Year of the Snake

As most of you know, last weekend was Chinese New Year! I bought a Chinese dress two years ago in Chinatown, and wasn't going to let another year go by without wearing it. So I grabbed my Chinese friend Zhen and we planned for an evening of dumpling making, calligraphy writing, festival watching, red packet distributing, and gift giving evening of fun. Our first location had fallen through, but Pastor Stewart and Laura offered their home/kitchen to us, so we gathered our group there. Zhen, Joey, Bosco and I got there a little early to start getting ready, as the dough had to have time to rise before we could start the dumplings. As our other attendees began trickling in, we got the TV set to the Chinese festival in Beijing, cleared the table, and finished mixing up the stuffings for the dumplings. It was an intricate process, this dumpling-making, and a little harder than it looked, but we managed to make more than we could eat that night. 

Joey starting the dough

The boys getting the dough ready

Zhen..delegating..and on the phone with his mom :)

Glaister, Rachel, and Pastor Stewart

Abbey and Annika

Abbey sniffing the ingredients 

Joey sectioning the dough

Me..trying to help

Getting the dumplings started!

We had quite an assembly line going 

And flour EVERYWHERE haha

Boiling the dumplings

Me and Zhen

Me helping again :)

Enjoying the delicious "fruits" of our labor

MMMMMMMMMMMMM

We put (cleaned) baht in two of the dumplings - if you get one in your dumpling, you will have good luck! I got one! :D

Watching the festival on TV, live from China

Calligraphy!

"You have to hold the brush like THIS, straight up"

The "master" at work

Abbey had a little...trouble..with her characters hahaha

Chicken

Fighting

Good Luck

Helping Jake with his calligraphy

Zhen telling us about the "Chinese balls" - apparently they work the same way as bouquets and garters at weddings lol

The cool stuff I got to take home - Chinese ball, red packet, dumpling  rolling stick,  calligraphy brushes, and miniature theatre masks

Me and the Chinese

Zhen(Chinese), Me, Rachel(American), Annika(Australian), Abbey(American), Stewart and Laura(American), Glaister(Jamaican), Joey and Bosco(Chinese)