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Lunar New Year is the biggest festivity in China. While American school kids are always complaining about their wimpy week of Christmas and New Year's breaks, Chinese students are at home, chilling with a month of rest.

Yet in America, where there are plenty of Chinese immigrants, most schools barely recognize Chinese New Year as a holiday. At my school today, not a single teacher, student, or personnel in the building said “Happy Chinese New Year” or some weird pronunciation of “Gong Xi Fa Cai”. In fact, the only hint of Chinese culture came in the cafeteria when the lunch line served “sweet and sour chicken”. I hate that stuff. It’s so bad, that I think it offends the name of Chinese food. If Americans really want to get rid of Asian stereotypes, they should start by dealing with their own misinterpretations.

Luckily, my family is 100 percent Chinese, which therefore means there is a 100- percent chance of me celebrating Chinese New Year. You know, my favorite thing about Chinese New Year is the food, because not only is it always the best but, I don’t really know many more ways of celebrating. American culture has slightly diluted the strength of this time, so there is not much extreme celebration put into this holiday. I may argue that the Christmas tree is also showing Chinese New Year, but truthfully, my family was just too tired to take it down from Christmas.

This New Year's, Mom decided to try a new restaurant. Noodle 88, a quite well-known Chinese restaurant in the area, was gaining popularity around town. Like I said, I love food. However, when people try to give out Americanized Chinese food that tastes like chicken in our cafeteria, I can’t help but think that it really is not worth anything. Noodle 88 has nothing to do with “bad food”, and so, therefore, I loved it.

I enjoy the fact that the outside looks nothing like the interior. For one, I didn't even know it was a restaurant from the outer looks. But the inside rooms felt cozy, like a small house, which it pretty much was. The food was terrific, and for once, I’m not going into much detail on food. I'll just say, the Chow Mein is quite something special.

Instead of talking about taste, I want to talk about quality. Before ordering, the owner, Roy, gave us a small lecture about what the food was made of. The restaurant's motto was Healthy first, then the taste. I really don’t care about the ingredients as long as it is tasty, but it truly feels good to know the food was pure and had no artificial flavors or preservatives in it. In fact, he even went into detail on how they used certain oils and vinegar. I think this holds a lot of symbolism within, and for the next year, I hope to be as pure as possible. And like the food, I hope it tastes just as well.

【红霞译文】

农历新年是中国最为隆重的传统佳节，在美国顽童齐声抱怨迎圣诞庆元旦一周冬歇期来去匆匆的同时，国内学子吃香的喝辣的，一个月寒假悠哉游哉。

美国虽有大量华裔侨胞，但多数教育部门鲜少把春节当作节日对待，今天我所在的学校竟然没有一位老师、同学或者工作人员祝贺“新年快乐”，哪怕蹩脚的“恭喜发财”也听不到，实际上唯一有所表示的就是食堂午餐供应“甜酸鸡”，我讨厌这道菜，太不着调，而且有损中餐名声，假如美国佬真要摈除对亚裔人固有偏见，当该先纠正自身错误概念。

幸好我家是不折不扣的华人家庭，言外之意一定不遗余力来庆祝中国新年，要知道春节于我少不了吃的东西，不单单因为民以食为天，除了吃我实在找不出什么更好的庆祝方式。今年美国文化多少打击点我的积极性，所以本人没打算大操特办庆祝活动，兴许推说延用圣诞树烘托春节气氛，但实不相瞒我家人懒，到现在还未清理圣诞树。

今年春节妈妈决定尝试新餐厅，去当地一家相当不错的中餐馆── “八八面坊”，其声誉传遍小镇内外。如前所说，我喜好饮食，然而对于所谓的美式中餐，也就是像学校食堂甜酸鸡之类的食物，我情愿避而远之，“八八面坊”讲究正宗烹饪，因此正合我意。

“八八面坊”外表完全不如内部抢眼，乍看上去，我竟然一下子未能认出是家中餐馆，它的室内面积不大但小巧玲珑，令人感觉舒适自在，菜肴有股家的味道，这里暂且不作详细评论，我只想说炒面非常特别。

撇开传统风味，我愿意趁机谈些饮食质量话题。点餐之前，朱老板向我们简单介绍该店食材组成，他们的理念是健康第一，味道第二。其实只要可口，我并非真正在乎菜谱成分，不过弄清楚下咽的东西符合纯天然无添加剂或防腐剂食品标准会让人心里舒服好多。他还如实讲解具体使用的食油和香醋，由此反映出自己所奉行的职业操守，明年希望再接再厉，饭菜更加色艳香浓形美味鲜。

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2016 Super Bowl on the CNY's Eve(中国除夕与2016年超级碗)

2015: Chinese New Year Eve @ Lai Lai Garden(来来花园春节年夜饭)

2011: 喜从雪降(Sent From Above)

2009: 哥伦比亚卡塔赫纳—魅力之城(Cartagena the Magic City, Colombia)

2008: 吃在游轮(Cuisine on Carnival Destiny)

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