Chinese New Year Foods to Welcome the Year of the Dragon

Are you ready to eat like a dragon?

Chinese New Year—the Year of the Dragon—begins this weekend, with New Year’s Eve on Sunday (January 22) and New Year’s Day on Monday (January 23).

Why do the Chinese eat noodles, whole fish, and dumplings to ring in the New Year? Certain foods are deemed lucky or auspicious, bringing prosperity, abundance, and good fortune.

Here’s a round-up of what to eat, and why, to celebrate the Year of the Dragon:
10 Good Luck Foods for Chinese New Year at chow.com
Lucky Chinese New Year Dumplings from food writer Andrea Nguyen
Three most fortunate Chinese New Year cakes at epicurious.com
Chinese New Year recipes from the BBC’s Good Food and from Jaden Hair’s Steamy Kitchen
Eating Your Way to Good Fortune from fellow WanderlustandLipstick blogger, Dim Sum Diary.

For more on how the lunar new year is celebrated in other Asian countries, have a look at A Taste of Lunar New Year Beyond China at epicurious.com.

And if you’re lucky—or brave—enough to be in China during Chinese New Year, which the Chinese call Spring Festival, you’d best read China Spring Festival: A Travel Survival Guide!

Xin Nian Kuai Le! Gong Hey Fat Choy! Happy New Year!

Tasty Travels!

Carolyn

Photo credits:
Noodles by adactio (flickr)
Dumplings by mariachily (flickr)
Dragon by lumkness (flickr)

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Did you know that olives grow in Arizona? California, yes. Greece, for sure. But Arizona?

I recently learned about Arizona’s olives when I visited the Queen Creek Olive Mill, an olive grower, olive oil producer, and agri-tourism destination just outside of Phoenix. They serve up lots of olive goodies, too.

While olives are not native to Arizona, Queen Creek General Manager Rob Holmes explained that olives have been growing in the region since the 1800s. The “mission” variety arrived with the 19th-century Spanish missionaries.

Queen Creek grows 16 varieties of olives on their more than 2,000 trees. Nine of those varieties are mature enough to harvest.

According to Holmes, Queen Creek makes its olive oils by blending the oils from several different varieties. They bottle fresh oils about every six weeks.

They infuse some of their oils with natural flavors, ranging from vanilla to lemon to chili (even chocolate!), which you can sample in their market. If you’re really keen on olives, take their 30-minute Olive Oil 101 tour, where you can learn more about olive growing and oil production, with samples of their products, of course.

In Queen Creek’s del Piero cafe, many of the dishes are made with olives or olive products, from bruschetta to sandwiches to baked goods. They use olive oil in their cakes, brownies, and their deservedly popular olive oil waffles. (Check out their website for tips on baking with olive oil).

If you’d like to try making these delicious olive oil waffles at home, here’s the Queen Creek recipe:

Olive Oil Waffles
Adapted from del Piero at the Mill

At Queen Creek Olive Mill’s del Piero restaurant, they make these waffles with their vanilla bean-infused olive oil. You could substitute a mild fruity olive oil and add a small amount of vanilla extract.

Ingredients:
2 eggs, separated
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. brown sugar
2 cups milk
1/2 cup vanilla bean olive oil (or 1/2 olive oil, plus 1 tsp. vanilla extract)

Method:

1. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Set aside.


2. In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients. Add milk, olive oil, and egg yolks to dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Gently fold in the egg whites.


3. Preheat waffle iron. Oil lightly or spray with non-stick cooking spray.


4. Pour approximately 1/2 cup of waffle batter into iron and cook to desired crispness. Repeat with each additional waffle.

Yield: Six servings

If you go…
The Queen Creek Olive Mill (25062 S. Meridian Road, Queen Creek, AZ, 480-888-9290) is just east of Mesa, Arizona, in the Phoenix metropolitan area. You can get travel information about the region from the Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau or from the Mesa Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Have you tried baking with olive oil? Do you have a favorite olive oil recipe? Please leave a comment and let us know. And if you have a food post – on any culinary topic – that you’d like to share, link to that post here, using the handy-dandy Mr. Linky widget below:

Tasty Travels!

Carolyn

Photo credits:
Photos © Carolyn B. Heller

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In a city with more than 500 Chinese restaurants, how do you figure out the best places to go and what to eat?

