Chinese New Year, Egg Roll Edition

We love the fact that Chinese New Year lasts two weeks -- that gives us the chance for multiple celebrations!  We've had CNY, performance edition; CNY, adoptive families edition, where we went out for Chinese food with a big group; CNY, Chinese School edition, involving learning and singing and fun; CNY, family edition, where just the three of us celebrated; and now CNY, egg roll edition, involving all the essential elements of Chinese New Year -- family, friends & food!

We spent the evening with Chinese friends to celebrate the new year, and for the girls to learn to make egg rolls!  They had a great time -- Zoe & Maya loved playing with our hosts' daughter (with the grapes on a stick!), S. (adopted from China) and her little brother J. They also had fun with arts & crafts, including making Chinese lanterns.  Our host's father is an artist and art professor in China, and this is one of his works -- it's from 1 Corinthians 13, the well-known love verse:

The highlight of the evening was learning to make egg rolls:

Don't you love the inventive use of the chopsticks to scoop the filling onto the egg roll skin?!

(A spoon made it a bit easier!)

Then it was roll. . . .

. . . and roll again.





And then fold in the corners before one more roll . . . .

Then a deep fry, and VOILA!  Egg rolls!

And yes, they tasted as good as they looked -- completely yummy. We are so fortunate to have Chinese friends who can help my girls learn about their heritage, and feed us wonderful food at the same time. What a fun way to ring in the new year (again)!