A White World

Spring Festival (also called Lunar New Year) is the most important festival in China. It has a history of more than 4000 years. Our ancestors attributed special meanings to Spring Festival as the beginning of the year and the time when everyone can get rid of all the bad luck from the previous year. People are willing to sacrifice their time and efforts to go back to their hometowns and reunite with their families on that day. During Spring Festival, people enjoy different kinds of traditional food varies with regions. I have been living in Shanghai with my parents since I was one. Neither of my parents, however, is from Shanghai. My mother comes from Beijing and I visited my grandparents with my mother every year during Spring Festival before I came to the US. On Lunar New Year’s Eve, our family usually ate dinner together while watching The Spring Festival Gala. Dumplings are always the main role on our dinner table on that particular day.

My mother used to be in charge of making dumplings. She liked to sit at the side of table where she could watch TV and while making dumplings. Flours gradually transformed into a dough as she gently kneaded and added water. Then she rubbed the dough into a long strip and cut it into smaller pieces on a cutting board. She used a rolling pin to make those pieces into flat, smooth dumpling wrappers. Once in a while, she applied some flour powder to the cutting board in order to prevent the dumpling wrappers from sticking. As soon as the dumpling wrappers were ready, the rest would be much faster. My mother usually dipped a little water with her forefinger on the edge of the dumpling wrapper to help the seal stay closed. She then put the stuffing in the middle of the dumpling wrapper and closed it with her thumb and forefinger. Within ten minutes, she could make more than fifty dumplings. Boiling them was also a simple process. After putting them into boiling water, they would be done in five or six minutes. 

When I opened the pot, the steam came out and covered everything in my eyes with a white mist layer. Looking outside the window, the white snow was falling on the white ground. Whenever I recalled those days I spent with my family, I thought of the whiteness I saw. Although white is not used to represent delightful moments in China, for me, it can be a symbol of the pure happiness of being with my family.  

Art of Eating

People are talking and laughing. Smoke is emerging from the pot and mingling with the air, making the entire space feel slightly unreal, like heaven. It is Spring Festival in China. My family always gather together on that day. By coincidence or by purpose, we often choose to eat hot pot, probably due to the atmosphere of reunion it brings. Round tables seem to be peculiar creators of feelings of family and intimacy.

It is the hardest and longest time in the world when you can sense its delicious taste by smelling it but you have to wait for it to boil. The sounds of bubbling are the most beautiful melody. I like to eat spicy food whereas some of my family members prefer milder one. Therefore, to satisfy everyone, we order one called Yuan Yang pot, which has plain soup on one side and spicy soup on the other side. Yuan Yang is a kind of bird, probably only found in China, often used as a symbol of deep affections. Yuan Yang couples always stay with each other; if one dies, the other will die shortly. The reason that the pot is named as Yuan Yang is because the white soup (plain) and the red soup (spicy) stay connect to each other and complement to each other, just like Yuan Yang birds. Other than the pot, we order A LOT OF dishes of raw food. When we are waiting for the pot to boil, I go to the section where people can make their own sauces. Out of curiosity, I put a little bit of every sauce to my dish, except for the ones that I obviously dislike: garlics and gingers. By the time I come back, the pot is boiling and some dishes has already come. For some reason, meat is always the first performer on the stage of hot pot while vegetable is the last. In between, it does not matter; we can put whatever we want. We divide every dish equally so that both pro- white and pro-red sides can enjoy. It is such a enjoyment to have all kinds of flavors, different but harmonious together, dominate my mouth. However, there are some “dangerous zones” for hot pots. Never boil quail eggs for too long, they will break into invisible powders. So do potatoes. Vegetables cannot go into the spicy soup, or it will be disastrously spicy and oily.

Sometimes I feel it is an art to eat hot pot. One has to master the different timings and tricks for different food in order to get the best taste of them, just like a painter has to use appropriate colors for each part of the painting.

Self-intro

Hello! My name is Jasmine. I am a senior at the Northwest School. I have been in Seattle since 2013. It is a nice city except for the high frequency of rain during winter. I am working on my college applications recently. Most schools I am applying to are in California because I like how it is sunny almost every day. I come from Shanghai, China. I speak Mandarin and English. I am also trying to learn some Korean now. Something interesting about me is that I can understand many Chinese dialects because of my family background. My mother comes from Beijing, so I can understand some slang from there. My father is from Hunan province, where has a dialect that is very hard to understand. Since he and my relatives talks in that dialect all the time, I can understand some of it. I have been living in Shanghai since I was born. Therefore, I can understand most of its dialect and speak a little. Moreover, There are four or five more that I can also understand because they sound similar to those I know. I like to sing, listen to music and go shopping in my leisure time :)

I have never been to Taiwan, France nor Ethiopia before. I would love to know more about you and your hometown :) Nice to meet you all.