Chinese New Year - Welcome the Ox

Chinese New Year has come and gone in a flurry of fireworks, ox caricatures, European vacations and hazy weather. This is the year of the Ox and depending you who you ask will bring in more of the same economic woes or an upswing for the Chinese economy.

A and I spent our Chinese new year vacation in Italy and Germany, it was a wonderful trip and we ate our weight in cheese, cured meats and shnitzel. Italy in January, while not at it's best as far as the weather is concerned, is still breathtaking. Germany even with snow on the ground runs efficiently and makes eating a warm pretzel in the afternoon the best snack ever.

We are off to Hong Kong this weekend, and I'll be sure to post photos of our eating escapades, we can't wait to indulge in a weekend of fresh seafood!

Chinese New Year Photos

We spent Chinese New Year in Houzhou with Andy's parents and family from Taiwan. The relatives are mainly cousins that his mother grew up with in Taiwan and their children. They also brought andy's great-uncle from Taiwan, he's 89 years old and demonstrated some calligraphy for us while we were there.

The trip started on the bus. Yeah, I know - I wasn't excited about it either, but due to the train situation (the weather caused massive train problems) we opted for the 2 hour bus ride from Shanghai.

The celebration was at Andy's 2nd cousin's home in the Houzhou countryside - he is a farmer and lives in a farmhouse where he and his family raise chickens, rice, bamboo and other vegetables. It was really really interesting to see. As you can see from the photos, the snow was plentiful! It was freezing, and we all were bundled up to stay warm, even inside!

We ate some amazing food, and drank homemade chinese rice wine to stay warm. We played poker, mahjong and set off what seemed like hundreds of fireworks!