除夕，2015-02-18

【Aiden in English】

        Chinese New Year is the largest celebration all year round for any Chinese on earth. It’s a time when happiness spreads to every inch in China and abroad. Therefore, one of the best ways of celebrating the greatest Chinese holiday of all is to have a great feast.

        Lai Lai Garden in Blue Bell, PA is a terrific Chinese and Japanese restaurant that Mom and I are greatly familiar with. It combines many tastes of China into a menu. The restaurant also has sushi bar, but I’m not the craziest fan of sushi. Lai Lai Garden has amazing scenery. Its main entrance lobby looks like the one in a gorgeous hotel with a dazzling marble tile floor, a sparkling crystal chandelier, the antique wooden chairs for customers to sit and wait, a flat LCD TV that shows whatever is on, and even a cabinet full of expensive wines. 

        When Mom and I walked up to the reception, a waiter came and took us to our reserved seats. Menus were handed out, and I scanned over all selections. Not that I knew which tasted good and which didn’t, I was fully occupied with my video games and gave all the responsibility to Mom. Soon it would be a choice that I regretted. Twenty or so minutes later, dishes piled on the table from end to end, i.e. bean curd, dumplings, noodles, seafood, pork, beef, duck, and anything that you could name. There was a plate of cold, Spicy Beef Tendon with Chili Vinaigrette I munched with my orthodontic braces and put aside after a couple of bites. Then a plate of sliced pig ear came into sight, which was also a cold appetizer. The Pig Ear was cut into strips and drowned in roasted chili vinaigrette. Each strip tasted crunchy and the spicy flavor exploded in every chew. We put it aside, too and moved on to the noodles. The noodles were served with minced pork in a small bowl and covered in Szechuan hot pepper sauce. I dug in, slumping up noodle after noodle. This dish was called Dan Dan Noodles and became a Chinese classic. Mom and I quickly gulped it down and began mumbled on some Boiled Dumplings with Roasted Chili Vinaigrette. Then, three large main courses arrived: Peking Duck, Tofu in Clay Pot with Assorted Seafood and Vegetable, and a huge whole fish of Chilean sea bass overlaid by the Szechuan sauce.

        We started with the Peking Duck. The dish came with a sweet bean sauce, a type of Chinese buns or pancakes, scallions, and cucumbers. With those ingredients, we made sandwiches in Peking style. The sauce was sweet and dominated the flavor, while the duck just gave a good feeling in my mouth. 

        Next came Tofu in Clay Pot with Assorted Seafood and Vegetable. It seemed just like a simple dish of silken tofu, fish filet, scallop, shrimp, crab, and seasonal vegetables. The flavor was pretty plain, making the taste of seafood very obvious. 

        Finally, mom and I advanced to our best dish. By this time, my stomach was bulging with food. The fish had no flavor in particular. But when I dipped a piece of fish into the sauce sizzled onto it, the fish burst with spectacular taste. Fireworks went off in my mouth. Warmth filled me with every chew and spread to the rest of my body. If I had more room, that fish would’ve vanished.

        After Mom and I crammed down the last bits of food we could eat, the waiter packed the leftover in the containers for us. With all this good food, I’ll be set for the entire year of the sheep. 

【紅霞譯文】

        “爆竹聲聲陳舊，桃符代代更新。” 

        中國新年堪稱全球華人辭歲迎新普天同慶的年度節日，舉國上下大江南北到處洋溢着幸福快樂，日益伴隨着我們民族傳統從歷史走向未來，無疑，舌尖上的中國美食已成為海內外同胞共舉杯盞闔家團聚最為推崇的盛宴組成部分。

        賓州藍鈴鎮附近，“來來花園”是一家遐邇聞名的中日餐廳，我和媽媽可謂這裡的常客。它集華夏民間佳餚之大成，同時兼設日本壽司專櫃，可惜我並不感冒東洋料理。“來來花園”內部裝潢雅致，正堂門廳儼若華麗入時的酒店，大理石地面明淨無幾，水晶吊燈熠熠生輝，為顧客提供的木製座椅古色古香, 平板液晶電視不斷播放當下節目，酒吧里擺滿了五花八門的名貴葡萄酒。

        當我和媽媽走近前台，服務生迎面帶我們來到事先預約的座席並遞上菜譜，我泛泛掃視一遍，尚未弄清哪個可口哪個好吃，便隻身投入到轟轟烈烈的電子視頻遊戲之中，點餐的重任全部落在媽媽的肩上，不久我追悔莫及。廿分鐘左右，冷盤熱菜紛紛出籠，縱橫占據了整個桌面，豆腐、水餃、麵條、海鮮、豬牛鴨應聲而上。一盤涼拌頭台為“紅油牛筋”，有牙箍當道，我無法嚼碎筋皮之堅，僅嘗過幾口只好善罷甘休；另一盤“紅油耳絲”同樣也是開胃小吃，“肥豬耳朵”被切成細條，再拌上麻辣香醋，吃上去味香質脆，嚼起來辛辣火爆；繼而我們又轉戰麵條，肉末拌川式麻醬辣油，條條香濃，意猶未見，這就是大名鼎鼎的“擔擔麵”，我和媽媽大塊朵頤，很快便把它消滅得乾乾淨淨；還有紅油水餃，外加三大盤主餐：“北京烤鴨”、“三鮮豆腐煲”、“川式紅燒全魚—智利鱸魚”。

        我們先以“北京烤鴨”開戒，鴨肉抹點甜麵醬，一併用荷葉餅卷上蔥絲黃瓜條，正宗的老北京吃法無愧天下美味。面醬偏甜，主導鮮嫩醇厚的口感。

        接着輪到用砂鍋燒燉的“三鮮豆腐煲”，由嫩豆腐、魚片、扇貝、蝦仁、蟹肉及應時蔬菜雜燴而成，色澤清爽，海鮮味濃。

        吃到最後，我和媽媽只是簡單地動了幾筷子壓軸魚便停了下來，此時肚子漲得要命，舌尖早已失去味覺，不過待我夾點魚肉蘸些澆蓋在魚表面上的佐料之後，頓感齒頰留香餘味繞腸，但凡胃口尚在，咱說什麼也不會放手這號天府國香。

        我們酒足飯飽，服務生將剩菜剩飯歸置打包，有這麼多好吃的東西攜帶在身，我毋需發愁即將到來的羊年生計。

                一夜連雙歲，五更分二天。

                寒辭去冬雪，暖帶入春風。