to have noodle soup next door to our house.
I like noodles because you get the opportunity to choose recipes, amongst them. Another thing is that eating noodles saves my wallet because they are too filling, although sometimes I don't like the way they prepare the food. They mix too much glutamate, an additive that helps to enhance their taste. Being used to Western rather than Oriental cuisine, when I eat food with too many additives, I develop heartburn, making me feel uncomfortable. However, there is another way you can avoid that. You can order a special meal without added glutamate; I do that a lot. You can also go to restaurants which prepare fresh dishes, other than order food deliveries. Anyway, after our evening meal, we head back home. On our way, we pass by the bakery, to buy my favourite alcohol-filled confectionary. I enjoy these snacks while watching a movie. Hong, who is not a good fun of movies, would be surfing the internet. While concentrating on watching movies sometimes, Hong comes to interrupt me with her unending Chinese jokes, which I don't find too funny. Is it because I don't understand them?
We have had our meal; it is now time to go. Usually, before I go to bed, I make sure that I don't forget to gulp a glass of a herbal mixture given to me by Li Gengnan, my father-in-law. This mixture with more than 50% alcohol is too strong, but it does not only strengthen life, it increases libido and potency of a man too. Of course, you must believe in its effect. The mixture comprises of expensive ingredients, some of them being, a deer's penis, or a snow dog, from the mountains. It also has a high content of traditional liquor, which makes it to be more expensive. Women are however not usually advised to take this mixture, for fear of them going into a sexual frenzy.
Traditional Chinese medicine, such as acupuncture, has been proven to have cured many people whose conditions had been described as “incurable” by medical doctors. I also personally do meditation practices such as Qigong, to bring my Qi into harmony with my body, to enjoy good health. An appropriate application of breathing exercises can also regulate a smooth flow of Qi. I usually get swamped at work on Thursdays, which is why I do not return home before seven o’clock in the evening. Today, Hong has already prepared an excellent dinner at home, with lovely Western herbs.
The aroma in the house aroused my appetite for dinner.
“Hong, did you know that you could open up a restaurant?” I bragged giving her a cuddle and a kiss.
“Oh! really, where can this be?” She asks with a smile.
“Of course, here in China”, I replied. I tell her that Chinese food tastes suitable for the Chinese, but if you add Western herbs to dishes in your restaurant, you would undoubtedly reduce competition.
After eating, Hong grabs plates and heads to the kitchen to wash them. I mix cocktail for myself while watching the movie.
“Today, the first floor must be cleaned up”. Hong says commandingly while going out of the kitchen. “I have always been cleaning the second floor myself, it is now your turn”, she grumbles.
I look surprises wondering what could have sparked off her bad mood. I think it is time to relax and enjoying the evening. She kills my spirit. According to Chinese tradition, a house must be swept and cleaned, the day before the New Year, to cleanse it from the previous year’s burdens. I quickly jump to help put chairs in place.
I ask Hong to give me a broom to clean up.
“Go back, I will do this myself, all you know is to come when I have done most of the work”, she murmurs amidst outbursts. I feel offended but ignored her. When I return to the living room, the movie had ended. I decid to retire to bed.
The New Year’s celebration is as important to Chinese, as it is to Germans. It is one of the most important festivals in the year.
Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, the CNY. Today we want to go and book a cheap holiday to Thailand, or at least to discuss booking it.
After work tomorrow, I will be going to Hong’s parent’s house to have dinner together as a family. That is the Chinese tradition. They will be expecting us and, they will prepare our over-night stay.
After getting ready, we leave home in Taicang to go and start giving out “Hongbaos”. These are the lucky money gifts which are wrapped in small red envelopes to give away during the Chinese New Year Festival holidays. Hongbao comes from two words, Hong (red), and Bao (bag). In China, giving away red bags with money wrapped inside is standard practice. It also applies to weddings and birthday celebrations. There is an exciting story that Hong tells me.
“It is about a migrant worker with a large family who used to spend fifty thousands of his sixty thousand Renminbi annual earnings buying Hongbaos. Family celebrations can sometimes be expensive.
Even if you decide to cancel the event for any reason, you will still be obliged to pay. It is the tradition.”
The first people that we give our Hongbaos were the gatekeeper of our residential complex and our driver. Hong is going to drive, on our way to her parents' place. Indeed, she does, and we arrive safely.
We are in Suzhou, at Hong's parent's home, for dinner. I have lived in China for many years; I have never seen such a lavishly laid the table like this, because I have visited many places during the CNY festivals with girlfriends, to enjoy the sun, and the weather.
The reminiscent ones were in 2012 when my girlfriend Jacqueline and I went to Bali. In 2011, Pan Pan and I went to the Philippines, in 2010, I went to Malaysia with Vickey, and in 2009 I was with my Chinese teacher in Yunnan. But uhhh!! Oh God! I forgot her name, but I remember, I had to put up with the teacher because by then she was a real binge drinker. Before, I used to come to China to meet business people during the CNY. This season, tradesmen have time and spend money because of the festive holidays.
That was a long time ago, it is time to remember. I went to many countries enjoying holidays and spending lavishly. I could not care less about money, and I used to foot the bill for all holiday trips. But since I got married to Hong, I am now seriously committed to Chinese family life. My life changed a lot; for example, I no longer spend lots of money eating out. I believe that home-cooked food is much healthier than the one prepared outside, where many artificial flavours and enhancers are added to make money. A survey carried out revealed that in some restaurants in China, pork is "chemically marinated" after slaughter, and sold expensively as beef to make more money.
At home, focus is on taste, not on cost savings. Therefore, Li Gengnan spends hours in his kitchen to prepare delicious meals.
Hong resembled her mother Wu Meilan in body structure, and she is the smallest in the family. She always reiterates the importance of eating various traditional Chinese dishes.
“This fish is called Li Yu. Fish is pronounced as "Yü" but written as Yu. Sounds like “left over”, means in coming new year you will have a lot of money left, and therefore you will become rich.”
At Hong's parent's home, we also have rice cakes on the dinner table we are enjoying the meal. Hong passes a small cake of rice over to me.
“In the Chinese language, "Nian", means year, and "Gao" means cake, but it also means "high", concerning salary. It is traditionally believed that eating a rice cake, is equated" to becoming rich since it associates to earning a higher salary. "I have passed the rice cake over to you, eat it you will get richer", Hong said jokingly, looking at me.
"Of course, I would love that, who wouldn't?”
In Chinese tradition, eating eggs filled with minced meat, known as
