The Year of the Rabbit (2023)

Kung Hei Fat Choy

January 22, 2023 is the Lunar New Year,

The Year of the Rabbit

We lived in Hawaii for 13 years. Both of our children were born there. They grew up celebrating and appreciating all the holidays that the people of Hawaii celebrated. Hawaii isn’t just a Polynesian culture, it has many cultures, including a very large Asian one.

I loved going into Chinatown in Honolulu with a girlfriend to do some shopping. Rice Ware was a favorite for me to find and add to my collection. I also always loved having lunch at some casual eatery with lots of noise coming from the kitchen and everyone speaking a different language. I would just sit outside on a wrought iron patio set and just take it all in.

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A Brothel in Chinatown

(This is NOT a brothel, this is just Chinatown in Honolulu.)

I do have to share this story with you. It was one day when my friend Stephany and I were in Chinatown in Honolulu in 1999, that she wanted to treat me to a restaurant that she used to go to. I can’t remember the name of it. It was while we were sitting on a bench talking when I noticed this man standing at the bottom of a flight of stairs next to a restaurant. He was stopping anyone that come up to him, before sending them up the stairs. The people he was stopping were all men. And not the nicest looking men. As in, they looked pretty scummy.

It was then that Stephany led me toward that staircase, telling me that the restaurant was at the top. I was sceptical, seeing as how scummy the men I saw heading up there. The man at the bottom of the stairs was distracted by another man talking to him as we were able to skirt by without him stopping us. We go to the top of the stairs and Stephany opened the door. A man came running towards us waving his arms asking us what we were doing? Stephany said that she was looking for the restaurant that apparently used to be there. He told us, very nervously, that the restaurant closed years ago.

It was while we were standing there that we noticed all these doors of small rooms all down a row. I could also hear the man from the bottom of the stairs standing behind me. I heard him run up the stairs. I’m realizing that we are in a brothel, but Stephany is clueless. She started asking what kind of place this is? Are those exercise rooms? The main man we were talking to laughed out loud. It was then that I grabbed Stephany and said something to the effect that we had better get going, I’m starving and I know our husbands will be looking for us. I then apologized to the main man for our interruption and we left, before Stephany could say something stupid letting them know that we didn’t have our husbands with us.

Moral of the story?

Don’t let your friend take you to a brothel, not without you being able to talk your way out of it! 🙂

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(The Dragon artwork is our son Brodie’s that he made in school in Hawaii.)

This year our daughter and son-in-law will be having a baby. In The Year of the Rabbit. I myself gave birth to Veronica in 1987, The Year of the Rabbit. Our Rabbit is having a Rabbit! I told her that I was going to look for some “Rabbit” things for the baby for our big reveal party. I did find a few. Some adorable, and some a bit tacky. But, I love that tacky gold Rabbit!

Fortune Cookies are a Must!

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Saki, Plum Wines, and Bamboo

(and Juice for pregnant Veronica)

The Table is Set

I do have to say that this is the first year I have ever made a buffet table actually flow. Usually I have everyone reaching over this and that, there is no rhyme or reason for my placement, candles narrowly catching someone sleeve on fire, etc. But, this year I do believe I finally nailed a table flow. Although the silverware placement did get a wide birth.

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Gifts For Our Children and Their Partners

I am a big believer in gift giving. Any way that we can help our children then I am there!

Gordon and I were a bit poor in our early married years so I always appreciated a nice care package from home of our favorite things. Although our kids are not as hard up as we were, I still like passing a few favorites their way. Whenever we shop at our favorite Asian stores we always pick up extra for our kids and their partners.

Big Bags of Rice, Boxes Full of Favorite Edibles

(Brodie wanted the Calrose Rice instead of the Jasmine so he tried to get Veronica to trade with him. She wouldn’t. He was just so funny doing his best to pass on that Jasmine Rice to Veronica by saying things like, “Don’t forget your Jasmine Rice Veronica.” 🙂

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Taste The Mystery Chips

There is a fun thing that we do in our family and that is to buy up bags of chips from The Asian Supermarket, and taste them. Some are really gross, and some are actually good. And, here are some that everyone seemed to like in our gift boxes we gave this year.

