Gung Hay Fat Choy

[samurainoir]

starting the celebration a bit early... in China it's just called "New Year"

goonhay.jpg

[Random Axe]

The menu that came with my General Tso tells me to wish you a happy year of the goat. This may be a dumb question but it's not meant to be, but is there a decent sized Chinese population in Canada, enough to have actual celebrations and parades or sis everyone spread out? That would be so badass to run through downtown Toronto in -20 degree weather with a lit up 30 foot long paper dragon.

[samurainoir]

The Greater Toronto Area has 5 chinatowns (in China, they are just called "Towns")... Downtown Spadina-Dundas, Downtown Gerard-Broadview, Scarborough, Markham (currently the major chinese population centre) and a small one in Mississauga.

Western Canada has a major Chinatown as well... we call it "Vancouver".

There is a really fun documentary that I want to watch about General Tso Chicken. (which originated in your home state of Ohio!)

http://www.thesearchforgeneraltso.com

[Random Axe]

I saw that! I want to watch it as well. Whoever invented GTso has my eternal gratitude.

[cjefferys]

Toronto and Vancouver have huge Chinese populations. Small town Canada, not so much, I think there are maybe five Asian folks living in our town, including my wife.

[Hector]

My hometown of Oakland...Jean Quan (who just left office)...was the first Asian American woman mayor of a major US City. My high school, Oakland High...Asian students now make up 51% of the student population. We have a vibrant Chinatown (although not as famous as nearby San Francisco's).

I'm year of the Tiger...

By far the BEST Chinese food in the universe is Panda Express...HA HA...just kidding...

Happy New Year!

[Hedji]

That cake is AWESOME! We do a little celebration every year. I think I have some music from Epcot's China section for this year. I used to have a Calculus professor in college who would celebrate Chinese New Year by giving us a break that day and doing "fun" puzzles and games in class that day. He barely spoke English, but you could just see he was in a jolly mood on that day.

[samurainoir]

I saw that! I want to watch it as well. Whoever invented GTso has my eternal gratitude.

Mine as well. It's my fave too. For a number of years, I've been of the personal opinion that the food in China itself is rather bland because for the most part, it wasn't able to evolve in the past half century like chinese cuisine in competitive restaurant markets like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Toronto, New York, San Francisco etc. (the fact that Worcestershire sauce and mayonnaise are staples of north american deep fried Dim Sum). I think this documentary illustrates this.