"Good Luck, Keep Healthy & Have a Great Chinese New Year!"

Dressed in red to honor the Chinese New Year celebration, we boarded the school bus and headed to Molly Woo's Asian Bistro. 

With a special thanks to Mrs. Thitoff and the staff at Molly Woo's, we were so lucky to have an insider's peek at what a restaurant looks like behind the scenes. The staff at Molly Woo's opened their doors just for us so we could learn about the Chinese New Year and the Chinese culture. 

Chef Michael told us about growing up in Hong Kong and how his family celebrated the Chinese New Year. 

Here are some things we learned:
-The story of the 3-Headed Dragon and how the Chinese New Year began.
-The Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days and follow the Lunar Calendar. 
-During the Chinese New Year, children get red envelopes with money in them to bring good luck, wealth and success in school. 
-Before the Chinese New Year begins, Chef Michael and his family would clean their house which meant "out with the old, in with the new"!
-Chef Michael also taught us how to eat with chopsticks. 

We had a behind-the-scenes look at Molly Woo's kitchen. 

We learned how the food is cut and prepared before it is cooked. 




Chef Max told us about different Asian dishes the restaurant prepares. He gave us a cooking demonstration and showed us how to clean the wok! Max said that when Chef Max set the wok on fire that it looked like an "engine to a rocket ship"! 

We couldn't believe how fast Chef Max prepared the dishes...in less than 1 minute! We even tasted some of the dishes in the kitchen. Our favorites were Pineapple Chicken and Lo Mein Noodles. 

We learned that an important part of the Asian culture is to share dishes. So, we did just that and shared the delicious Asian dishes that Chef Max prepared. Almost everyone tried the food and loved it! It was "heavenly" as Olivia T. said! 

Lauren and Will celebrated their birthdays at Molly Woo's with humongous pieces of chocolate cake. They were nice enough to share with the rest of their friends!

And finally, following the Chinese New Year tradition, Mrs. Thitoff handed each of us red envelopes. We placed a penny inside, made a wish and fed it into the mouth of the dragon to bring us good wishes, good health and fortune for the New Year. 

In the classroom, we are are taking our interest in China a step further. Within the next few weeks we are going to become investigators to find information on Chinese culture, traditions and family life.