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Sweets Treats

We all seem to love the Green Tea Kit Kat Bars, and the Strawberry ones as well.

We also threw in some Pineapple Newton ones as well.

Bagged and Ready!

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Gifts Are Ready!

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Chop Stix Game

The Kids Are Here, And We Are Gaming!

(But, not the kind you may be thinking of.)

Rice Crackers, Wasabi Peas, and Sesame Sticks to Snack on

Also, some Saki and Plum Wines

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Brian and Veronica, Expecting…..

Our Peanuku

This lovely sign was a gift from Veronica and Brian for Christmas as their way of telling us they were having a baby. 🙂

The first thing I said was, “I see a peanut.” And the nickname was born! Peanuku is Hawaiian for Peanut.

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The Baby Gender Reveal

This was actually supposed to take place in mid January, but our son-in-laws mother died. She was 61. That was my age at the time of this reveal. Now, as of February 13th. I am 62, but her death made me appreciate turning 62. I am now the only grandmother to this child. That makes me very sad because Eileen would have been wonderful and I would have enjoyed co-grandmothering with her. And although she isn’t here to see this, here is the reveal.

O.K. We’re Ready! Pulling the strings…..

I think my face says it all!

It’s a GIRL!

We Can’t Wait To Meet Her

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The Happy Parents

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We Have The Cutest Family!

Mackenzie, Veronica, Brian and Brodie

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Our Year of the Rabbit Dinner

Our Asian Imitation Crab Salad Cucumber Cups

(Recipe Down Below)

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The Cocktail Sausages Were Probably The Most Popular

Also, we had our Asian Crab Salad to be Eaten with Crackers

(Recipe Down Below)

Our Grilled Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken Breast and Asian Vegetables with our Peanuku Sauce

I Thought My Table Looked Nice

Our Bulgogi Pork Wraps w/ Bibb Lettuce, Shredded Carrots, and Enoki Mushrooms w/ Dipping Sauce

This was a big hit! The Bulgogi Pork is delicious!

Everyone enjoyed creating their own. I knew that they would. Kind of like a ‘Taco Bar.’

We created the Peanuku Sauce in honor of our unborn grandchild.

I told Veronica that I wanted that to be the first thing she tasted so our Peanuku could taste it as well.

Egg Rolls with Dipping Sauce

(These we bought frozen and just heated up in the oven. They were delicious! Any time you can cut corners on things, then do. It will save a lot of time if you add things already made to the big dinner.)

(Recipes Down Below)

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Everyone Helping Themselves

I think most everyone came back for 2nd’s and even 3rd’s. 🙂

Although not pictured, we had bamboo trays for everyone seeing as how we were all eating on the couches.

Gordon Fixing His Dinner Plate

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We Also Had a Blast Exchanging Gifts

(Brodie and Mackenzie hit it out of the park with the cute Star Wars baby things.)

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Our kids also brought Gordon and myself our birthday gifts.

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Gifts For My Girls

Some Gifts for the Baby…

..and I also got my girl’s something nice. I also got myself one as well.

Estee Lauder Year of the Rabbit Make-up Kits

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Opening Fortunes

Mackenzie and Brian Reading Their Fortunes

According to our Son-In-Law Brian, add the words ‘In Bed’ to the end of your fortune. 🙂

Veronica and Brian Brought Dessert

A King Cake!

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Leftovers

We LOVE Leftovers!

(That is Lumpia that you see above that was given to Gordon by a co-workers Filipino wife. You know they are good!)

We aren’t just eating our leftover foods from our party above, we are rearranging them in a different form and eating them differently. For example, I turned our leftover Asian Chicken and Vegetable Platter into an Asian Salad with an excellent Deep-Roasted Sesame Dressing.

