Chinese New Year dinner-the most important dinner of the year

I am usually not one who supports cultural stereotypes, yet, even I have to admit that the Chinese love food. The love for food runs through our veins, and eating forms an integral part of the chinese culture- 'Chinese' and 'food' belong to the same sentence, we live to eat, the Chinese wouldn't be able to pull off a hunger strike. Does not matter whether we are socializing, catching up, celebrating or chilling out, the only constant is the presence of food-and lots of it! Out of all the meals we consume in a year, the most important one would have to be the Chinese New Year dinner on NYE. While I do not celebrate Chinese New Year religiously, I can't help but feeling the festive vibe during the chinese festive season. This year I was invited to spend Chinese NYE with my childhood buddy and her lovely family. I knew straight away that it was going to one culinary experience to remember.

Time flies. On my way to dinner, I was struggling to focus on getting there, as I was trying to figure out why I could smell food in the car (there was nothing edible in the car, yet, I felt like I was surrounded by aromas of food). I managed to get there in one piece, phew~~~ I was welcomed into the house with open arms, and the irresistable smell of food coming from the kitchen. I am not imagining this time, I thought. My taste buds were savouring every ounce of the aroma coming from the kitchen, and my imagination was busy constructing the visuals to match. Everyone was watching tennis on TV, so I decided I'd join in. Even the most exciting tennis match could not distract me from what was happening in the kitchen. News break! Dinner was ready, about time (before I had to resort to nibbling on my arm!), I thought. On the dinner table sat tuna sushimi with wasabi and soy, sweet and sour cucumber salad, silken tofu with chopped century-old eggs and pickles, king prawns, hot and sour soup with sea cucumber, ginger and bacon, san choy bao, spicy mud crab, stir-fried beef, Thai-inspired lamb cutlets, fish cakes, thai prawn salad, prune wrapped in bacon, mini-open-sandwiches of pesto and roast beef, and stir-fried snake beans with spicy black bean sauce. If there was ever a food event that deserves the sentiment of 'OMG' (for those of you who still live in the 20th century, it means 'Oh My God'), then O-M-G! Food galore was what was presented in front of me! I wish I could buy an external stomach for storage! As I was savouring each mouth full of this and that, I thought picking a favourite would be as difficult as picking your favourite child, as I love all of my food babies dearly and equally! If someone pointed a gun to my head and the only way to save myself was to pick a favourite dish, my (life-saving) votes would go to the lemon-grass-infused Thai-inspired grilled lamb cutlets. The only word that could do the aromatic and melt-in-your-mouth lamb justice was 'orgasmic'. It was so perfectly tender you don't even need teeth to chew it. The beautiful cameralisation on the cutlets had the sweet Thai marinade to thank for. There is never going to be enough of those lamb cutlets in the world, as now that I have had it, I will always want it. I WANT MORE!!

3 hours later, after a 20-course dinner, I was EXHAUSTED! My stomach and I both needed to rest (and possibly fast for the next month). It was a dinner to remember. The food was plentiful, beautiful and scrumptious. The ingredients had been treated with respect and plenty of TLC. But what was more memorable was the company-it was the generosity and sincerity of the family that left a sweet and lingering aftertaste in my mouth. Here is wishing a happy 2012 to all, Chinese and otherwise! Enjoy and be good!