If Christmas is a time for tradition and family, then count me in! But I’m not talking about building gingerbread houses and trimming the tree. Our Jewish Christmas traditions were more about moo shu, a movie (ideally in the Home Alone series) and maybe a trip to the local casino. Usually, we’d pile in the car and head over to Cheng Du, one of the only restaurants open that day in town, and fill up on chicken & broccoli, vegetable dumplings and fortune cookies. And then an hour later when we were hungry again, finish the leftovers.
A few years ago, maybe turned off by the crowds or MSG, or inspired by my love of eating at home, I decided to start making my own Chinese food for Christmas instead. One bite of my homemade General Tso’s Chicken and I was hooked! This year, I took the decidedly unkosher Crab Rangoon and swapped the crab for lox. The result? Like a fried version of my favorite bagel breakfast. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Now you can have lox and schmear for every meal. Christmas can’t come soon enough!
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