Since I moved to China the first time in 2002, Chinese New Year has been a part of my life. And I am a bit sad to confess that we actually celebrate Chinese New Year way more than the other New Year. I am not sure why, we just do. For my kids China will always be home just like Sweden is. And I think it is nice for them to take part of both cultures. And as you might have noticed, a big part of my heart is still left in Shanghai. Chinese New Year is also called Spring Festival or Lunar New Year and it marks the first new moon in the lunisolar calendar. The Chinese lunisolar calendar is based on cycles of the earth and the moon. The legend tells a story about the villagers that chased away a beast called Nian with red colours, noise and bright lights. So there is the reason behind everybody wearing something red for the festival and the firecrackers. Today most people don’t use firecrackers anymore as it is bad for the environment. Each year is named after one of the 12 Chinese Zodiac animals. And 2020 is the year of the rat.
This is a very tasty Chinese dish that my chinese ayi taught me to cook a long time ago back in Shanghai. 
It might sound strange, but it contains no fish! This iconic Sichuan dish is made with the same herbs as they often use for fish. You can make it in many ways, and this is my take of different recipes put together to an easier way to cook it. You normally serve it as one of many dishes, today I made a bowl just for me. I just love it! 
This Taiwanese/Chinese restaurant is addictive! We went for some of my favourites, tossed wild vegetable and beancurd with sesame oil, string bean with minced pork, steamed pork and vegetable dumplings, string beans and spicy wontons. 
This is a dish that is supposed to be done with pork, but I nearly always use chicken. I think it’s nicer. But the first time I did it with chicken was because they didn’t have any pork in my shop at my little shop in Shanghai when I lived there. And I must have cooked the dish at least a 100 times with chicken. This is one of my kids favourite dish.