{Recipe} Lo Mein

Happy Monday! I promised that I would post the recipe for the Lo Mein noodles I made for Chinese New Year and here it is! I have actually made this recipe once more since then because it's so good and that easy.

What you Need:

• 1 (8 oz) package spaghetti noodles
• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. teriyaki sauce
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 2 Tbsp. Vegetable oil (I used Grapeseed Oil)
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 2 large carrots, cut into large matchsticks
• 1/2 Tbsp. sweet onion, thinly sliced
• 2 green onions, sliced

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, about 12 minutes; drain. Rinse spaghetti with cold water to cool; drain.
2. Whisk soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, honey, and ground ginger together in bowl. Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat. Cook and stir celery, carrots, sweet onion, and green onion in the hot oil until slightly tender, 5 to 7 minutes; add spaghetti and sauce mixture. Continue to cook, tossing to mix, until the noodles and sauce are hot, about 5 minutes.

That's all there is to it! Serve hot and enjoy! If you really want an Asian flair, eat with chopsticks. :) 

Chinese New Year

新年快乐

Xīnnián kuàilè

(Happy New Year!)

Happy Year of the Monkey! With a sister who was born in China and then living there for several years, this is a holiday that my family has been celebrating for several years now. Maybe not quite to the magnitude of how they celebrate in China (everything shuts down for at least a week, some restaurants for up to a month!), but it's definitely a holiday I want to continue observing. 

I am not necessarily decorating (maybe next year) but I did decide I wanted to make something a little more "Chinese like." The traditional food to eat on Chinese New Year is dumplings but since they are rather time consuming, I decided to make a delicious Lo Mein recipe my Mom found a while back. Since I have something several week nights, my meals either need to be super quick and easy or I make them ahead of time and then heat them up when I get home. I decided to make my Lo Mein yesterday to heat up tonight for dinner. I can't wait! I promise I will share the recipe on the blog soon.

Happy New Year to you and your family! If you celebrate Chinese New Year, how do you celebrate?

Happy Monday!

Sunday Snapshot: Chinese New Year

Okay, I promise that this is my last post about Chinese New Year. Well.... I guess I can't really promise that. This MAY be my last post about Chinese New Year. We shall see. 

What a fun week it was! The official Chinese New Year was January 31st which means that "New Year's Eve" was on the 30th. My evening started out going for a walk to see some of the beautiful sites (and sounds) of the new year.

2014, what a year it is going to be!

I'm not sure what the carriage was all about but I thought it was beautiful. It made me think of Cinderella.

The carriage and some Christmas trees. That's China for you.

Afterwards, I went for dinner at my friend, Joy's. We had goose...

..and noodles. These noodles are supposed to make you live a long life.

We also had tofu but I didn't take a picture of that because I don't really like tofu.

Afterwards snacks were served. It looks like the Chinese form of Halloween!



And my cookies of course! You can't have a party without cookies.

We then ate some fruit to balance out all the junk unhealthy food we consumed throughout the evening.

Around 10:30, I headed back to my apartment where I got into my pj's before taking in some fireworks that I could see from my balcony that went off at midnight. Oh wait... the are STILL going off. 

It's not Chinese New Year without fireworks. 

This is what the sidewalks looked like the following morning.

Happy New Year!

Linking up with Ni Hao Ya'll

Year of the Horse

Since yesterday was Chinese New Year, we dressed the kids up in their Chinese silks. Do they look adorable or what?

Sweet kids... they just looked absolutely precious. The year of the horse is off to a great start!

Happy New Year (again)!

Happy New Year.... Take Two!

Wordless Wednesday: Playtime

Time to Party!

It's Chinese New Year time around here which is the Asian form of Christmas. Kids are off from school, businesses are closed, lots of eating and time with family happens. Oh yes, and there are also gifts that come in the form of money in a red envelope, also known as "hong bao." And don't forget the fireworks. There are lots and lots of fireworks this time of year. After all, they did originate here. 

On Sunday evening we celebrated Chinese New year with the nannies at the foster home. What else do you do for a party other than eat? As you can see, we ordered a lot of food!

We ate, and ate, and ate some more... it was delicious!

The actual Chinese New Year is January 31st, but with a few of our nannies and staff taking off for the holiday, we celebrated a few days early. No one seemed to mind... especially the kids!

It was fun to have all the kids together for the occasion.

They sure had fun!

Treasure decided that this was a great time to read.

We are finishing up the Year of the Snake and about to embark on the Year of the Horse. 

 新年快乐  Happy New Year!  

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!! This is the post where I should write about the top things that happened in 2013. Maybe I would just pick some favorite moments or perhaps organize it month by month. Maybe I would even just pick my favorite blog posts or pictures from 2013. 

Quite honestly, there has been quite a lot going on lately. Returning to China less than a week ago, traveling through Beijing and then down south, trying to get over jet lag, catch up on work at the foster home, holding my precious babies, showing my brother all the sites of my "hometown" and now trying to get a brother healthy, it's not just not the top priority right now. All that to say? 

Maybe I'll get to it by Chinese New Year. That gives me almost a month. 

In the meantime, Happy New Year! Praying that God will bless you abundantly in this new year of 2014. 

Wordless Wednesday