OF LONGEVITY NOODLES AND SEAWEED SOUP

Birthday noodlesSeaweed soup
My Aunt Linda and sister, Li Mei

Li Na and Benjamin

Jeremy and Li Na

For my birthday this year, there was no cake but instead seaweed soup and longevity or birthday noodles were two of the dishes that I ordered for dinner at the restaurant chosen to celebrate my birthday with my family members.

As a Chinese I want to uphold tradition and have the longevity noodles as this signifies a long life. Like my mum, I too would like to live long enough to see my nephews and nieces get married and give me little grandnieces and grandnephews.

I ordered seaweed soup as I was influenced by the Koreans. I first knew of the practice of drinking seaweed soup for birthdays after I watched "Full House" and from that time onwards I noticed that each time the Koreans celebrate their birthdays, this soup is a must. Initially, I thought it might be something symbolic like the long mee signifying long life for the Chinese but after doing some research I discovered that the Koreans do so because seaweed is believed to have a lot of health benefits and I guess that by drinking it on their birthdays, they wish to make sure that they stay healthy.

for your information, seaweed is a very concentrated form of nutrition. It contains high amounts of calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, iron, iodine and sodium. Most seaweeds are said to contain some B vitamins and beta carotene (the plant form of vitamin A which may help to prevent degenerative diseases such as cancer).

So my choices of the noodles and the seaweed soup reflect my birthday wish to have a long and healthy life. Clever, aren't I? Kee! Kee!