New Year's celebration is a time for my family to get together and catch up on what's been happening in each other's lives. Its a time to jabber to eachother while chowing down from the various home-made foods. All moms and auntys kept themselves busy by going on about what has happened in work last month, or how all their kids are doing in school. Meanwhile, the uncles and cousins, myself included, are itching for nine o'clock to roll around. The amazing display of neon-colored fireworks are nearly the best part of welcoming in the new year.
When the clock strikes midnight you would hear "Happy New Year!" constantly from everyone, followed by many smothering hugs. But that isn't the best part of our new year's celebration. As everyone is congratulating the newly arrived year, a final, but long-lasting roar of the remaining fireworks grows louder and louder, until all you can do is run to the window and watch with awe, because you can't hear yourself speak any longer. But that isn't the best part either. After the popping and cracking of the fireworks have burned down to a small glow, the inside of the house is buzzing with excitement. My Aunty Mingie sets many sweets on the kitchen counter. A steady stream of people go up to that counter to indulge in the sugary treats. When I get up there, I look around at all the different desserts. In the middle of all of them, there are several eight inch wide circular tin filled four inched deep with brown-sugar colored creamy-like, sticky cake; my favorite food. In the kitchen I can just see my aunty cutting through the steamy, gooey gao scattered with mouthwatering toasted sesame seeds, finished off with a hoong jow (red date), about the size of my thumb, placed in the middle of it all. This is the kind of food that can't helped but to savor the flavor. After taking a bite, I can feel the sugary-steamed mixture sticking to the roof of my mouth. I take bite after bite, until the piece I was eating has disappeared. This is the best part of new years. Not only is it a great dessert, it also signifies the end of the past year, and the beginning of the new.
"In sticking with the Chinese tradition, my mother told us we are not to eat the gao until after Chinese New Year (according to the lunar calendar). But now we are so anxious to eat it that we don't wait," said my Aunty Mingie.
Just before the new year, Aunty Mingie makes the traditional gao by steaming the mixture of mochiko flour, brown sugar, oil, and water for at least six hours. Every two to three hours, she would have to check on the water quantity. Immediately after the steamed gao is finished, a hoong jow and sesame seeds are put into the gao.This must be done when the gao is warm, or else it will not stick.
Aunty Mingie remembers when she first started making traditional gao for her family.
"My mom used to make gao ever Chinese New Year, and after she died in 1972, my dad and I volunteered to cook it for the family. A couple of days before Chinese New Year, I took all the ingredients out and I waited for him to start. I later found out that he was waiting for me to start. We both said we thought the other person knew what to do. As the years went by, we got better because of our first cooking experience."
As for me, I haven't been able to take part in helping to steam and prepare the traditional gao yet. I hope I will be able to soon, maybe to welcome in the year 2010 perhaps. Aunty Mingie is not the only person in my family who cooks this dish, however, my dad knows how to make this dish from an easier, yet non-traditional microwave recipe- handed down from my mom's mom. I have helped my dad in making this, but I think it will bring me to understand my full Chinese heritage more to participate in the original way to prepare gao, making my New Year's celebration even sweeter.
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