Today is Spring Festival (Chinese New Year translated literally from the Chinese term). Woken up at 5:30am this morning by non-ceasing fireworks and endless strings of firecrackers. And those fireworks are LARGE and LOUD. Seriously, I can't have fun with American fireworks any more. They're these little piddly things. Chinese fireworks are large and in charge. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. Last night at midnight the whole city exploded. There were flashes and explosions everywhere, over a couple of square miles. It's really pretty impressive. The massive cloud of smoke afterwards drives up the PM25 pollution level noticeably. Sundown is about 6pm and you clearly see the level increase as the fireworks start.
My girlfriend is making a New Year's dinner for a bunch of her co-workers tonight. She's turned into quite a cook since she's met me! I like to eat. The oranges are a traditional food for New Year's and the fish is yellow croaker, a specialty of this region and one of the tastiest fish I have ever eaten. It's kind of like lobster in that it used to be fed to peasants and prisoners. But today, after the Chinese fishing fleets swept the sea clean, the wild yellowfish are rare and expensive, over $100 for a big one. You can get farm-raised ones but they're not nearly as delicious.
Happy Year of the Rooster!
My girlfriend is making a New Year's dinner for a bunch of her co-workers tonight. She's turned into quite a cook since she's met me! I like to eat. The oranges are a traditional food for New Year's and the fish is yellow croaker, a specialty of this region and one of the tastiest fish I have ever eaten. It's kind of like lobster in that it used to be fed to peasants and prisoners. But today, after the Chinese fishing fleets swept the sea clean, the wild yellowfish are rare and expensive, over $100 for a big one. You can get farm-raised ones but they're not nearly as delicious.
Happy Year of the Rooster!
Comment