The Vancouver Chinese Restaurant Awards can help. These annual prizes recognize not just particular restaurants but the best dishes that those restaurants serve. And they’re not the typical General Gao’s Chicken or Ginger Beef that you find in many North American Chinese eateries either.

Judged by a panel of local food writers and bloggers, the 2012 Chinese Restaurant Awards gave kudos to 28 top-flight dishes, from tea-smoked duck, pan-fried prawns with soy, and curried crab to less-commonly found creations, including bitter melon omelette, wok-fried geoduck clam, and pork stomach & gingko soup. Most are Cantonese or Hong Kong-style, but a few dishes represent China’s other regional cuisines.

Check out this handy map to Vancouver’s best Chinese dishes:

View Vancouver Chinese Restaurant Awards 2012 – Critics’ Choice Signature Dish Winners in a larger map

Interestingly, while none of the award-winning restaurants are downtown, most are just a short ride away on the Canada Line SkyTrain. Here’s a station-by-station list of the Critics’ Choice eateries and their prize-winning dishes:

Broadway/City Hall:
Dynasty Seafood, #108-777 West Broadway, Vancouver, 604-876-8388, Sautéed Buddha’s Feast

King Edward:
Landmark Hotpot House, 4023 Cambie Street, Vancouver, 604-872-2868, Flash Wok Fried BC Geoduck, Tea Smoked Duck, Stir-fried Glutinous Rice, Steamed Ginger Milk

Aberdeen:
Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant, 3711 No. 3 Road, Richmond, 604-232-0816: Fried Squab, Pan-fried Prawns with Soy, Pan-fried Spike Sea Cucumber with Green Scallion, Braised Chayote with Minced Pork & Preserved Vegetable, Double Boiled Pig’s Shank with Honey Melon Soup
Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle, Aberdeen Centre, #2800-4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond, 604-295-9357: Championship Beef Shank with Noodle in Spicy Soup Noodle
Shiang Garden Restaurant, #2200-4540 No. 3 Road, Richmond, 604-273-8858,: Dongpo Style Braised Alberta Pork with Amoy Sauce, Fried Lobster with Green Onions and Amoy Premium Soy Sauce

Aberdeen or Lansdowne (roughly equidistant between these stations):
The Jade Seafood Restaurant, 8511 Alexandra Road, Richmond, 604-249-0082: Sautéed B.C. Dungeness Crabs & Mixed Mushrooms with Amoy Premium Soy Sauce
Big Chef Restaurant, #1060-8580 Alexandra Road, Richmond, 604-207-0386: Pan-fried Dungeness Crab with Salted Egg Yolk, Hot Pot Soya Sauce Chicken

Richmond Brighouse:
Hoi Tong Chinese Seafood Restaurant, #160-8191 Westminister Highway, Richmond, 604-276-9229: Bitter Melon Omelette, Pork Belly with Pickled Vegetable and Soy Beans, Daliang Fried Milk
Golden Paramount Seafood, 8071 Park Road, Richmond, 604-278-0873: Braised Duck with Plums and Taro Root Cakes, Pan-fried Fresh Oyster with Soya Sauce, Sweet and Sour Pork with Fresh Fruit Restaurant
Bamboo Grove Restaurant, 6920 No. 3 Road, Richmond, 604-278-9585: Pork Stomach & Gingko Long-boiled Soup, Stir-fried Tiger Prawns with Minced Pork and Eggplant

The other award-winners are all on Vancouver’s East Side or in the suburb of Burnaby:
Golden Swan Restaurant, 5380 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, 604-321-6621: Stewed Alberta Oxtail with Red Wine
Kalvin’s Szechuan, 5225 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, 604-321-2888: Deep Fried Pork in Red Fermented Sauce
James on Hastings Chinese Restaurant, 2683 East Hastings Street, Vancouver, 604-255-3188: Dry Fried Curry Dungeness Crab
Alvin Garden, 4850 Imperial Street, Burnaby, 604-437-0828: Stir Fried Garlic Bolt with Hunan Smoked Pork

The Chinese Restaurant Awards also has a “Diner’s Choice” category, which recognized 19 popular restaurants and dishes, from the best xiao long bao (Shanghai-style soup dumplings) to the top Taiwanese bubble tea cafe. Just in case you thought you might run out of Vancouver Chinese restaurants to try…

Tasty Travels!

Carolyn

Photo credits:
Photos courtesy of the Vancouver Chinese Restaurant Awards

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