Gung Hay Fat Choy & Giveaway

Monday January 23rd marked the beginning of the Spring Festival in Chinese culture, otherwise known as Chinese New Year.   This 15 day long celebration is the most important of all the traditional Chinese holidays.    On Chinese New Years Eve (or Eve Of The Passing Year), which just happens to be tonight, families come together for their annual reunion dinner.

Chinese New Year is celebrated by many Asian countries which have significant Chinese populations. You’ll find celebrations in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and even in your local Chinatown.Celebrations include many dinners,  visiting with family and friends, fireworks and firecrackers, dragon parades, and on the 15th day, the Lantern Festival.

I grew up in a home where my step father was Chinese, and I remember this holiday well.  Though I didn’t understand the significance at the time, I do remember waking up to a little red envelope with a few dollars inside.  I don’t think we did it every year,just while we were small.  Though he is no longer with the my family, I feel blessed to have learned about other cultures during my childhood.

So If you haven’t quite decided what to make for dinner tonight, why not try a few simple recipes and bring the celebration to your own family.  With VH sauces and recipes, you can easily make a Chinese inspired dinner at home and celebrate the beginning of the new Lunar Year with your family.

You can find all the recipes you need to introduce the Chinese New Year on the VH Sauces website.  Recipes like Hoisin Meatballs with Pineapple and Spring rolls with Hoisin Dip are sure to be popular at the dinner table.

Tonight I’ll actually me serving the Beef, Chicken & Bacon Stir Fry along with curry noodles and home made Spring rolls.  But if you day doesn’t include time to cook dinner tonight, don’t fret.  To save time you can try VH Steamers.  You can find them in your freezer section of your grocery store, and they are a very yummy alternative to cooking everything yourself.  My oldest son (6) loves these!

If you are looking for more inspiration from VH, you can find them on their new Facebook Page!

Giveaway

In order to shake up your kitchen routine a little bit, I have a VH New Years Gift Pack to give to one of my lucky Canadian readers.  The prize is valued at $60 and all you have to do to enter is:

Mandatory Entry: Tell me in a comment below how you introduce culture into your dinner time meals?

Bonus Entries:

• Follow @Jen_Banks on twitter
• Tweet out the following: “Gung Hay Fat Choy! http://abusymommy.com/?p=5088 Win a $60 Chinese New Year gift pack from VH.  Can Only #VHSauces”
• Like A Busy Mommy on Facebook