French Toast - - Chinese Style

New Yorkers were able to enjoy a snow day due to the blizzard that hit our area. I celebrated with a leisure breakfast: French Toast, Chinese style. The main difference between Chinese and American style French toast is the topping. Chinese-style use condensed milk and American-style use maple or pancake syrup.

Chinese Almond Cookies

The Chinese Almond Cookies recipe is from Pichet Ong's cookbook "The Sweet Spot: Asian-Inspired Desserts."  Almond cookies to Chinese people is similar to how chocolate chip cookies are to Americans; it's one of our notorious dessert items. People can find them in Chinese bakeries and supermarkets.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Today is Valentine's Day and oddly enough it is also the Chinese New Year. The Lunar New Year usually falls within the last two weeks of January or the first two weeks of February. This year, the year of the Tiger, it happened to fall on February 14th!

During the Lunar New Year, people celebrate with food, festive music, red envelopes and lion dances. The lions dancing symbolize fortune and luck for the new year as they dance to the beat of the drum and cymbals. Be warned though because the streets are jam packed as people are trying to catch glimpses of the lions.

 The pair of lions that are dancing amongst the crowd.

A lucky closeup of one of the lions.

The drum and cymbals that control the lion's movement.

Happy New Year! May the Year of the Tiger ferociously roar for your fortune and health.