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superborbIt was soooo helpful to be able to look back at notes from last time, so here are my NYE party notes for 2025! Now that I have recovered a bit from the sleep deprivation of being in a noisy house with a toddler...
We had 34 total people, pretty typical. Now that more of the 'kids' are drinking, we can't get away with the couple bottles of wine and single pack of beer anymore; next year, little sister and her husband will handle quantities for that.
I remain... not on top of things enough to get the photos uploaded. Maybe next time...
Projecting out when things need to start seemed to be extremely useful to keep my mom focused and calm. Of course, it was also handy for myself, so I'd do it anyway, but really was necessary.
Tool wise, the two extra baking sheets I bought were very handy. I forgot to bring my whetstones and that was a mistake. Maybe I should just order some to my mom's...
In terms of appetizers, we did pretty okay. Two types of shelled nuts, watermelon seeds, with around three trays total of candy and nuts. Pineapple (huge success to soak in salt water), oranges, grapes to round out fruit; chips and salsa; veg platter with an impromptu yogurt dip; shrimp cocktail (after I mentioned it might be cut next year, the 'kids' did a concerted effort to eat it and did make it nearly all the way through a large costco platter... wow... Not going to save me from downsizing to the small costco platter next year though).
But of course! The STAR OF THE SHOW! Shanghainese spring rolls! We did four packs, so around a hundred rolls. This took two people 1 h 10 min to wrap. (Much argument was made over whether there was a danger than they would explode in the oil. I am well trained; mine have never done so, but my mom's belief in some of the relatives is insufficient to allow them to practice in her house, haha.) We did 2 big napa cabbages for the filling; the increased percent in cabbage vs meat led to a tasty filling, but it was quite wet to handle. Next time, I think 1.5 big napas would be a more suitable ratio.
(Frying them is not my responsibility, so I disclaim ownership of the pot lid bursting into flame, being set in the sink, and then shattering. 歲歲平安 or whatever.)
People were more restrained in their protein dish bringing this year, so others brought a red braised beef, two different people brought kaofu, and two brought noodles. The kaofu were both delicious this year. Definitely a dish to request since it's a lot of effort to add on our side, but travels well and doesn't need reheating! The beef did not survive being buffet style quite so well.
In terms of my vegetable dishes:
- Steamed eggplant: As I predicted, very nice to make ahead. Unfortunately, no one but me liked it djsfklj. Complaints: too much garlic (I like garlic!) and that it would have better texture if it had been fried. Valid. Also, I should've salted and sugared it more. IDK, it WAS a good make ahead dish, but I would definitely fry the garlic instead of doing the pour over hot oil method.
- Bok choy with mushrooms: My mom's innovation of spreading it out on a baking sheet after blanching to prevent yellowing before the final stir fry worked very well
- Yu choy
- Baiye tofu
- Green beans with salted duck egg:halfcactus recommended this last time! I don't think I executed it well though... Maybe I should have blanched it longer? Or maybe people always wouldn't have liked it as much, esp since we did have a good amount of veg this year. The baby didn't approve -- he took it out of his mouth and put it in the trash in a new demonstration of his abilities to throw things away
- Stuffed mushroom: Ugh, another thing that really wants to be hot... But it's so nice that it can go in the oven and not take up stove space... And be fully prepped in advance...
Protein dishes:
- Baked fish: It's not as good as steamed, but oven space is so much less a premium. Next time, I should do this last though, so it's hotter when served. I don't know why one of the four fish turned out rubbery??? They were all cooked at the same time and another fish shared that tray? I think I preferred the texture when it wasn't wrapped in foil, so I'll go back to that next time.
- Salt water duck: Incredible, my mom's recipe is sooooo good.
- Chicken soup with hair moss meatballs, baiyejie, bamboo, and egg dumplings: (The egg dumplings were made by my aunt.) Three chickens was the right number for a really flavorful soup after boiling all day. I'm hoping we can use the more restrained pot next time, as the one that is small child sized is simply too large to deal with. This was a standout apparently.
- Baked ribs: Sister's husband handled this and it turned out great. Yay.
Desserts:
- Baimuer: No one had this lmao well that used up the package anyway.
- Yule log: My great aunt is just getting better and better at this!
- Cheesecake: Aunt made this, and two cakes was about the right amount of dessert (with the other chocolates and candy we had out)
Overall, I thought the food was pretty successful! Even though I was very sleep deprived, having the schedule did keep everything on task. I guess the real concerns for next time are trying to time hot food better (not really sure if that's possible with this style of food), and maybe I should consider more complicated dishes? I think it would've been easy to do a red braised pork, since that reheats well. I always want to have lots of little snacks before because that was My Job for ages, but it might be too much and detract from the meal...
