Monday, January 23, 2012

Gong Hei Fat Choy!

Today is Chinese New Year! It is the year of  the Dragon!



Last night my parents, sister and her boyfriend came over for dinner. The plan was just to keep things simple but it is never just simple when it comes to food with my family... :)

We had what we call steam boat. It is when you have a big boiling pot of stock to cook meat, seafood and vegetables. It was a bit of a complicated steam boat, as my dad does not eat fish, Naomi cannot eat dairy products or beef and Lee, her boyfriend is a vegetarian. So my we had lots of things that were already cooked that did not require cooking in our pot. Lots of things had to be cooked seperatly in order to keep to everyones dietary requireemnts. Luckily my dad did not make a fuss about the fish balls or that would have been another thing to worry about. In the end we had tons of food! Roast duck, crispy belly pork, dumplings, meatballs, lots of vegetables and noodles.


There are foods you are supposed to eat during the new year. We were not able to follow all the traditional foods or the rules, but we did our best.

Made dumplings for good luck


I am making Lupi and Pilu pillows. I think these unusual looking creatures will be great as decorative companions for the sofa of anywhere in the home. I like the idea that they can come in different patterns and colours, they do not need to be matching.


All sewn up ready for stuffing

 Today I stuffed them and sewed them up all my hand. It was a tough sewing session but I finished all four of them. Because the cottons were doubled and the linens are thicker it was not the easiest of tasks sewing the eyes on and sewing them up my hand. And today, for some reason I had hardly any grip on the needle...

Eyes and bodies all stuffed
Lupi and Pilu pillows all completed












 It was definitely a slow start for me, work wise, this year. I only started sewing for the first time last week and even then I did not finish what I was doing. So, now it is Chinese Year, it is another chance to begin the new year well and my lazy start to 2012 does not count! :)

Today I studied Italian for an hour and finished my Lupi and Pilu pillows! And I also washed all the dishes in the dishwasher. I have not yet got around to working on my website but there are still a few hours left of the day. Then I would have achieved all my goals for today! :)

And I also still have to design a Dragon Suki before the year is over!

Now I have to make dinner.We have so much food left over from last night, we will be eating chicken, duck and pork for most of the week! Tonight we will have noodle soup to use up some of the meat and veg.

Happy Dragon Year to every body!






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