Chúc mừng năm mới!

Happy lunar new year, everyone! Or in Vietnamese: "Chúc mừng năm mới!"

The celebration of the lunar new year is one of the few Vietnamese things that I observe. In Viet Nam, the new year celebration is called "Tết Nguyên Đán" or simply "Tết." It's a three-day holiday, and it's the biggest celebration of the year. I have yet to actually be in Viet Nam during Tết since the beginning of the new year falls in late January or early Febraury so I've always had class. One of these years, I'll make it.

Speaking of class, I'm not taking any formal classes this semester so I suppose I could've actually gone to Viet Nam, but who am I kidding?

One of the prominent symbols of Tết is the mai flower, which is my family name's namesake. My given name, Chi, given the correct accents means "branch." The middle name closest to my first name when read in traditional order is "Nhất" so my name means "first branch of the mai flower," and it represents the fact that I'm the first grandson to my paternal grandparents.

Mai flowers with Lunar New Year decorations.

Anyway, this year is the year of the black dragon in the zodiac. I learned last night that in addition to the zodiac animals of the year, there are also animals for each month, each day, and each hour. I also learned that in addition to animals, each period is described by one of five elements and its corresponding color. Thus, this year is the year of the black dragon, which has some people going crazy!

As with every lunar new year, I go home to visit my parents on the closest weekend. Jessica has also come home with me the past couple of years. The lunar new year is like sort of like Christmas here. Families get together to celebrate, eat lots of food, kids getting money, etc. Compared to more traditional Vietnamese people, my family doesn't do all that much, but it's nice to celebrate the "holiday" with them anyway.

After a quick trip to Garland to "visit" my grandmother and to see my cousin at her job, we went to Hong Kong Marketplace in Arlington. The place was packed with people and vendors selling toys and food. Dragon dances are a traditional element with firecrackers and beating drums.

This picture doesn't do it much justice, but the place was crowded when the dragon dance came inside.

On Sunday, a lot of cooking took place before Jessica and I left to go back home. Jessica and I took the role of wrapping egg rolls (no pun intended). Egg rolls are called "chả giò" in Vietnamese, which means "minced pork roll." I have to say that that's a much better description than egg roll.

Jessica spoons meat mixture into spring roll wrapper.

Jessica proudly presents her finished roll.

 Between the two of us, we rolled about 50 egg rolls. My mom stopped us there for the morning.

These are going to become objects of deliciousness soon.

Mmm...deep fryer.

And just like magic, we have cooked egg rolls to be eaten!

My mom's egg roll meat mixture is quite different from the ones you'll usually find in a Vietnamese restaurant or shop. I love both varieties. I have yet to have a bad Vietnamese egg roll.

Jessica and I have decided that we're going to try an Asian food weekend with crock pot phở, egg rolls, and some Kung Pao chicken.

Lastly, another staple of Tết is "bánh Tết," which is a mixture of sticky rice, soy beans, and pork and cooked in wrapped banana leaves. Here's my mom making home-made bánh Tết.

The banh Tet mixture.

My mom wrapping the goods in banana leaves.

Happy new year, everyone!