife, made a
number of Lunar New Year decorations, and placed them around our
apartment. She created some beautiful
flower arrangements, and a branch of “pussywillows” to hang on one wall. Then she made a beautiful arrangement of ceramicware
for the food service. All of this was
done with the help of Hola stores.
Hola has a wonderful selection of Items for Lunar New Year
and other holidays, like Christmas. We did all of our decoration shopping there. While the women were “oohing and aahing” over
the decorations, Eric, his dad and I got down to business with the teapot.
We brewed a selection of teas, including green, oolong and black
teas with fruit as a snack. The women
joined in after a while, as well. After we were sufficiently, and by sufficiently,
I mean excessively caffeinated it was time to think about serving the meal.
Our meal consisted of traditional Lunar New Year foods. We had Luobogao (which is a combination of
turnips and flour making a kind of cake), Zhujiao (pig’s feet), Sea bass, pork
ball and turnip soup and “Buddha jumps over the wall” soup, and spinach. Each of these carry a traditional meaning.
Luobogao (white radish cake) – gao means high, so the
thought behind serving that is that you will move up during the next year. A promotion on the job, or getting into a
good high school, literally an increase.
Zhujiao or pigs feet represents abundance in the new year.
The fish is served, but some is to be left over to signify
having food for the next year.
The pork ball/white radish soup – The addition of white radish
is a wish for good luck in the next year.
The Spinach is made with long leaves to signify longevity.
Finally, “Buddha Jumps over the wall” should be made premium
quality ingredients and is a desire for wealth and prosperity
Lunar New Year is a great holiday. We hope that you have a healthy, prosperous new year! Happy Year of the Snake!
啊，農曆新年！蛇年來了！我們今年提早慶祝，是為了能和 Eric 的家人一起過節。雖然語言上有些障礙，但我們已經成為一個很親密的大家庭。我們通過共同的興趣找到溝通的方法，比如我和 Eric 的爸爸都喜歡泡茶，用功夫茶的方式品茶。我們也喜歡一起打麻將。我們還都愛吃美味的台灣菜。當然了，大家都很愛 Elizabeth、Eric 和他們的家人。這些都是跨文化的共同點——美食、樂趣和家庭，無論來自哪裡，每個文化都珍視和享受這些。
兩家人都希望保持良好的關係，這點也很重要。大家都能理解兩種文化的差異，並努力以一種尊重對方文化的方式去思考和行為。這需要一些努力，但絕對值得。
現在來說說我們“私人”的農曆新年慶祝吧！我的太太 Brenda 特別賢慧，她做了很多農曆新年的裝飾品，把我們的公寓布置得充滿節日氣氛。她設計了一些漂亮的花藝擺設，還掛了一支“銀柳”在牆上。她還用陶瓷餐具布置了一套非常漂亮的餐桌擺設。所有這一切都在 Hola 商店的幫助下完成。
Hola 商店有很多很棒的節日商品，無論是農曆新年還是聖誕節，我們所有的裝飾都是在那裡買的。當女士們對裝飾品嘖嘖稱讚時，Eric、他爸爸和我已經開始專心泡茶了。
我們泡了幾種茶，包括綠茶、烏龍茶和紅茶，並配了些水果當小吃。後來女士們也加入了我們的茶會。等我們喝夠了茶（其實是喝得過量了），就開始準備晚餐了。
我們的晚餐是傳統的農曆新年菜餚，有蘿蔔糕（白蘿蔔加米粉做成的糕點）、豬腳、海鱸魚、豬肉丸蘿蔔湯、“佛跳牆”和菠菜。每道菜都有特殊的寓意：
- 蘿蔔糕：因為“糕”與“高”同音，象徵步步高升，比如工作升職或考上好學校。
- 豬腳：寓意新年豐衣足食。
- 魚：吃魚時要留一些，象徵“年年有餘”。
- 豬肉丸蘿蔔湯：白蘿蔔象徵好運。
- 佛跳牆：用優質食材製作，象徵財富和繁榮。
- 菠菜：用長葉子烹飪，象徵長壽。
農曆新年真是一個美好的節日！祝大家新年健康、富足！蛇年快樂！
Check Out Elizabeth's video - 查看莎白的影片！
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