We had 34 total people, pretty typical. Now that more of the 'kids' are drinking, we can't get away with the couple bottles of wine and single pack of beer anymore; next year, little sister and her husband will handle quantities for that.
I remain... not on top of things enough to get the photos uploaded. Maybe next time...
Projecting out when things need to start seemed to be extremely useful to keep my mom focused and calm. Of course, it was also handy for myself, so I'd do it anyway, but really was necessary.
Tool wise, the two extra baking sheets I bought were very handy. I forgot to bring my whetstones and that was a mistake. Maybe I should just order some to my mom's...
In terms of appetizers, we did pretty okay. Two types of shelled nuts, watermelon seeds, with around three trays total of candy and nuts. Pineapple (huge success to soak in salt water), oranges, grapes to round out fruit; chips and salsa; veg platter with an impromptu yogurt dip; shrimp cocktail (after I mentioned it might be cut next year, the 'kids' did a concerted effort to eat it and did make it nearly all the way through a large costco platter... wow... Not going to save me from downsizing to the small costco platter next year though).
But of course! The STAR OF THE SHOW! Shanghainese spring rolls! We did four packs, so around a hundred rolls. This took two people 1 h 10 min to wrap. (Much argument was made over whether there was a danger than they would explode in the oil. I am well trained; mine have never done so, but my mom's belief in some of the relatives is insufficient to allow them to practice in her house, haha.) We did 2 big napa cabbages for the filling; the increased percent in cabbage vs meat led to a tasty filling, but it was quite wet to handle. Next time, I think 1.5 big napas would be a more suitable ratio.
(Frying them is not my responsibility, so I disclaim ownership of the pot lid bursting into flame, being set in the sink, and then shattering. 歲歲平安 or whatever.)
People were more restrained in their protein dish bringing this year, so others brought a red braised beef, two different people brought kaofu, and two brought noodles. The kaofu were both delicious this year. Definitely a dish to request since it's a lot of effort to add on our side, but travels well and doesn't need reheating! The beef did not survive being buffet style quite so well.
In terms of my vegetable dishes:
- Steamed eggplant: As I predicted, very nice to make ahead. Unfortunately, no one but me liked it djsfklj. Complaints: too much garlic (I like garlic!) and that it would have better texture if it had been fried. Valid. Also, I should've salted and sugared it more. IDK, it WAS a good make ahead dish, but I would definitely fry the garlic instead of doing the pour over hot oil method.
- Bok choy with mushrooms: My mom's innovation of spreading it out on a baking sheet after blanching to prevent yellowing before the final stir fry worked very well
- Yu choy
- Baiye tofu
- Green beans with salted duck egg:
halfcactus recommended this last time! I don't think I executed it well though... Maybe I should have blanched it longer? Or maybe people always wouldn't have liked it as much, esp since we did have a good amount of veg this year. The baby didn't approve -- he took it out of his mouth and put it in the trash in a new demonstration of his abilities to throw things away- Stuffed mushroom: Ugh, another thing that really wants to be hot... But it's so nice that it can go in the oven and not take up stove space... And be fully prepped in advance...
Protein dishes:
- Baked fish: It's not as good as steamed, but oven space is so much less a premium. Next time, I should do this last though, so it's hotter when served. I don't know why one of the four fish turned out rubbery??? They were all cooked at the same time and another fish shared that tray? I think I preferred the texture when it wasn't wrapped in foil, so I'll go back to that next time.
- Salt water duck: Incredible, my mom's recipe is sooooo good.
- Chicken soup with hair moss meatballs, baiyejie, bamboo, and egg dumplings: (The egg dumplings were made by my aunt.) Three chickens was the right number for a really flavorful soup after boiling all day. I'm hoping we can use the more restrained pot next time, as the one that is small child sized is simply too large to deal with. This was a standout apparently.
- Baked ribs: Sister's husband handled this and it turned out great. Yay.
Desserts:
- Baimuer: No one had this lmao well that used up the package anyway.
- Yule log: My great aunt is just getting better and better at this!
- Cheesecake: Aunt made this, and two cakes was about the right amount of dessert (with the other chocolates and candy we had out)
Overall, I thought the food was pretty successful! Even though I was very sleep deprived, having the schedule did keep everything on task. I guess the real concerns for next time are trying to time hot food better (not really sure if that's possible with this style of food), and maybe I should consider more complicated dishes? I think it would've been easy to do a red braised pork, since that reheats well. I always want to have lots of little snacks before because that was My Job for ages, but it might be too much and detract from the meal...
