Chuc Mung Nam Moi

Chuc Mung Nam Moi! Gung Hay Fat Choy! or just Happy Lunar New Year!

Where has the time gone? I can clearly remember dressing up in my ao dai, the traditional vietnamese dress, and going to the temple with my parents just last year. It's really the only time that I can actually wear my ao dai even though I have about a dozen of them. I think they look adorable on little kids even the little boys! Celebrating Tet used to be so much fun when we were younger. It's just not the same anymore when everyone is grown. The best part of Tet is getting crisp bills in red envelopes from all the grown folks. Sometimes you'd get only 2 bucks but hey, it all adds up. I think the most I've ever gotten was between 100-200 bucks. That's a lot for a young gal like me! What do I do with all that cash? My parents arent the kind of parents that had a college fund in a bank somewhere for us. Sometimes they'd take some of that money and tell us they'll "save it for us" but I'd never see it again. Maybe I should bring it up and ask them if I can finally claim my "savings" for all those years???

I remember when we all would take our good luck money and gamble it away in a game of black jack with the family or this dice game with crabs, lobsters, gourds, shrimp, etc. If you're viet, you know what game I'm talking about. If you're the dealer, your chances of winning are pretty high. Yes, we learned pretty early on how to gamble! Maybe that's why some of the top poker champs are vietnamese - watch World Series of Poker. Ahhh.. those were the good ole days!

Another great thing I love about Tet is all the good food we get to enjoy! Not to brag, but I think my mom is a great cook! She spends hours and hours preparing for the 3 day Tet celebration. Here are pics from this past weekend's family gathering at our house... She actually makes most of this stuff by hand and she makes TONS of it! There's so much food that every family always ends up leaving with a doggy bag full of food. I aspire to be as good of a cook as my mommy one day!

May the new year of the Rat bring you all much luck, love, and happiness!!