PANAMA CITY — As Valentine’s balloons and hearts still adorned the restaurant, Jin Jin 88 II owner Shou “Jenny” Li already was preparing for her next celebration — Chinese New Year.
The New Year falls on Feb. 19, beginning the Year of the Sheep in the Chinese zodiac.
“Sheep is you have a girl, the girl will be kind of a little shy like a sheep,” said Jenny, who was born in 1984, the Year of the Rat.
She moved from her hometown of Fuzhou in the Fujian province of China 15 years ago and has been using her family’s recipes at Jin Jin 88 II, 647 W. 23rd St., for the past four years. The front door of her Chinese restaurant and the walls inside are adorned with signs of Happy New Year, wishing prosperity to customers, family and friends.
Although all of the restaurants in Panama City don’t close down for the holiday as they do in China, Jenny still makes a large traditional meal of Chinese cuisine for New Year’s Eve.
“In China on New Year’s we would be closed and reopen on the fourth day. They are closed everywhere, so we have to make enough food for the family for whole week,” said Jenny, who admitted, “We kinda like American now, but we still make a lot of food for three days.”
Jin Jin 88 II will still be open as usual, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, but the family celebration will begin after the restaurant closes Wednesday night.
“We will still be open, but we still celebrate, and the second day I will put on the music, a traditional Chinese New Year song to make it happier, peaceful,” said Jenny, “We will be eating very late at night on New Year’s Eve. For New Year’s, even the kids sleep in late. Chinese people, we like to buy new clothes for New Year’s Day, more rich and red color. I have family in New York City and family in China. I have to call everyone New Year’s and tell everyone Happy New Year. On New Year’s Day, we need to say ‘Gong Xi Fa Cai,’ ‘Happy New Year and prosperous New Year’ to everyone, even customers.”
But one word will not be said that day.
“We don’t need to say ‘four,’ ‘si,’; that means ‘death,’ so we don’t say that,” she explained.
Chinese New Year Eve celebrations include large family-style meals on the eve of the holiday. Traditional dishes include steamed whole fish and fish balls. “Fish,” or “yu,” has the same sound as “abundance” in Mandarin.
“We do the steamed whole fish and put on green onions and onion, put on soy sauce and eat like that,” Jenny said. “Tangerines would be lucky fruit. ‘Ji’ means lucky. For my family, we will have hot pan. We have lobster, crab meat, fish balls, vegetables.”
She also will serve her family recipes for General Tso’s Chicken and Mongolian Beef, which also are on the restaurant’s menu. Every dish will have 10 servings, enough for her family and visiting relatives.
“They drink red wine with it. Traditionally, we normally have 10 dishes. Ten is for perfect. General Tso’s is the most popular dish here and for our family. My son loves it,” said Jenny, mother to a 7-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl. “It’s a little spicy, but they are used to it.”
General Tso’s Chicken and Mongolian Beef are noted as hot and spicy dishes on the Jin Jin 88 II menu. Both had a lot of flavor, but I only felt the heat with the beef. The chicken was crispy in the sweet (but not too sweet) sauce on a plate adorned with orange slices.
“It’s good and beautiful,” Jenny added.
Though I easily could have finished it, I knew my son, too, would like the General Tso’s Chicken. My 8-year-old son’s bite turned into a bowl, and then another. What he didn’t finish that night, he took for lunch the next day.
Jenny said the beef and chicken dishes are both quick to make.
“The Mongolian Beef takes about five minutes,” she said.
If she was in China, Jenny also would be “frying 20 pounds of peanuts” and roasting a pig.
“And we have to eat a lot of rice,” said Jenny, who serves Jasmine rice with her Chinese cuisine.
It also is customary to give red envelopes filled with money to children and for a boss to give them to employees. The red color symbolizes good luck, and the amount is usually an even number from $2 into the hundreds.
Jenny added, “We need to give to kids and employees a little amount of money, a red package to make more peaceful year, for everything be very happy.”
General Tso’s Chicken
- 5 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut in chunks
- Flour
- Oil
- 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic,
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
- 2 green onions, sliced
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- Jasmine rice, for serving
Make the sauce first. Mix the hoisin sauce, garlic, sugar and vinegar together, then put the sauce in the pan with the green onions and cornstarch.
Dip chicken in flour and fry in hot oil until chicken is golden, about 10 minutes. Mix it in the pan with the sauce and serve on rice.
Makes 10 servings.
Source: Shou “Jenny” Li, Jin Jin 88 II
Mongolian Beef
- 2 pounds shredded beef
- 2 onions
- 2 green peppers
- 1 cup Asian barbecue sauce
- 2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
- 1 teaspoon chili pepper oil
Steam onion and green peppers and stir-fry beef with green pepper and onion for a few minutes. Add a little barbecue sauce, hoisin sauce and chili pepper oil and stir-fry.
Source: Shou “Jenny” Li, Jin Jin 88 II
CHINESE NEW YEAR
- When: Feb. 19
- What: Year of the Sheep
- Good luck: whole fish, tangerines, red envelopes filled with money
- Happy New Year in Mandarin: Gong Xi Fa Cai