Happy Year of the Rabbit/Cat

Since we celebrate both Tet and Chinese New Year here, we have both the Year of the Cat and the Year of the Rabbit. The Vietnamese zodiac has two animals that don't match the Chinese zodiac and this is one of those years. We celebrate mainly by eating food.

As I mentioned, Y. spent all day yesterday making homemade baozi (steamed buns) starting with homemade dough. She made a lot. She made so many that everyone ate their fill and we have over a dozen left. (I'm quite sure they won't last through the day tomorrow.)

We also had a steak and broccoli stir fry that uses a black bean sauce served over long noodles (because long noodles at new years symbolizes longevity.) The Tet celebration always involves fresh fruit, so I splurged on dragon fruit.

Dessert was sugary preserved fruit and candy. Well, it was wrapped like candy. There was some disappointment when we discovered that it was merely preserved plums wrapped in candy wrappers. Not really what everyone was expecting or hoping for. 

I'm always a little baffled by the holiday also being called the spring festival, especially when it looks like this outside.

TM and P. joined us, so there is a great Mario Kart tournament being played right now to top off the evening. It's not traditional, but based on the noises from downstairs, it is certainly fun.