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Yummy Link: Pork and Shrimp Pot Stickers

partysugar — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:28:51 -0800

There's still a couple of days left in the Chinese New Year. Fill your dumpling craving with homemade pork and shrimp pot stickers. — The Kitchen Sink

Come Party With Me: Chinese New Year — The Look

partysugar — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:01:31 -0800

Use shades of red with gold accents to decorate the dining room for a Chinese New Year party. Cover the table with a deep wine colored tablecloth. Top with printed red place mats and red plates. Place chopsticks tied with gold ribbon on each place setting.

Create a mystical mood by arranging candles in a beautiful pattern. Hang paper lanterns from the chandelier and ceiling.

A tangerine tree is festive and will bring the party good luck. Fill red fish bowl vases with red blossoms and run them down the center of the table between votives.

Come Party With Me: Chinese New Year — Drinks

partysugar — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:28:31 -0800

Kick-start your Chinese New Year dinner party with an elegant cocktail. A lychee martini is sophisticated, cool, and festively flirty. When you sit down to dinner offer guests a dry Riesling, fruity Sauvignon Blanc, or crisp Chenin Blanc; all would pair nicely with the menu. If you really want to serve a red, look for a light, smooth Pinot Noir. Don't forget water and sparkling water. A refreshing option for non drinkers is lemonade. To see the recipe for the lychee martini,

Happy Chinese New Year!

partysugar — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 03:18:31 -0800

Today is the first day of the Year of the Rat. During the Chinese New Year, a special emphasis is placed on the symbology of different foods. I thought it would be fun to see how much you know about this food symbolism. I'll list an ingredient and you choose what it usually represents. Sound fun? Get started!

Source

Come Party With Me: Chinese New Year — Dessert

partysugar — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:13:31 -0800

Instead of baking the Chinese New Year Cake — Nian Gao — for your Chinese New Year dinner, why not modernize the tradition and serve a sweet version of spring rolls? Fill spring roll wrappers with a luscious mixture of bananas, brown sugar, ginger, and mangoes. Paired with a caramel rum dipping sauce, this is a truly decadent dessert.

Guests will have fun with this finger-licking-good treat, so get the recipe and

Come Party With Me: Chinese New Year — Menu

partysugar — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:13:31 -0800

There are lots of traditions to consider when planning a Chinese New Year dinner. Fish, dumplings, noodles, and greens are normally consumed because they represent a sense of togetherness, abundance, and family. Apart from the fish, this menu is vegetarian friendly. Start with vegetable dumplings with a ginger scallion dipping sauce. For the first course serve the luck bringing longevity noodles. The main course is a gorgeous whole black bass with ginger and scallions. Bok choy and broccoli, shown at left, are on the side. To take a look at these tasty recipes,

Come Party With Me: Chinese New Year — Invite

partysugar — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:13:18 -0800

This year, the start of Chinese New Year falls on Feb. 7, and the celebratory festivities last for 15 whole days! To kick off the fun, I'm putting together a Chinese-themed dinner party. Gather together a group of friends and throw your own version of this party. All week I'll provide you with tips and ideas for a fabulous Chinese New Year. Before the event can begin, we have to send invitations. To see how I made these sparkling invites that can be modified to suit any lunar New year celebration,

Off To Market Recap: Chinese New Year Table

partysugar — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 00:08:19 -0700

My dear friend Jon Ching rang in his heritage for Chinese New Year by hosting an informal dinner. Jon's a wonderful cook, he once helped me prepare for a large birthday dinner with a broken hand, but he doesn't really know anything about creating a festive dining table that reflects the theme of the event. Naturally he asked me for help and I thought you could come up with some awesome black, red, and Asian inspired decorations. You saved your tablescape settings to the Yum Market with the keyword tag of Chinese New Year Table. Jon and I went through them and figured which items would work with his menu and dining room, here are our favs:

For a truly authentic feel, Jon loved this Chinese dinner set that DesignRchic bookmarked. The set includes placemats, chopsticks, and napkins that are decorated in a traditional Chinese pattern that represents good fortune and longevity.

Two more so please

Asian-Inspired Side: Red Curry Noodles

partysugar — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 01:39:03 -0800

One of the traditions that the Chinese follow on Lunar New Year is to eat noodles because they symbolize longevity in life. I love a good superstitious tradition and will be consuming noodles within the next fifteen days in an attempt to prolong my life. You can too if you make this vegetarian side dish to serve during your Asian inspired feast. These noodles work great when paired with fish or as a small first course before a heartier beef and rice dish. Although it's not picnic season, I like to pack Asian noodle dishes to serve at my picnics. The noodles travel well, pair perfectly with a salmon salad sandwich, and are a pleasant surprise to your guests who will be expecting potato salad. Whether you make it today or save it for later, this recipe is worth adding to your collection so

