Food plays essential role in celebration of a Chinese New Year

Pasadena Star News

By: Cynthia Kurtz

Posted 1/30/2013

Be prepared for a big SGV style celebration starting New Year’s Eve Saturday, February 9 as we usher in the Year of the Snake. If you were born in 1953, 1965, 1977 or 2001 you were born under the snake sign and 2013 will be a significant year for you.

People born during the year of the snake are good in financial matters and business negotiations. This clever calculating creature is quick to spot new opportunities and has the skills to act on them.

The Chinese New Year or “Spring Festival” is steeped in traditions. Food plays a central role in the celebrations with the most important meal being the Family Reunion Dinner on New Year’s Eve. Families come together for a lavish multi-course supper. If you don’t have the time to plan and cook such a meal, no need to panic. Many Chinese restaurants offer Reunion Dinner Packages so families can enjoy the tradition with less fuss. The SGV is home to the best Chinese restaurants in the United States. 

Instead of champaign, the “Jiaozi” dumpling plays the center role because its shape resembles a gold nugget and represents prosperity. We have so many choices for good dumplings - Flavor Garden in Alhambra, Fortune Dumpling in Monterey Park, Little Taipei in Arcadia and Shang Ming in San Gabriel - to name just a few.

Gifts are also an important part of the New Year celebration. Children receive red packets containing new currency. Red is the color of new years and you’ll see paper-cutouts and lanterns adorning stores and restaurants.

If you are fortunate enough to be invited to participate in a celebration, be sure to take your hostess a gift of mandarin oranges or “nian gao” (Chinese New Year’s cake).    Eating a piece of this sweet rice flour cake is thought to improve your luck for the year.  No time to bake? Not a problem in the SGV. Happy Bakery, Cathy Bakery and Kee Wah Bakery, all in the City of San Gabriel, will be glad to bake for you.

A great way to join in the New Year’s fun is to attend one of the festivals and parades being held in several SGV cities. Plan a trip to Monterey Park on either February 2 or 3.  You’ll find the New Year’s festival on Garvey Avenue between Garfield and Alhambra.   Enjoy the booths with unique gifts and food. There will be lion and dragon dancers with loud drums and cymbals to evict evil spirits and a large fun zone for children.

The City of Alhambra’s celebration is February 16 on Valley Blvd. between Garfield and Almansor.  More than 250 booths will be open from 10 am to 5 pm. There is fun, games and food for everyone. I am sure you can count on hearing at least a few firecrackers signifying good luck.

For those of you who just can’t imagine any New Year celebration without champaign, I have it on good authority that dumplings and Champaign go very well together.

Gung Hay Fat Choy - Best wishes and congratulations. Have a prosperous and good year.

U.S. manufacturing sector is on the rebound

Pasadena Star News
By: Cynthia Kurtz
Posted: 01/09/2013

After World War II the United Sates economy began to hum as demand for products - from autos to baby bottles - boomed and nearly everything was proudly stamped “Made in America.” At its peak in 1979, American manufacturing employed 19.6 million people. Then companies started to move manufacturing “off-shore.”

The conventional wisdom was that if it wasn’t perishable or required highly skilled labor, then move it. Companies found they could more than cover increased transportation costs by taking advantage of foreign labor costs that were a fraction of American costs. New regulatory requirements were forcing plants to undergo expensive overhauls to meet new safety and environmental standards, so why not build those plants somewhere with minimal regulatory oversight.
The off-shoring trend accelerated in 2000. According to Charles Fishman in his article The In-Sourcing Boom, the U.S. "lost jobs seven times faster between 2000 and 2010 than it did between 1980 and 2000."

The pain of these job loses hit the San Gabriel Valley hard. In 2000, almost 95,000 people were employed in manufacturing in our region. Today that number has fallen to 55,600. Many observers predicted that America had lost those manufacturing jobs forever.

