We're still here!
NY1.com has nice footage of the celebration in Chinatown.
Ironically (or not) – cops caught folks in the Bronx with their roosters, prepped for rather illegal cock-fighting. Sad stuff – respect the rooster. Eat them, be nice to them, but don’t make them fight each other (and make it worse by surgically altering them to get more profit…)
U of Southern California’s Norm Chow must be having a nice Lunar New Year – he’s been hired to be the offensive coordinator for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.
Greetings and salutations from Taipei. My first real Chinese New Year celebration and it was good that it happened in Taipei. Got the full deal here. Friends took us around Taipei to see the sights. We ended up going to DiHua Jie (DiHua Street) to gawk and sample all the traditional Chinese New Year foodstuffs Taiwan style.
I also had the chance to prepare the hong baos and the bags of gifts you give to relatives and close friends for the new year. Usually, it would include some fruit, sweets, and beef or pork jerky along with other nice gifts like mushrooms and/or other delicacies that are given during the New Year. I had a traditional CNY dinner at my cousins home in Taoyuan which included a good dosage of Kaoliang Chiew (sorghum liquor) which is very similar to Korean Soju. The Kaoliang Chiew I had came from Mazu Island, not the typical Jinmen Island one that most people associate this with. It’s a toss up as to which place makes the best but generally speaking, Jinmen is the best known for it’s Kaoliang Chiew Liquor.
So day 1, we got invited to the home of some new friends we met through church here. Young Canadian couple who started up a home group that we belong to. Nice people have helped B- and I tremendously in adjusting to the new environment. Loneliness is a big killer and finding good people are always hard.
I tend to continue being busy. Although this week is an official week off, I’ve work to do and it’s been a bit of a damper on the festivities. B-‘s been a trooper and I’m grateful for all she’s done and support for me and adjusting here. Tomorrow night we’ll be having day 2 dinner with a Singaporean couple. Gives B- a chance to speak Cantonese and make new friends as well.
Hope you guys are keeping healthy and safe there.
=YC
These past two weeks were spent showing up. A couple of meetings with the alumni association, mostly dealing with benefits. I got to buy drinks for Dale Minami, who was being honored at the Waldorf. I saw Salman Rushdie at another dinner at Chelsea Piers, who made a witty comment about being the subject of a fatwah by the Ayatollah Khomeini – “only one of us is alive today”.
In between all of these compulsory appearances, my dad was in the hospital with pneumonia until last Saturday. He’s better now, but I really hope the weather warms up asap. Although that’s not likely with the upcoming northeaster tomorrow.
Oh yeah, happy new year! I’m taking the day off, but not doing anything wild because I have a cold. I have another dinner on Thursday at Jing Fong honoring Glen Lau Kee. Friday is “Table 11”. Saturday is dinner with my cousin T-. Monday of course is V-day with P-. I am planning a trip with P- to Japan and Taiwan in March — more details soon.
