On the eve of January 22, Chinese the world over will gather to usher in the Year of the Dragon. New Year is unlike any other festival of the lunar calendar. Preparations begin weeks in advance: Houses are cleaned from top to bottom. All accounts with tradespeople are settled and the cooks in the family pause to plan the New Year’s feast. In Chinese astrology anyone born during the year of the dragon is special and it is considered to be a year filled with good fortune- a wish we all need in these challenging times.

On New Year’s eve, the whole family gathers for a huge banquet and certain foods are de rigeur for the holiday. There may be spring rolls which symbolize bricks of gold bricks. Dumplings are often boiled, steamed, or pan-fried when they are said to resemble golden coins. Noodles symbolize and impart a wish of longevity. They are also the Chinese equivalent of a birthday cake and since everyone is a year older, the New Year is also a type of birthday celebration. Many Chinese families prefer to serve only vegetarian dishes for New Year’s meal. Bowls of oranges and tangerines are put on display to be eaten and they also imply a wish for happiness and prosperity.

Jennifer Che, of the popular website TinyUrbanKitchen.com and I got together to make TWO recipes: Jennifer made homemade dumplings from scratch (Her recipe is on her website and we have on ours to PLUS I made a simpler, but no-less-delicious recipe from my new book Simple Asian Meals :Gingery Faux Won Ton Soup with Bow Tie Pasta.

Here’s wishing you all a healthy and happy New Year filled with good fortune! ENJOY!!

With the beginning of every new year comes resolutions and inevitably, vows to “eat better” or lose weight so we thought we would go to the BEST POSSIBLE source for advice: Nutrition guru, Dr. Walter Willett, Chairman of Nutrition of the Harvard School of Public Health and author of the best-selling “Eat Drink and Be Merry” .

Walter not only gave us some great tips, he introduced the newly-released “ HSPH Healthy Eating Plate”, a VAST improvement of the USDA Plate, which according to Walter, has some SERIOUS flaws. The HSPH Eating Plate is much more explicit and defines the best foods that correspond to each portion of the plate. It also corrects “errors” of the USDA Plate (Once again, as with the USDA Pyramid, concessions were to the dairy industry and other mega, agri-business conglomerates.)

BTW, we also illustrated the HSPH Healthy Eating Plate with brand, new easy and delicious recipes from my new book, Simple Asian Meals. Walter gave his thumb’s up on the dishes so here’s wishing you a healthy, happy, and pleasurable- eating new year!

Pad Thai is one of those recipes that I generally stay away from because EVERYONE has their own version of what it should taste like that is based on what they’ve eaten at their favorite Thai restaurant. I feel there is NO way I could ever compete with that. BUT, when I was working on my Asian Noodles book, I decided it was crazy for me to write a book on the subject and not include a recipe for Pad Thai. After all, isn’t it quintessential Asian noodle dish?

I was determined and I must have tested the recipe at least eight times- maybe more. In fact, I have never tested a recipe as much as this Pad Thai. And even after 15 years and many books later, I still think it holds up. My next book, Simple Asian Meals is just about to be published, but I am working on a revision of Asian Noodles and one recipe that will NOT change is this one for Pad Thai.

Enjoy!! I’m getting a craving for some Pad Thai right now.

Nina