Just before Brian's parents arrived, Megan's 2nd grade class went on a field trip to Chinatown to experience the festive atmosphere leading up to Chinese New Year. While I had just been there a week earlier with Elizabeth's class, I volunteered to chaperone again and had a great time with Megan and friends.
Our assignment was slightly different on this trip as we still had a scavenger hunt to complete but in addition to crossing items off our list, we also had to take pictures of the children along the way as part of a technology project they would complete after the trip. Megan and Lane were partners so Lane's mother and I led the way through the bustling streets of Chinatown in search of traditional holiday foods like oranges, pomelos, persimmon and sausage, as well as festive decorations often seen in Chinese homes during this special time of year.
The girls had a great time looking through the crowded stalls and I felt like I was on my own personal culinary tour of Chinatown with Lane's mother, Farina. I knew that she was a trained chef but I didn't realize the extent of her Asian cooking knowledge until I recently downloaded her new iPad app and saw that she wrote Asian cookbooks for Williams-Sonoma. So, I made full use of her expertise during the field trip and went away much more knowledgable about how the Chinese prepare the holiday foods we saw in the market.
Smoked Meats Galore
Doing their part to scare off those evil spirits
It was a worthwhile trip for Megan and me and aside from the educational aspect of the outing, I relished the time with my favorite 2nd grader!
Megan and her souvenir in front of the dried persimmon
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