Chinese and Jewish Hanukkah dinner

I was invited to a Chinese and Chosen Hanukkah dinner at Nicole Chan Ostrow's house in Maplewood, NJ.

Nicole's mom Kim Chan made salmon that was prepared Moroccan Jewish style. The recipe is from Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's "The Cookbook", and was inspired by a traditional Jewish dish from North Africa known as Chreime.

Every year, the Chan Ostrow family invites one of Nicole's friends over for dinner. Mitch, Irene and Eve have been their guests for the last two years. '

The evening was a blending of the cultures with signs of Chinese and Jewish traditions sprinkled in. Dinner was served Chinese family style and the pilaf rice kept warm under a Chinese style red rice container. For the Jewish side, ricotta latkes were eaten along with fried donuts for dessert.

"We bought a Jewish holiday cookbook when Nicole was three so we could start celebrating Hanukkah and other Jewish holidays with her," said Kim Chan.

The family also celebrates Passover, Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival.

Kim's family is from the Lower East Side and has witnessed the transformation of the neighborhood from Jewish and Italian to Chinese. Her father Jimmy Chan was one of the first families to leave Chinatown for the Lower East Side in the 1920s at the start of the depression.

I'll have more on Jimmy Chan's story in my next post.

-CC

Merry Chinese & Chosen Christmas

Just read Grub Guide's Nine Nontraditional Places to Eat Great Chinese Food on Christmas where they featured our Jimmy Chin's restaurant Chin Chin.

Here are some other places you you can be Chinese & Chosen this Christmas:


Fatty Crab

643 Hudson Street
New York
(212) 352-3590

2170 Broadway
New York
(212) 496-2722

At both locations in the east and the west, enjoy Fatty Crab's "homage to an age-old NYC tradition of enjoying Chinese food on Christmas." Get dishes like whole fried snapper with garlic sauce, pork spare ribs and their famous chili crab.


Kutsher's Tribeca
186 Franklin St.
nr. Greenwich St.
212-431-0606
For $39, you can a 3 course price fix meal with offerings such as Steamed Pastrami Bun, Char Sui Glazed Salmon and Mrs K's Matzo Ball Wonton Soup.

Mile End
97A Hoyt St. in Brooklyn
nr. Atlantic Ave.
718-852-7510

For $50, you get Mile End's version of a "traditional Jewish Christmas" which includes beef noodle hot pot, pupu platter and peking duck.

Nicole's Hanukkah party

On Sunday I went to my Hebrew school's Hanukkah party. The party was from 1-3 in the afternoon. There were around 35 people. People brought Jewish food like whitefish salad and bagels. There was also pasta salad, fruit, cupcakes and cookies. We all sang songs to celebrate the holiday. My family also learned some really cool things when we were talking with the other guests. One thing I learned is that secular Jews do not believe they are the “chosen” people. My school is a secular humanistic Hebrew school. One man, Bennett, who spoke Yiddish, told us how interesting Yiddish language can be. He also talked about how in the 1930s and 40s Yiddish media was very popular on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. In fact, that is where my Chinese grandfather grew up speaking Yiddish with his neighbors!
One of my teachers, Paula, told me how much she likes Allen Ginsberg’s poetry. I am writing my graduation paper about him and Robert Frank. But before I start writing the paper, I will be celebrating Hanukah with my family.
Until next time, Nicole

Meet Nicole

Meet Nicole, ChineseandChosen’s new contributing writer.

Nicole is a Chinese Jew preparing for her Bat Mitzvah. The big day will be on October 6, 2012 at the Orange Lawn Tennis Club in South Orange, NJ. Over the next 10 months, ChinseandChosen will take you through her journey. We’ll have coverage of her studying Hebrew, selecting her Bat Mitzvah dress, writing her speech and much more.
Stay tuned and check back often!

Here’s a short introduction to Nicole:

Name: Nicole Chan Ostrow
Chinese name: Chen Lan Chun
Hebrew name: Daphna
Birthdate: October 4th
Age: 12
Favorite Color: Blue
Hobbies: making jewlery, modern dance and photography.
Favorte food: Chinese jelly fish and smoked salmon

Woks and Lox

As I've explained in the food section of @ChineseandChosen, eating Chinese is a part of daily life and self-identity for millions of New York Jews. That is especially true during the holiday season. That's why I'm thrilled to find Woks and Lox a project that seeks to bring a little of the holiday spirit for those who don't necessarily celebrate Christmas.
Here are the details:

Date: Saturday, December 24th
Location: Queens Kickshaw
40-17 Broadway in Astoria, NY
Dinner: 5-7pm
Party: 7-9pm
Chef: Chichi Wang

This is no ordinary dinner party. Woks and Lox promises a Chinese auction, Mah Jong, a Bar Mitzvah-esque sign-in board and "lots more Jewish and Asian-inspried fun."

Sounds like a good time. See you there!

One Answer to Adoption’s Difficult Questions: NYT

Just read an amazing story in the New York Times about a mother's journey back to China to find the truth about her adopted daughter's past.
Check it out here:
One Answer to Adoption’s Difficult Questions

One Roof, Three Generations

There's nothing new about this story, but I still love the use of multimedia in this NYT piece about three generations of a Chinese family living all in the same Chinatown building.