Come Party With Me: Chinese New Year Celebration

partysugar — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 13:58:12 -0800

Chinese New Year's Eve is tomorrow and it wouldn't be right if I didn't devote a little party planning to ring in the lunar calendar's first day of the year! Luckily Chinese New Year celebrations last for 15 whole days, so if you don't have time to throw an impromptu last minute party this weekend you can host one next week or weekend. Invite all of your friends to watch the local Chinese New Year parade (the one here in SF is March 3) and then head over to your house for a little fiesta afterwards. For the 411 on throwing this shin-dig, including invites, drinks, decorations and everything else you'll need,

Happy Hour: Chinese Cocktail

partysugar — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 12:57:23 -0800

Today I was feeling in the mood for a Chinese inspired cocktail. So I started to browse the gazillions of drink recipes out there when I stumbled across something called a Chinese Cocktail! Score, just what I was looking for! I'm not exactly sure what about this cocktail makes it Chinese (since none of the ingredients are at all related to China), but I assume the name has something to do with the vibrant, beautiful color of the drink. The color could be called Chinese red. I can't wait to try it this weekend when I eat Jon Ching's Chinese New Year feast. To make this at your own little Chinese New Year fete,

Homemade Pork Potstickers

YumSugar — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 10:58:32 -0800

When I was a kid, our house was always full of yummy food and our freezer was always full of trays of frozen homemade potstickers. You see, every few months my mom would go on a huge potsticker making spree and we would have enough of them to feed an army for months. Growing up it was almost frustrating, there was never any room in the freezer for anything else (like ice cream!), but now, many years later, I really wish that my freezer was always full of these delectable little dumplings. Unfortunately, the only way that is going to happen is if I do it myself. So the other day I called up my sister and had her come over and help me (it's way more fun with someone else!). We used my mom's general recipe (she never does the same thing twice, making it up as she goes along) and cooked them as we went. In fact we were stuffed before we were even finished. Full step-by-step pictures and instructions for Homemade Pork Potstickers after the jump, and here's a video of my sister showing off her mad-potsticker making skills.

To check out the recipe, including step-by-step pictures,

Chinese New Year Fun Facts

partysugar — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 09:57:32 -0800

Boy is it my lucky week: two holidays = two lists of fun facts... Woo-hoo! I am jumping for joy at my desk right now. I enjoy collecting random bits of useless knowledge about traditional holidays and festivals. It's my secret weapon: when I'm at a party and suddenly find myself at a loss for words, I simply state one of my fun facts. If you get nervous about attending parties where you don't know a lot of people, I highly recommend memorizing a few interesting, yet completely pointless facts. The Chinese are very superstitious and there are lots of little things you should and should not do on and around the New Year. Did you know that to cry on New Year's Day is to cry all year long, so children are indulged and never spanked on Chinese New Year? Or that Chinese New Year is actually celebrated over a 15 day long period? To learn the politically correct name of Chinese New Year and much more,

Today's Special: Chinese-Style Steamed Fish

YumSugar — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 08:59:11 -0800

It's no secret, my mom really enjoys cooking up a huge feast, and come Chinese New Year it's no different. When possible, we all get together as a family and stuff our faces with delicious food. If we can't all make it, my mom is sure to call each one of her absentee children and remind them to eat fish on New Year's Eve. Why fish? Well, the Chinese word for fish is actually very similar to the word for surplus. So you prepare fish in order to symbolize the fact that you have surplus food. However, you never actually finish the fish as it's important to leave some behind (to ensure "surplus" for the new year). Don't throw it out, just put it away for the night. This year, I unfortunately won't be able to make it to my mom's house (I'm a terrible daughter and didn't pay attention to the date and made expensive non-refundable plans), so I'm going to have to make my own fish. I'd make my mom's fish, but she never uses recipes and cooks so fast, I'm not sure where to begin. Luckily my gal PartySugar found this recipe for a nice light and easy steamed fish. It definitely sounds like a must try. To check out the recipe,

52 Weeks of Baking: Chinese New Year Inspired Cake

YumSugar — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 11:42:12 -0800

My mom is a fantastic cook, one who takes a ridiculous amount of pride in the fact that it's been nearly three decades since she's last used a recipe. When I was at home for Christmas she was experimenting and perfecting her own version of Chinese New Year Cake (Nian Gao), only instead of steaming it (as it's traditionally done), she was baking it. During the course of a week, she concocted at least five creations, one of which came surprisingly close to the steamed version, but with a crust on the outside. I wrote down her "recipe" and was determined to recreate it at home.

Now, fast forward a few months, Chinese New Year is this weekend and I still had a baking project to tend to. So I rolled up my sleeves, put on my apron and realized I didn't have all of the ingredients. I could have gone to the store, but I decided to do what my mom would do and made it up as I went along.

The end result was pretty great directly out of the oven, the edges were nice and crispy, and the middle oddly chewy (just like real Nian Gao). I didn't have sweet red beans, so I used shredded Medjool dates instead (which, by the way, is my current favorite food item), and the flavor really complemented the cake.

To check out my version of New Year Cake, which is very unlike real New Year Cake,