That is an Excellent Salad Dressing!

We also decided to turn our salads into Bulgogi Pork salads.

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Excellent Leftovers

Even just a simple salad was delicious.

Here I added a hard boiled egg to this mix.

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Time To Put Everything Away

With our favorite Asian holidays behind us it’s time to put it all away until next year.

We hope that 2023, The Year of the Rabbit, will be wonderful for ALL!

Especially our little Peanuku. 🙂

Zhenzhi De

(Sincerely)

Gordon and Julie Whann

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The Recipes

Whenever we cook anything, most of the time we try to double, or even triple the recipes. We love to share with our children and their partner’s whatever it is we are creating. The gift of food is probably the best gift we can give to anyone. And no one has ever complained thus far by anything we have ever given them to eat. So, in addition to all the gifts from above, they also got to take home enough of the leftovers to last them a good 3 – 4 days once they left here.

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Making Bulgogi Pork

UP EARLY!

After 5:00 a.m., Thawing Ground Pork

(We made this 2 days before our party, and kept it refrigerated.)

To make less of this recipe, you just need enough sausage and Bulgogi sauce as you only need to use as much as you like for your own tastes of the other ingredients.

Ingredients:

6 (12 oz. pkgs) “Jimmy Dean Brand” Regular Sausage – thawed

3 pkgs. Hot Italian Sausage “Johnsonville Brand” – thawed

~20 Garlic Cloves – sliced thinly

1 Medium Cabbage – sliced thinly

4 Tbsp. Peanut Oil or Olive Oil

1, 20 oz. Can Crushed Pineapple – save the juice

1 1/2 Cups Carrot Sticks

2 Tbsp. Chinese Hot Pepper Flakes

3 Jars (17.6 oz.) Korean Bulgogi Sauce – use as much to suit your own taste

5-6 Green Onions – sliced

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Write Up By Gordon:

Here are the two Woks and one large saute pan I used to cook all these ingredients.

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Start by adding your Peanut Oil or Olive Oil to all three pans.

Now, evenly disperse the meat into all three pans and turn the heat to medium high.

(We had two of us to do this.)

Using your wooden spatula, break the meat up into small pieces.

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We like a lot of garlic. You don’t have to use this much, but there is a good amount of meat.

Here you can see all the fat from the meat.

We will keep this in for now to help cook the other ingredients.

Slice your garlic thinly as shown.

Evenly spread the garlic between the three pans and mix it into the meat.

Here you can see the small pieces of meat that we were able to break up with the spatula.

You want to turn this into a mince.

Now, slice your cabbage in half, then remove the core by using a wedge type cut. Then spread the cabbage evenly between the three pans. This too will cook down with time and heat.

Adding The Cabbage

Mix the cabbage into the meat as shown.

Here in the upper left of this picture, you can see the wedge cut I made to remove the core from the cabbage.

Use as much or as little cabbage as you like.

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All three pans are fully loaded.

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I used a splatter screen placed over the pan to help me pour away the excess fat. The edge of the screen fits nicely over the pan to help lock in the meat. Use two hands to do this.

Now, open your Crushed Pineapple …

and pour it evenly between the three pans.

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Then add your Carrot Sticks…

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Add your Hot Pepper Flakes to the three pans and mix all the ingredients well.

This Korean Bulgogi Marinade Sauce is what I used to make this great Bulgogi recipe.

Use as much as you need, stirring as you go.

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Keep cooking all the ingredients and stir everything well.

This will wilt the cabbage and carrots.

You Can See The Steam

Slice your Green Onions thinly as shown.

Again, evenly spread the sliced Green Onions between the three pans.

Do this at the end of the cooking process.

This tastes as good as it looks.

Allowing the Bulgogi Pork to Cool…..

Once Cooled, Place into Airtight Containers and Place into the Refrigerator.

Our kids and their partners loved it!

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The Enthusiastic Brigade 🙂

What would we do without their undying support?

