A New Year's Day Feast

[My grandmother is third from the right on the bottom row.]

My grandmother is essentially the matriarch, the eldest of the family on both her side and my grandfather’s side of the family, so, traditionally, all of the relatives would come to visit her house on New Year’s Day. However, in true Hong Kong fashion, she has in recent years invited the relatives to 喝茶 (drink tea) and eat 点心 (dim sum) with her at a restaurant. I saw a lot of relatives I have not seen for a long time, and, in a few cases, never. My uncle very helpfully drew a family tree for me on the back of a menu, which clarified our rather large and complicated family (my grandfather has eight siblings).

The food at the restaurant was exquisite. I personally am not picky about food – especially compared to some of my friends who always strike me as having highly cultivated taste buds – and, except most kinds of meat, am content to eat almost anything. Yet, as I write this, I find myself craving more shrimp dumplings, sautéed Chinese broccoli, stuffed tofu, seafood porridge, cold mango soup, and dozens of other culinary delights I scarcely have the vocabulary to describe. The sheer variety of dim sum food not only boggles my mind but also awakens my underdeveloped taste buds.

Another quintessential part of New Year’s Day is the giving of 红包 (lucky red envelopes stuffed with money). Traditionally, the older generation gives 红包 to the younger, unmarried generation. And not just family members but, at least in the case of my grandmother, everyone she has social contact with: the storekeepers, fruit vendors, etc. When we first arrived at the restaurant, waitresses came from all directions and sometimes, it seemed, from completely separate rooms to wish my grandmother 恭喜发财 (good fortune) and 身体健康 (good health), and she obliged by handing out the traditional 红包. Though she carefully prepared her supply of 红包 the night before, the trip to the restaurant must have emptied her. Upon arriving at her apartment, she greeted the security guard but, reaching into her purse, produced a couple HK $100 bills, sans envelope.