Now, however, trends show an upswing in not only creating new manufacturing jobs but bringing back to American shores jobs that had been out-sourced. There are many reasons for this change.
Consumers are demanding product quality and on-shore manufacturing makes it possible to closely monitor quality and consistency of products.

Increased oil prices have increased the costs of transportation. Those container ships from China burn a lot of fuel oil.

Equally important is the need to be able to count on the supply chain and product pipeline. The recent shut down at the Port of Long Beach, as well as the pending strike at east coast ports, are good examples of the vulnerability of off shore manufacturing to disruption.

Technology is changing at an ever increasing pace. Clustering manufacturing near research and development facilities enhances innovation and increased the ability to respond quickly to consumer needs.

Protecting intellectual property is a huge problem for companies. On-shore facilities face fewer theft risks.

Companies are thinking green. Customers want green processes and products. They reduce costs with less waste from specialized packaging and by eliminating long distance shipping costs.
Lastly, political instability in many of the countries that offer lower wages can’t be significantly managed.

The federal and state governments are responding with policies that incentivize in-sourcing. In 2011, Congress passed the Reshoring Initiative to promote investment in emerging technologies. In September 2012, California passed Senate Bill 1128 authored by Senator Alex Padilla. The bill allows sales and use tax exemptions on the purchase of manufacturing equipment in the advanced manufacturing sector.

It all adds up to more good paying jobs here at home and a lot more products with the “Made in America” stamp.

Indicators show a steadily recovering economy

Pasadena Star News
By: Cynthia Kurtz
Posted: 01/03/2013

Remember the “rope-a-dope” boxing style? For readers who may not remember Muhammad Ali, you allow your opponent to throw punches at you as you lean against the rope. The punches don’t hurt you because the rope absorbs much of the energy, your opponent tires from throwing punches, and then you come back with a knock-out punch.

While I couldn’t always tell from day to day which political party was against the ropes and which one was punching, I am pretty sure it is the technique used to resolve the “fiscal cliff”. And it didn’t work as well in politics as it did in boxing.

In all seriousness, left unresolved the fiscal cliff could have pushed us back into recession in 2013. It is good that a last minute deal was approved. But we all know that there is more to do. Our elected officials in Washington DC need to make decisions about spending cuts so let’s hope they keep working on a real resolution.

In the meantime, we should look at what is happening outside of Washington DC for the economic signs that will give us the best perspective on what will happen in 2013 and there are a number of very good signs.

Good Sign Number 1 - Households are getting their balance sheets under control. When the recession hit, consumer debt was almost double the national GDP. This added fuel to the economic meltdown.

The vast majority of the revolving debt was credit card debt. Since 2007, revolving debt has declined 19 percent. By the end of 2013 experts predict long term debt will be close to the long-term average for credit card debt.

Good Sign Number 2 - The housing market is recovering. According to CNN Money, housing prices finally hit bottom in 2012 and started to rebound. Every major index shows asking and sales prices increasing with prices averaging 3.8 percent higher in November 2012 than the same time in 2011.
The Mortgage Banker Association (MBA) predicts a continued rise in prices of 2 - 3 percent in 2013. If low interest rate continue, they believe there could be a16 percent increase in home purchases during 2013.


Other predictions are even more optimistic. Economists at Chapman University say prices may increase by 5.8 - 6.8 percent. Their counterparts at Cal State Fullerton predict 7 percent price increases.

Good Sign Number 3 - The job market is improving. MBA foresees a modest but steady increase in jobs of 125,000 to 150,000 per month in 2013. Tim Mullaney, financial analyst and director of Money Edition, predicted a more optimistic growth of 200,000 jobs per month in USA Today. Regardless of the exact numbers, experts agree that we are steadily getting people back to work.

Combined these three indicators - falling household debt, rising home prices and an improved job market - will increase consumer confidence and consumer spending. Consumer spending is the key to a stronger economy. It spurs more demand for goods and services, gets factories humming again, adds more jobs, and more tax revenue for better public services. That is the 2013 we can all welcome with enthusiasm.