Merry Christmas!

I wasn't expecting much of a Christmas atmosphere in China but Christmas trees, Santa, and holiday music is everywhere. I even saw a Santa posing with children for pictures outside Walmart yesterday. On Friday, I had a party for my students and we had a lot of fun. They loved all the snacks ... chocolate kisses and sugar cookies with icing were the big hits plus they had wanted "sandwiches" so I made PB&J and tuna sandwiches ... we went through 5 loves of bread and they were very impressed that I made them. Several of them wanted to "learn" how to make a sandwich so they had fun in the kitchen making the sandwiches. Who would have guessed that would be a fun activity. :-) The other hit was a Santa suit that I borrowed. When I put it on one of the girls said, "You are the first 'real' Santa I have ever seen." That made me smile. They all then put it on and took pictures, practiced saying ho, ho, ho and laughed. Enjoy some pictures.

Since I don't have an oven, I went to a friends home and her 3 children helped me make and eat a few cookies. We had lots of fun and made a big mess.

Shopping for Christmas Dinner with all the decorations!

What meat should we choose???

Visiting the elementary school associated with Jiaotong University was a lot of fun. My calligraphy wasn't great but the students were good teachers.

Dinner with the principal and a family who use to live in Minnesota.

On Friday the International Studies department had a nice lunch celebrating Christmas and the Winter Solstice. This is a time to give thanks at the end of the year and eat tang yuan, a dumpling, because sharing and eating tang yuan symbolizes reunion. If you don't eat dumplings on this day your "ears may fall off." It was also nice to celebrate the fact that the world did not end. :-) Here are a couple articles from the China Daily I thought you might enjoy.

Rainbow dumplings

Updated: 2012-12-22 19:01

By Fan Zhen and C.J. Henderson ( China Daily)

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Try some naturally colored dumplings to warm your tummies on the coldest nights of the year . Photos Provided to China Daily

Spinach spicy dumplings feature a filling of eggplant, egg, sweet potato noodles and wild hot peppers.

The winter solstice is upon us, and as the deepest winter nights fall, people in North China will be cooking dumplings. But, Fan Zhen and C.J. Henderson found a place where you can feast royally.

Keeping traditions alive is never an easy thing. When it comes to a culinary convention, a lot of patience and courage is required to refine classic cooking techniques into an art. Chen Zunkai, founder of Baoyuan Dumpling House, has spent the past 16 years improving one of the most traditional of Chinese foods: jiaozi or dumplings.

Her dumplings are not the plain white doughy crescents simply stuffed with pork or lamb, but colorful ingot-shaped dumplings using more than 150 kinds of fillings.

"What I try to do is to make dumplings that have a taste of home," Chen says. "I hope every customer can taste something familiar, be they Northerners or Southerners, vegetarian or non-vegetarian, Chinese or foreign."

Chinese dumplings are believed to be more than 2,000 years old. Traditionally, they are made and eaten by people in northern China at festive occasions such as the winter solstice. To combat the year-end cold, they usually fill the dumplings with strongly flavored meats such as pork or lamb.

For Chen, her epiphany came after she noticed that there were not many choices for those who prefer lighter fillings and more nuanced flavors. Most vegetarian dumplings had a filling of only two kinds of ingredients, and not one single restaurant in Beijing had more than 10 kinds of vegetarian fillings.

"I thought I could do better," Chen says.

Celebrating the winter solstice in China

Updated: 2012-12-22 08:11

By Sun Ye ( China Daily)The Chinese divides the whole year into 24 solar terms according to climate changes. Wintersolstice, "the arrival of winter", is one, and it is the earliest recorded. It usually coincides withDec 21 to 23 in the Gregorian calendar and is the shortest day of the year.

In the Chinese concept of yin and yang and the five elements, winter solstice is especiallycritical to maintaining yang qi, the masculine strength which keeps the body warm in winter.

For the Chinese, the day is also one among three important days in the year for familyreunions, and in South China, an old saying goes: "Winter solstice is no less important than theSpring Festival".

The other traditional family reunion days are the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Eve of theLunar New Year, or Spring Festival.

As in all Chinese festivals, food plays an important part during the winter solstice, with customsvarying from place to place.

In the north, winter is all about fending off cold, and mutton and dumplings are eaten to dispelthe chills and warm the body.

It is said this tradition started in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), when many of thehomeless were suffering from frostbite.

Zhang Zhongjing, the "medical sage" of that age, invented an ear-shaped dumpling filled withlamb and pepper and called it jiaozi or dumpling. To remember his kindness, people startedmaking and eating dumplings every winter.

In Sichuan province, the must-have on winter solstice is called chaoshou, also a dumpling, butsmothered in the province's signature red chili sauce.

Noodles are more popular in the inland areas. In Ningxia Hui autonomous region, it'straditional to have tounao, a mutton and noodle soup. Other ingredients include blackmushrooms, red chili, green garlic shoots and yellow day lilies. The first bowl will be placedbefore the ancestral shrine.

Tangyuan, or colored rice flour filled with sweet crushed peanuts, sesame or red-bean paste,are what the southerners prefer on the winter solstice.

It is often served in a clear, sweet soup flavored with ginger, or osmanthus flowers.

To the common people, the winter solstice means a happy occasion to get together, where thecoziness of being with family and friends will warm the longest and coldest night of the year.

sunye@chinadaily.com.cn