New Year's Eve Eve

On New Year's Eve Eve (yes, the night before NYE), we had a Chinese Shabbat dinner. I've mentioned before that we try to have Chinese food every Friday night, so that we're celebrating both of our cultures at once. That night we invited some friends over to help us.

We had recently found some dumpling wrappers in Pretoria, and I was eager to try them, so I made two kinds of fillings: chicken and beef. Both were seasoned with soy sauce, ginger, green onions, and sesame oil, and included a bit of cabbage and mung bean noodles as filler.

Aisha and Erik were hard at work.

Keri, Nellie, and Nicole were also helping out.


With everyone's help, we finished the whole stack of dumpling wrappers in less than 30 minutes! Then we cooked them and feasted. Also on the menu:

Roast duck (basted in soy sauce and brown sugar): a Chen family favorite, and my mom's specialty

Braised beef and daikon (Chinese white turnip)

Tofu with shiitake mushrooms and bok choy

Szechuan cucumber salad
Here's the whole gang. Aviva enjoyed the duck, but in the photo she's having her favorite: whole milk.

Pictures and videos of New Year's Eve to come tomorrow!