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Time To Do Some Veggie Prep

Here are the vegetables we washed for the Peanuku Sauce Asian Vegetable Platter.

Washing them all first makes them easier to cut later.

(Photographing the Bags)

Here are the exotic Asian mushrooms we bought as they are always fresh and taste amazing from The Asian Supermarket.

To prep these, simply remove the base of their stems and give them a quick rinse.

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For the Daikon Radish, remove the top and peel the radish. Then slice them into thin disks.

For the Cucumbers, remove the ends and slice them in half, then in half again.

Here I stacked the vegetables after I sliced them in a container to be used for later. I sliced the Bell Pepper in half, removed the stem and seeds, then sliced them into thin long wedges.

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The Marinated Chicken Breasts

For the chicken, I marinated the boneless skinless breasts in this amazing Hawaiian Teriyaki Sauce. Start by washing the chicken with cold water to remove any old blood or bone fragments.

I used some paper towels to remove the excess water then slice away and residual fat.

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Place the chicken breasts into a sturdy seal-able plastic bag and wash your hands.

Then pour in enough of the sauce into the bag to coat the breasts.

Seal the bag and massage the marinade sauce all over the breasts.

Open the bag and carefully lay it flat then fold over the empty part of the bag and remove the air by pressing it down. Reseal the bag to create a vacuum as shown. This vacuum will help to force the marinade into the chicken. Place the chicken in a container then into your refrigerator overnight.

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The next day, add some of the Hawaiian Teriyaki Sauce to a small bowl and have a BBQ brush on stand-by.

Place your grill on high for about 5 min. to help to burn off any old food particles and to heat up the grill grates. When the grill is heated, turn the heat down to medium high and place your chicken on the grill with the top of the breast down on the grill. That side is called the presentation side.

Here you can see the beautiful color the chicken has after it has been marinating overnight. Using the BBQ brush, drizzle some of the marinade over the chicken.

After about 8 min. you should turn the chicken over …

…and again using the BBQ brush, drizzle some of the marinade over the chicken.

After about another 8 min. the chicken should be about done. The chicken will be rigid and the superheated outside juices will run back into the center of the chicken as it rests. I usually let it rest for about 10 min. Don’t worry, it will still be hot.

We let the breasts cool then placed them in a clean sealable bag…

so we could slice and eat them later for our party.

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Our Asian Imitation Crab Salad Cucumber Cups

This Imitation Crab Salad is a Staple in our Home, we Just Asian’d it up Here

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Ingredients:

3 Pkgs. Imitation Crab

(We prefer the Imitation Crab here because the salad will last longer and not have that fishy smell or taste.)

2 Tbsp. thinly chopped ends of the Flowering Garlic Chives

3 Cucumbers – fork score down the side, sliced on a diagonal, then cored

1 1/4 Cups Celery – sliced to a small dice

~1 Cup Miracle Whip

~2-3 Tbsp. Old Bay Seasoning

3 Tbsp. Mirin – sweet cooking rice seasoning

2 Tbsp. Sesame Oil

3 Tbsp. Black and White Sesame Seeds for garnish

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I like to use the Imitation Crab that is in medium sized sections. Remove the sections from the package, place them in your hand and squeeze the water out. Doing this will allow the Crab to absorb other liquids and flavors. Then separate the section into smaller pieces.

Here I thinly sliced the ends of the Flowering Garlic Chives. These have a great flavor.

Slice the ends off the Cucumbers..

Then use a fork and score the sides of the Cucumber to make a decorative design.

Slice the Cucumbers in 3 inch sections then slice the section in half on a diagonal.

Use a melon baller to remove some of the Cucumber as shown, being sure not to go down too deep.

Do this for all the Cucumber sections.

(We made these the day before and placed them in the refrigerator overnight.)

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Chop your Celery into a small dice.

Add your Miracle Whip and mix all the ingredients well.

Add your Old Bay Seasoning…

..then your Mirin and Sesame Oil and mix all your ingredients well.

