Chinese New Year (1) 过年篇（1）腊八粥腊九喝，韩国咸菜小土豆

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.

在美国真的很难 track 中国的农历。腊八了还不知道，妈妈挂电话来问我们早上有没有吃腊八粥时才想到，怪不得那天那么冷。可是腊八粥不是马上就煮的，豆子要泡水后才能煮。在中国时，妈妈总是在腊八前买好多种豆子回家，晚上泡豆子，早上早早起煮腊八粥，那时哪有可定时的锅呀，想起来妈妈真是不容易，为我们什么都可以付出。我还清清楚楚地记得妈妈叫我起床，告诉我腊八粥煮好了，全家围坐在饭桌旁，早餐吃着甜甜的腊八粥。。。。。。



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.

腊八粥
说起泡豆子，妈妈的做法和美国人的说法一致，豆子要用水泡开，洗净，免得吃了有涨气。下图是我用的主要材料，还有核桃，黑豆，黑米，花生等没有拍进去。看着是这个意思就好了。



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，泡了大约8小时，桂圆，红枣，核桃，花生和栗子不用泡。晚上睡前用慢炖锅定时煮3小时，定到早上9点停煮保温。
吃的时候加蜂蜜，（有人喜欢加红糖，我现在偏爱蜂蜜的味道）配上辣油榨菜，自己做的酸甜黄瓜条 和韩国小土豆咸菜，虽然是腊九了还挺有腊八的味道。。。。。。


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.......
为了“照顾”他，除了通常的咖啡，果汁外，我切了几片自己做的意大利甜面包，出乎我的意料，他居然也要吃腊八粥，还不止一碗，吃了二碗，他说："好吃又有营养的早餐!" 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.

韩国小土豆咸菜：
今年我家菜园里的土豆又是大丰收。收获的时候有一些小的，象乒乓球那么大，每年都丢掉了，今年忽然想起了家乡韩国一条街的土豆咸菜。我想试试。看下图：


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.
小贴市：盐要多放因为是咸菜，一定要加糖来提味，凉后装瓶，冷藏保存。食品安全第一哦！下图是我的半加仑的大瓶子和一个 pint 的瓶子。


Believe me, they are easy to make and delicious.
随吃随取。味道非常好。连我们家的那位都说好吃。我建议大家都来试试。很简单。又是美味的风味菜。