Chinese New Year (1) 過年篇（1）臘八粥臘九喝，韓國鹹菜小土豆

It is pretty hard to track Chinese New Year when you are in America. I guess it is different in New York or LA. Mom called me on December 8th of Chinese calender. She asked me whether we had December 8th Rice Soup yet. "Oops, is it today? No wonder it is so cold today." In our family back in China, we always had the December 8th Rice Soup on December 8th of Chinese calendar. The traditional story is that the days are supposely getting colder and colder starting December 8th of Chinese calendar so that you need the sticky rice soup to keep your cheek attached to your face. It always make someone laugh when I tell this old time story. Any way, mom always socked all kind of beans she could buy in the store the night before. We didn't have slow cooker with timer at that time. She always woke up so early in the morning to cook the rice soup  for the family. I still remember the days when mom woke me up in the morning and told me that the December Rice Soup was ready. We all sat down around the table enjoy the sweet and delicious rice soup together.

在美國真的很難 track 中國的農曆。臘八了還不知道，媽媽掛電話來問我們早上有沒有吃臘八粥時才想到，怪不得那天那麽冷。可是臘八粥不是馬上就煮的，豆子要泡水後才能煮。在中國時，媽媽總是在臘八前買好多種豆子回家，晚上泡豆子，早上早早起煮臘八粥，那時哪有可定時的鍋呀，想起來媽媽真是不容易，為我們什麽都可以付出。我還清清楚楚地記得媽媽叫我起床，告訴我臘八粥煮好了，全家圍坐在飯桌旁，早餐吃著甜甜的臘八粥。。。。。。



December Rice Soup
Talking about the socking beans, American way is similar with my mom's tradition. Beans need to be socked over night and washed completely. The picture below is most of ingredients in the rice soup. I also put some walnuts, black beans, wild rice and peanuts, etc.. They were not in the picture below. I think you get the idea.

臘八粥
說起泡豆子，媽媽的做法和美國人的說法一致，豆子要用水泡開，洗淨，免得吃了有漲氣。下圖是我用的主要材料，還有核桃，黑豆，黑米，花生等沒有拍進去。看著是這個意思就好了。



I socked the beans that day. Those dates, walnuts, peanuts and chestnuts don't need to be socked. Before my bed time, I put all ingredients in my slow cooker. Set the timer to cook 3 hours and stop cooking at 9am next day keep warm.
Rice soup can be served with honey or brown sugar. Of course, Chinese love to eat the rice soup with some side dishes, such as pickled cabbage, sweet and sour cucumber, and baby potatoes Korean style. It felt like December 8th of Chinese calendar even that day was December 9th.......

豆子白天泡的，泡了大約8小時，桂圓，紅棗，核桃，花生和栗子不用泡。晚上睡前用慢燉鍋定時煮3小時，定到早上9點停煮保溫。
吃的時候加蜂蜜，（有人喜歡加紅糖，我現在偏愛蜂蜜的味道）配上辣油榨菜，自己做的酸甜黃瓜條 和韓國小土豆鹹菜，雖然是臘九了還挺有臘八的味道。。。。。。


Besides the coffee and juice for breakfast that day, I cut few slices of homemade Paneton for him. Surprise, surprise, he wanted the rice soup. Not 1 bowl, but 2 bowls. "It was delicious and nutritional breakfast!" He said. My eyes turned big.......
為了“照顧”他，除了通常的咖啡，果汁外，我切了幾片自己做的意大利甜麵包，出乎我的意料，他居然也要吃臘八粥，還不止一碗，吃了二碗，他說："好吃又有營養的早餐!" 我的眼睛都瞪大了。。。。。。


Marinated baby potato Korean style:
We had big potato harvest  again in our garden this year. Normally I throw away those baby potatoes, like ping-pang size. This year, I saved them and made marinated baby potato Korean style. I grew up in a big city. There is a big Korean community in the west part of the town. We used to go there for Korean BBQ and other delicious Korean food. This dish reminded me a lot back my hometown. See below picture for recipe and instructions.

韓國小土豆鹹菜：
今年我家菜園裏的土豆又是大豐收。收獲的時候有一些小的，象乒乓球那麽大，每年都丟掉了，今年忽然想起了家鄉韓國一條街的土豆鹹菜。我想試試。看下圖：


Tips: 1) Need to put enough salt to give baby potato good flavor. 2) Must add some sugar to intense the flavor. 3) Cool down and keep in the fridge. I put them in a half gallon and a pint canning jars. Keep in fridge up to two weeks. Well, they ate them all less than two weeks.
小貼市：鹽要多放因為是鹹菜，一定要加糖來提味，涼後裝瓶，冷藏保存。食品安全第一哦！下圖是我的半加侖的大瓶子和一個 pint 的瓶子。


Believe me, they are easy to make and delicious.
隨吃隨取。味道非常好。連我們家的那位都說好吃。我建議大家都來試試。很簡單。又是美味的風味菜。