kung hei fat choy {chase finally sleeps}

{he sleeps in a room full of fairies and flowers--HE SLEEPS!}

....

last night chase slept.

the entire night.

like NEVER woke up.

not once.

i miss being up with him already.

spoken like a woman who's had a full night's sleep.

ha!

he looks older today.

must have been the good luck of the chinese new year.

....

{my mom used to live in asia. i spent a lot of time there when i was little. 

we love to celebrate chinese new year.}

.....

last night we celebrated chinese new year.

a day late.

b/c we were busy on sunday.

but had no plans on monday.

here's to the year of the snake!

i can already tell it's gonna be a good one:)

mom got out all of her famous hong kong china.

that she special ordered in hong kong.

20 years ago.

6 sets, complete with spoons and serving dishes.

for $250. 

when she went back to get 2 more sets a few years later,

they wanted $250 more for the two more sets.

she said no thanks.

and then she told me that hong kong had changed a lot by then.

and how they marketed their goods to the world was different.

more expensive.

good thing we only needed 6 sets last night:)

she and gigi went to the Vietnamese fish place to buy two cooked fish.

they were closed.

b/c it was the day after chinese new year.

so she called her Vietnamese friends to find another Vietnamese fish place that was open.

and she and gigi drove to it.

imagine two american ladies walking into a Vietnamese shop.
in  utah.
they said it caused quite the commotion.
but in a good way.

they bought two whole fish, 6 orders of spring rolls, and a duck.

and then they went to the grocery store to buy everything for the broccoli beef and shrimp.

we are improvisers in my family.

good ones.

and then mom cooked everything for all of us to eat.

brennan loved the duck.

max loved the fish.

i think she ate an entire half of one fish by herself.

and chase devoured one whole spring roll.

i learned that duck ALMOST tastes like chicken, with tougher skin and darker meat.

i've had it before, but i didn't remember that.

it was a feast.

the menu:

duck

2 whole fish {with heads AND eyes}

spring rolls, egg roll style

beef broccoli

rice

grapefruit shrimp avocado salad

dessert:

lucky red envelopes

oranges

ice cream

KUNG HEI FAT CHOY!

{happy new year in cantonese}

sweep out all of your misfortunes and old wrongs,

tidy up your loose ends,

turn over a new leaf,

and

start afresh!

if you believe in stuff like that.

wishing you a happy new year, lots of luck, and prosperity!

:):):)

with love,

the gibson's