Today begins the second month of our calendar year 2022, and the beginning of the 15-day Chinese Lunar New Year celebratory period. I ordered a tin of Lunar New Year tea from Harney & Sons to celebrate the Year of the Tiger, but I'm still waiting for its arrival. An Oolong tea, it's described as having a taste of lemon, ginger and sweet lychee. Sounds good, doesn't it? I recently discovered while watching a Harney's video, that they blend a tea for every Lunar New Year along with a commemorative tin bearing the Zodiac sign. I want to start collecting them - just 11 more to go! ;-)
I loved the tablescape items Sur La Table offered to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but I restrained myself since I've been working on a Valentine's Day tablescape. Wouldn't it be fun to host a Chinese New Year's Tea sometime. Have you ever hosted one?
The one and only Chinese New Year Tea I attended was in 2013, and it was delightful. Tangerines and oranges are widely displayed as house decorations during the celebrations, and are exchanged as gifts because they symbolize happiness, good fortune and a way to ward off evil spirits. Red is the primary color of the Chinese New Year.
The only Chinatowns I've visited are in New York City and Victoria, British Columbia, where I enjoyed Bubble Tea.
Detroit has diverse cultural communities, but the former Chinatown where Chinese Americans lived and owned businesses was claimed by the Lodge Freeway in the early 1960's. Today the Detroit suburbs of Troy, Rochester Hills, Novi and Ann Arbor have sizeable Chinese American communities.
My favorite Chinese restaurant is P.F. Chang's. I love their Lettuce Wraps and Sesame Chicken, but today we celebrated the Chinese New Year at a small local Chinese restaurant It was our weekly lunch date with our son, Steve.
The Cincinnati Bengals has been Steve's favorite football team ever since he was a young boy, so he was elated that they won the NFL Conference Championship game Sunday night. The Year of the Tiger took on new meaning for him! ;-)
Jerry and I had a cup of Oolong tea while we waited for Steve to arrive.
We all ordered Sweet and Sour Chicken, but Steve had Egg Drop soup while Jerry and I had Wonton soup.
It's 48 degrees in southeastern Michigan today and hard to believe a winter storm warning has been issued for tomorrow morning thru Thursday with an anticipation of a foot or more of snow.
Wishing you a Happy February!
After seeing your pictures, I think I may have to go get Chinese food for lunch tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteI didn't even look at that particular Harney tea too much, but now that you've described it, I want some! I'm drinking Twinings Lemon & Ginger tea today and awaiting a new valentine's blend in the mail. Love your idea about hosting a Chinese New Year's Tea. If you ever do one, it will be fabulous!
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