兒時過年的回憶 Chinese New Year Memories

Chinese New Year Memories 兒時過年的回憶

As Chinese New Year is fast approaching, I started reminiscing about the big celebrations my family and I used to have when I was a child. When I first went back to Taiwan after spending five years in Michigan from the age of 6 to 11, I was very excited about Chinese New Year not only because of the red envelopes we would be getting and the new clothes we would have the chance to shop for, but also all the food we would be consuming at the numerous Chinese New Year feasts at my grandparents' homes and other relative's houses.

農曆年快到了，所以我想分享小時候慶祝新年的一些回憶。我小學六年級從美國回到台灣的時候很，很期待慶祝農曆年，因為除了可以拿紅包和穿新衣以外，還可以享受年夜飯，還有不同的聚餐。

Two incidents are lodged in my memory. When I was eleven years old, I went to a great-uncle's house for dinner. They live in a traditional Sanhe yuan, which means that there are three parts of the house: a main building with two perpendicular wings that are attached on each side, facing a courtyard in the middle. We were sitting in the dining room eating and the dishes were prepared in the kitchen, which was in a separate wing of the Sanhe yuan. As the plates of food kept coming in, I pestered my mom with questions: "What is this? What is that?" One of the dishes was particularly fragrant and looked very appetizing but I wasn't sure what it was. My mom told me it was chicken. I thought to myself, "it does not look like the chicken we used to eat in the United States!" But my mom said, "Trust me, it is delicious." I picked up a piece and savored it. It was quite tender and tasted very nice because of the soy sauce, sugar and garlic that was used to stir-fry the meat. I happily kept on eating without much thought.

有兩件事情我記得特別清楚。應該是我11歲的時候，我們去一個叔公家吃飯。他們住在傳統的三合院。食物一道一道進來的時候，我就問媽媽，「這是什麼？那是什麼？」其中一道菜特別香。我媽媽說「很好吃哦！是一種雞肉。」我心裡想這好像跟我們在美國吃的雞不太一樣，可是我聽媽媽的話吃了一口。它的口感不錯，有醬油跟蒜頭的香味。因為有別的菜上來，所以我沒多想就繼續吃。

There were also different drinks offered to us. I was familiar with orange juice but there was also another white-ish beverage on the table that I had never seen before. It looked "thicker" and more condensed than normal juice and I wanted to try it out of curiosity. It was so sweet and tasty--very different from the other soft drinks I had had in the past. I kept gulping it down and asking for more. It turned out to be guava juice. (Side note: Guava juice does not really taste like guava, but both are great because they are full of vitamin A and C!) We soon ran out of the guava juice and I was sent to the kitchen to get some more from the fridge.

桌上還有不同的飲料，有我熟悉的柳橙汁，但是另外還有白白的飲料，不知道是什麼。我很好奇想要試試看！喝了一口就迷上了，好甜好好喝喔！原來是芭樂汁。我覺得芭樂跟芭樂汁的味道不太一樣，但我都喜歡。芭樂其實很營養，有很多維他命A跟C。因為我喝了很多芭樂汁所以很快就沒了。我被派去廚房拿新的一瓶出來。

When I walked into the kitchen, I noticed some "things" swimming in the sink. To my shock and horror, they were frogs! I later found out that the so-called "chicken" that I had just eaten was in fact frog-meat. In Chinese, frogs are also known was tian ji [field chicken]. I was so horrified that I wanted to throw up! Seeing the frogs in the sink turned me off frog for life. Perhaps that is how people become vegetarians?

當我走進廚房的時候，我發現水槽裡有奇怪的東西在動來動去！走近一點看發現竟然是青蛙。原來我吃的雞是「田雞」。也許這就是為什麼有些人要吃素。

Photos by me, taken with my Samsung Galaxy.

@snooway