Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Happy Chinese New Year and Pics From Superbowl Sunday


Chinese New Year is the most important of the Chinese holidays, and is a time of feasting with the family, celebration, fireworks, and gift-giving. It is a 15-day holiday, beginning on the first day of a new moon and ending with the full moon on the day of the Lantern Festival.




Fortune cookies are a fun way to end a family meal, and easily bought in most Chinese supermarkets. But they are also fun to make - and if you make them yourself you will be able to add your own "fortunes" (or get the kids to write some out to include, which is sure to get them giggling).
Ingredients (makes 12):
1 egg white
Tiny amount of vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
Directions:
Write your fortunes on strips of white paper approximately 4 inches by 1/2 inch.
Preheat the oven to 400F (200C, Gas Mark 5), and grease two cookie sheets.
Beat the egg white and vanilla until foamy but not stiff. Sift the flour, salt, and sugar and fold gently into the egg white mixture.
Place a teaspoonful of the batter onto one of the prepared cookie sheets, and tilt the sheet to encourage the batter to form into a nice round shape about 3 inches in diameter. Repeat, leaving at least 2 inches between the cookies, and sticking to no more than 2 or 3 per sheet as you will need to work with them quickly while they are hot.
Put the first sheet into the oven and bake for about 5 minutes, watching carefully, until the cookie has turned a golden color around the outer edge of the circle (the center should remain pale; see the photo above). While you are waiting, prepare the next cookie sheet.
Once cooked, remove from oven and very quickly lift one of the cookies with a spatula or fish slice and turn upside down onto a wooden board. Place the fortune in the middle of the cookie and fold the cookie in half. Place the folded edge across the rim of a cup or glass and pull the pointed edges down, one on the inside of the cup and one on the outside. Stand the folded cookies in the cups of a muffin tin or egg carton until they cool so that they hold their shape.

SUPERBOWL SUNDAY
I had an awsome little video to show you but Blogger wouldn't allow me to download it so as a half witted consolation prize here are a couple of pics. Ps. Has anyone else had trouble with the Blogger video application?







18 comments:

Kim said...

HOW FUN!!!!!
Looks like it was a BLAST...
Love the face painting...
Happy Chinese New Year to you..
Love all the pictures..
Have a Great Week..

polkadot said...

Happy Chinese New Year! Looks like the Year of the Rat will bring your referral! Fingers crossed.

ps - I love the black lines under the football fans' eyes. classic.

4D said...

Fun! Love the face decorating.

Keep smilin!

Briana's Mom said...

Happy New Year!

That looks like some party!

Pug Mama said...

Happy CNY!!!
(Go Giants!!)

k1 said...

Hi, thanks for stopping by and for the comment.

To answer your question, no, it wasn't glitter. I purchased some tear/rain drop shaped crystals with a self adhesive back. On this particular pen I stuck one to the shirt clip on the outside of the pen and stuck one to the ink tube inside the pen.

For most of the pens, there was either one crystal on the outer shirt clip or two crystals stuck to the ink tube inside.

cougchick said...

Happy Lunar New Year to you!

Love the face painting. Cute!

Middle-Aged Moi said...

Great pics! And Happy New Year!!!!

Holly said...

Happy Chinese New Year!! Have a great weekend.

Scrappy Bug said...

Looks like lots of fun!

Happy New Year to You!

Anonymous said...

Looks like you had a great Superbowl Sunday!

Happy New Year!!!

A Mom- In-W8ing said...

Love the face painting! Sorry your team didn't win but it looks like you all still had a good time.

Smiles! :o)
Nikki

Nadine said...

I'm sorry your team didn't win. I'm a big Giant fan and my hubby and I was celebrating doing a happy dance. It's been a long time since they won a super bowl.

redmaryjanes said...

You guys bust me up! I can't believe you put on the under eye lines! Too funny. Happy CNY to you all too!

Tracey and Mike said...

Happy New Year!
Sorry your Pats were upset (actually, I'm not really - I always like it when an underdog wins!)

kerri said...

Wishing you and your family a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year(and a referral!!!!).

Shionge said...

Happy Holilday Debby :D Everyone seems to be having a good time :)

Fliss and Mike Adventures said...

Glad to see everyone was for the Pats... pity we didn't make it... oh... and you have been tagged...take care...