Chinese New Year Part Deux

I had given up that there was going to be anything remotely ChineseNewYear-sy here in Abilene. I had even asked the waitress at Sunrise, who in turned asked a friend attending ACU, who then told her that the students were probably going on a trip to Dallas.  AND the Old Jail Art Center in Albany was NOT organizing any Chinese New Year festivities this year. We were quite disappointed.

*sigh*

THEN, Qi called and said that the Chinese Student Scholars Association at ACU was organizing a dinner/celebration on Monday evening, and that Ashley had gotten tickets for us to go! How sweet of her to think of us :)

*happy happy joy joy*

Here we are, surrendering our "tickets" and being ushered into one of the rooms at the Hunter Welcome Center

We sat at the same table with Qi and her husband, while Xia Yu and her parents sat near the front, by the stage.

I'm assuming the guy that stepped up to welcome everyone was the President of the CSSA, and he proceeded to do some ice-breaking, and there was also some performances during the night.

We managed to be near the front of the line for grub,

and the food was from China Star.  To be totally honest, I had been hoping for food catered from Sunrise.  The last time the CSSA had organized this and catered from Sunrise, the food was amazing - just because it was REAL CHINESE FOOD! I'm talking pig trotters in vinegar & ginger and whatnot. I'm not dissing China Star's fare, as it was tasty, but it just wasn't so much a taste of home, you know?

Of course, little boys start to get fidgetty ...

and so we went a-wandering and exploring,

We had a good time, and I was glad to be able to celebrate Chinese New Year with fellow Chinese friends.


A couple of days later, we continued our Chinese New Year celebration at home with a CNY meal at home.

We had dumplings,

fried noodles and fried rice, 

teriyaki salmon, 

vegetable curry,

and mangoes.

YUMMMMMM !!!!