Chinese-American New Year

I recently posted about our international Thanksgiving.  Our dear neighbors, who joined us for Thanksgiving, invited us to come celebrate New Year's Eve with them, and enjoy their Chinese tradition of making homemade dumplings (which they usually would make for Chinese New Year, but no one in the United States is off work then).  Everyone rolls their sleeves up and helps make the dumplings.  I would imagine that it's much like the Mexican tradition of making tamales for New Year's. 

I wasn't sure what to expect when I showed up.  Our friend David brought out three large balls of dough, divided them, and then expertly began to roll out these perfect little circles, like he had been born doing it.  You can buy pre-made crusts at the international grocery store, but this family makes it from scratch.  It was fun to watch him.  He worked so quickly and proficiently.

Here are David and Winnie, their friend from Singapore, making and filling crusts.  The beef filling is pictured and they also made a shrimp and vegetable filling.  

We started filling all the trays, so the dumplings could be boiled at the last minute.  Later my friend Julia told me she was nervous about me and and one other non-Chinese lady being able to properly crimp and seal the dumplings.  But we did good! 

While we made dumplings, Julia worked feverishly in the kitchen and started filling the table with numerous other goodies.  Look at all these amazing homemade Chinese dishes!

Here is my plate, with homemade dumplings and other delectable items.  I went back for seconds and thirds. After dinner Winnie's husband, who is a bassist for the Indianapolis Symphony orchestra, gave us a mini concert. He has been playing with them for 33 years. It was amazing to watch him play his massive instrument so expertly.  If I didn't think I was going to embarrass the socks off of Kevin I would've taken a picture. :)  This was a fantastic way to end the year, let me tell you. 

On New Year's morning, I made these cute little individual baked eggs.  Aren't they adorable?  And they were very easy and Kevin appreciated that they were pretty much pure protein. :)

We had a pretty lazy day, which is a great way to start the year.

 

And the new year started with tons of snow, and the promise of more to come.  The high on Monday is -12.  Yikes!  The kids have been playing in it while they can!