Celebrate the Year of the Dragon: A Feast of Color, Flavor, and Fortune

As we usher in the Year of the Dragon this Chinese New Year on February 10, 2024, we're not just marking another calendar date but embarking on a vibrant journey through a mosaic of traditions, colors, and, most importantly, flavors that promise luck, health, and prosperity.

The Chinese New Year is a time when families come together, not just in China but around the globe, to honor past traditions and welcome the future with open arms and full tables.

The Feast of Fortune

The Dragon, a symbol of strength, luck, and health, guides us through this year's festivities, where food plays a pivotal role in attracting good fortune. Here's a glimpse into the symbolic banquet:

• Dumplings: Shaped like ancient gold ingots, devouring dumplings is believed to bring wealth. Whether filled with pork, shrimp, or vegetables, the more you eat, the richer your year will be.

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• Longevity Noodles: These uncut noodles represent a long and prosperous life. Handle them with care to avoid cutting short your luck.

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• Tray of Togetherness: A platter divided into sections, usually six or eight, brimming with dried fruits, nuts, and sweets, symbolizes family unity and a harmonious blend of luck and fortune.

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• Spring Rolls: Golden and filled with vegetables or meat, they resemble gold bars, ushering in wealth and prosperity.

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• Oranges and Citrus Fruits: Their golden hue and sweet taste are auspicious symbols of luck, wealth, and abundant happiness.

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• Sweet Rice Balls: Their round shape and sticky texture represent family togetherness and reunion, essential values during this festive time.

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• Fish: A staple for ensuring abundance, the word for fish sounds like 'surplus,' promising a year of plenty.

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• Year Cake: The name of this sticky rice cake is a homophone for 'higher year,' symbolizing growth, success, and reaching new heights.

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• Eight Treasure Rice: Adorned with eight lucky ingredients, this dessert promises sweetness and prosperity in the year ahead.

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• Prosperity Cakes: With their cracked tops resembling flourishing flowers, these cakes are believed to bring blossoming fortunes.

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• Almond Cookies: Round-like coins; these cookies are a crunchy nod to a year filled with financial fortune.

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• Whole Chicken: A symbol of completeness and unity, serving a chicken in its entirety, including the head and feet, ensures a prosperous and united year ahead.

As we celebrate, let's remember that while the Lunar New Year is a shared moment across various cultures, each brings its own unique flavors and traditions to the table. Whether you're feasting on dumplings, savoring the sweet stickiness of nian gao, or enjoying the festive crackle of spring rolls, every bite is a step into a year filled with promise, health, and prosperity.

Happy New Year! May the Year of the Dragon roar with joy, luck, and success for you and your loved ones.

December 14, National Bouillabaisse Day, A Traditional Fish Stew

Bouillabaisse is a traditional fish stew originating in Provence. Commonly used vegetables include leeks, onions, tomatoes, celery and potatoes. The vegetables are simmered together with the broth and served with the fish. What makes a bouillabaisse different from other fish soups is the selection of herbs and spices in the broth and the way the fish are added one at a time, in a certain order, and brought to a boil.

Bouillabaisse

Serves 6 (about 3 cups each)

Ingredients
8 cups water
3 (1 1/4-pound) whole lobsters
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups coarsely chopped celery
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped carrot
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups coarsely chopped tomato (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 bay leaves
1-pound skinned halibut fillets cut into 2-inch pieces
22 small clams, scrubbed
30 small mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Directions
1. Using an 8-quart stockpot, bring water to a boil.
2. Plunge lobsters headfirst into the water. Return to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 12 minutes.
3. Remove lobsters from water (do not drain); cool. Remove meat from cooked lobster tails and claws; cut into 1-inch pieces, reserving shells.
4. Cover and refrigerate lobster meat.
5. Return reserved shells to water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Drain through a colander over a large bowl, reserving broth; discard shells. Wipe pan dry with a paper towel.
6. Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, carrot, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes.
7. Add reserved broth, tomato, saffron, thyme, pepper, and bay leaves; bring to a boil. 

8. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes. Discard bay leaves.
9. Bring to a boil; add halibut, reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes. 

10. Add clams; cook 1 minute. 

11. Add mussels; cook 2 minutes. 

12. Add shrimp; cook 3 minutes. Bring to a boil. 

13. Add reserved lobster meat; cook until thoroughly heated. 

14. Discard unopened shells.

Nutritional Information

Ensure accurate nutritional analysis for your recipes utilizing an extensive research database and over 25 years experience. A great service for Recipe Bloggers, Media, Cookbook Publishers, Writers, Chefs, and Recipe Websites. Your readers will benefit from the Nutrition information and a Registered Dietitian. Contact: Dietitians-Online.com; Sandra Frank, Ed.D, RDN, FAND at recipenews@gmail.com

National Week of the Ocean March 31 - April 6, 2013 The Oceans Impact on Nutrition

National Week of the Ocean is sponsored by National Week of the Ocean, Inc. in cooperation with the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
 
The goals are to encourage ocean exploration which includes commerce, history, food sources, endangered sea creatures and issues such as offshore drilling and ocean dumping.

The health of the ocean is essential to human survival. The ocean is a major source of food, medicine, and jobs. Fish from the ocean is the primary source of protein for one in six people on earth. Protecting the ocean protects our health, our economy, and our children's future.

  National Week of the Ocean

 

It's Time to Start a Sea Change

The Ocean Conservancy believes it's time to look beneath
the surface to see where the health of our planet really begins.

 

Exploring Oceans - Disney

Ocean Facts

1. The oceans occupy nearly 71% of our planet's surface.

2. More than 97% of our entire planet's water is contained in the ocean.

3. Fish supply the greatest percentage of the world's protein consumed by humans. More than 3.5 billion people depend on the ocean for their primary source of food. In 20 years, this number could double to 7 billion.

4. Each year some 70 to 75 million tons of fish are caught in the ocean. Of this amount around 29 million tons is for human consumption.

5. Eighty per cent of all pollution in seas and oceans comes from land-based activities.

6. Death and disease caused by polluted coastal waters costs the global economy $12.8 billion (US) a year.

7. Plastic waste kills up to 1 million sea birds, 100,000 sea mammals and countless fish each year. Plastic remains in our ecosystem for years harming thousands of sea life every day.

8. Over the past decade, an average of 600,000 barrels of oil a year has been accidentally spilled from ships, the equivalent of 12 disasters the size of the sinking of the oil tanker Prestige in 2002.

9. Although coral reefs comprise less than 0.5 per cent of the ocean floor, it is estimated that more than 90 per cent of marine species are directly or indirectly dependent on them.

10. Species of fish endangered by overfishing are tuna, salmon, haddock, halibut, and cod.

Resources.

Ocean Conservancy

The Ocean Foundation

Save the Sea