Taste the mixture and add any seasonings to have it taste the way you want.

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Time to Stuff the Cucumbers

Use a small teaspoon to fill the Cucumber.

Top the Cucumber and Crab with your Sesame Seeds as shown.

OISHI!

(Delicious!)

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Our Peanuku Sauce

(In Honor of our Little Peanuku)

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Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. Mustard Powder

~1/2 Cup Water

~2 Tbsp. Raw Cane Sugar

~2 Tbsp. Black Vinegar

~2 Tbsp. Sesame Oil

~2 Tbsp. Black Garlic Shoyu (Soy Sauce)

~2 1/2 Cups No Sugar Added “Jif Brand” Peanut Butter

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Some of the above ingredients will be hard to find if you don’t have an Asian Supermarket nearby. I recommend you use a vinegar that is not so distinct like a Rice Wine Vinegar or White Vinegar which is more easily found. A vinegar like Apple Cider or White Wine would have too much of a distinct flavor profile for this recipe. For your Soy Sauce, again, use one that is basic if you can’t find the Black Garlic one. I prefer the Aloha or Datu Puti Brand. I am not a fan of Kikkoman’s Soy Sauce as to me, it has a very winey (not a word) taste and does not have the traditional Soy Sauce flavor. I also like the No Sugar Added peanut butter, as I like to control the amount of sugar in this recipe.

To start, add your Mustard Powder and Water to the blender.

Now add your Cane Sugar…

Black Vinegar, Sesame Oil, and …

the Black Garlic Shoyu to the blender.

This is a nice peanut butter for this recipe.

Add it to the blender as well.

Blend the ingredients until smooth.

Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula to ensure they are all mixed together well. Taste this sauce and add any of the ingredients to have it suit your tastes. You may need to add more water to get the consistency and smoothness of the sauce. If you add water, be sure to add some of the other liquids and ingredients as water has no flavor.

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Here you can see the sauce is easily poured, which is the consistency I like.

Place the Peanuku Sauce in jars and give to your friends.

It works well as a dip and as a sauce for noodles.

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It is also delicious when dipped with a Frozen Banana:

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An Oriental Jezebel

My Delicious Sauce That Featured in This Meal

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An Oriental Jezebel Cocktail Sausages

These are going to be the Big Hit at every single party or occasion you may have.

Everyone loves sausages!

And everyone loves a sweet, baked, plumped up sausage! These could not be EASIER!

These Actually Took 2 Small Jars of Oriental Jezebel to Make

You first want to drain the packages of sausages into a colander and then place them into a ZipLock Baggie. Now pour in enough of the Oriental Jezebel to coat all the sausages in the baggie. Let them marinate overnight or for about two days. When you are ready to cook them, drain the marinade out of the sausages into a colander, and then place the sausages into a baking dish.

Turn the oven on 400F and place the sausages into a baking dish, like so.

You then want to pour more of the Oriental Jezebel on top of the sausages. I opened another jar for this.

Before Baking, After Baking

These took about 40 minutes to bake. I wanted them plumped up and a bit caramelized.

The Cocktail Sausages Were Probably The Most Popular

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Egg Rolls With Dipping Sauces

Chung’s

These are really good Egg Rolls. They even come with their own dipping sauces, we just didn’t use them. We used our own. But how easy is it to just place them on baking sheets and heat them up in the oven?

Easy, and Delicious!

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If you would like to view our other Asian pages:

Click Here For: Whann Way Asian

AND,

Click Here For: Whann Way Asian, E Ho ‘Omau (Continues)

AND,

Click Here For: Julie Loves Asian

AND,

Click Here For: Asian Edible Gifts

AND,

Edible Gifts of the Asian Variety

(Note: Edible Gifts of the Asian Variety is the same post as Asian Edible Gifts. I have both listed here for accuracy, but one is a Page and the other is considered a Post. Confusing, I know.)

AND,

Click Here For: Our Asian Easter