Celebrating the New Year in China this February, we’ve been shown an abundance two key ingredients in any display of Chinese festivities: fireworks and food.
Midnight fireworks over our building complex in downtown Yixing
Here is what I’ve learned about the former: ANY person can set off fireworks ANY place they want, at ANY time of day. Take your pick! For the past month in Yixing, we’ve heard booms and crackling and watched sparklers and sky-high explosions around the clock. Whether it’s midnight on a Saturday or the crack of dawn on a Tuesday morning, no time is a wrong time for festivities in Yixing :)
Our banquet table spinning and brimming with a creative display of dishes
As for matters of food, the New Year is a time for those of plentiful means to bring on the banquet! Since living in Yixing, we’ve been to several incredible banquet style meals for various occasions and non-occasions, typically hosted by Jia Ching’s colleagues at the Yixing Development Zone.
To celebrate the Chinese New Year we had the pleasure of dining with the fun and food-loving staff of Desheng Solar at their company holiday dinner.
Each time we’ve arrived at banquets prior to this one, entering into shmancy private chambers where anywhere from 4 to 40 people might come together for a night of no-holds-barred drinking and dining, I always kick myself for forgetting to bring along my camera.
Words simply cannot describe the tantalizing, curious and at times shocking food extravaganza these elaborate and seemingly endless meals put on for my eyes and tastebuds. You just have to see it for yourself.
Happily on our way out the door to this extra special New Year’s feast I remembered to grab the camera! Let me say, I wasn’t shy during dinner. (Jia Ching tells me no one is really phased by my obsessive picture taking here, because I’m a foreigner.) Between bites, I snapped photos continuously throughout the evening, determined to share my archive with you here on musafira.
Here and now, I’m going to do my best to virtually transport you to one of the most fascinating and colorful dining experiences I’ve ever had in my life: a full-on Chinese New Year Banquet in Yixing! Enjoy the picture show…
Table setting: an appropriate set of tools for the task(s) at hand.
First round: walk into the banquet room to see an array of cold meat and vegetable dishes ready and waiting for the tasting. This flavorfully marinated beef is always a treat!
Lovely displays of pumpkin squash never last long once my chopsticks get ahold!
Even with that pretty orchid there to spruce up the plate, I still take a pass on the offal. Jia Ching continues to tell me this is a tasty snack (even when cold).
Plentiful platefuls of ever-popular chicken feet get grabbed up faster than I can believe! Despite the fact that they are the fan favorite, I still get cold feet and am simply too chicken to take a nibble. Puns intended :)
After everyone has started to dig in and the soup has been served, the first of many rounds of toasts commences! The ice is officially broken…time to indulge.
New arrivals straight from the sea to our table: an iced platter of sashimi offers up all you can eat salmon and geoduck (a monster-like species of clam that I wish I never googled).
A more familiar face.
Fish fry! New fresh dishes keep coming and the table keeps spinning and it’s hard to keep up with everything coming my way!
As the others drink up, I admire my favorite dish of the night: sauteed garlicky shrimp in a sweet sticky sauce that still makes me lick my lips. Mmmm…
Gendered specialties: ladies only get served a halved papaya filled with a cloudy tapioca-based soup. Keep digging and you find the real treasure: an entire slimy sea cucumber! I’ll refrain from commenting on the obvious innuendos ;)
Meanwhile, the gentlemen are served an entire abalone. Estimated cost of this gendered specialty: a lot.
A note on drinking etiquette: unfortunately, no matter how intoxicated you already feel, when the boss (pictured right) toasts you, it’s gan bei!! Bottom’s up)!
Savory favorites: save room for the end because the later rounds bring hot dishes like this delicious sauteed cabbage flavored with hot peppers and meat. It doesn’t look like much, but believe me it is scrumptious and I always look forward to when it spins over my way!
Another favorite is taro root and pork belly cooked in a clay pot. Perfect in our family where I can enjoy the taro while my partner eats up the pork! This is total comfort food that just melts in your mouth.
Another note on drinking etiquette: if you feel like you need to get up for a mid-meal stretch just head across the table and toast your buddies! Wo jing ni!
Sweet dishes trickle onto the table throughout the evening, but here are some of the most notable in elegance and flavor. First up, feast your eyes on this intricately constructed basket weaved out of what I can only describe as delicate sugary thread, and stuffed full with a syrupy melange of dragon and other tropical fruits.
To offset the elaborateness of the uber-sweet fruit basket, something simple like egg & corn cake goes easy on your palette.
Layered, crispy, buttery, creamy, custardy bite-sized goodness. Need I say more?
Taking a step back I simply can’t believe how much food is still on the table despite how much everyone has been eating. It’s been a constant and endless flow of food to the table from the first minute we picked up our chopsticks. Hmm…guess it’s time for another toast!
Oh…you thought we were done? After a plate of citrus and melon and a bit of a breather interspersed with several more toasts, there is still one final course to enjoy. Referred to as the “main course” this is typically a small and savory bowl of either rice, dumplings or noodles. I always hope for the noodles, which is actually what we consider the tastiest part of this long, long meal.
Well, I think I’ve managed to capture about 50% of the food that actually hit the table…and that is probably enough to give you a sense of the variety and creativity of dishes to be experienced during a festive evening of Chinese banqueting. On that note I’ll bid you farewell and wish you a very happy and prosperous new year from Yixing!!
