How to Celebrate Lunar New Year 2021 ~ Year of the OX with XOXO Plant, Food & Drink Love ~ With Easy to Make Recipes

 

Goodbye Rat. Hello Ox.

Happy Lunar New Year!  

We are indeed saying goodbye to the year of the rat; ushering in the year of the ox. 

Specifically, the year of the metal ox. 

What does it mean? 

According to experts, the metal ox can represent a range of metals ~ from jewelry to syringe needles. Soooo, I'm thinking we can best mark the Year of the Ox with a piece of jewelry (naturally!) perhaps in the form of a unique, hard-working, and versatile array of plant-styled arm cuffs or bracelets ~ because plants play such a key role in Lunar New Year festivities and I like these looks. I have some arm cuffs but don’t see them worn too much anymore. So, I’m thinking they will be good looking on all those Zoom calls where upper body looks are paramount. And the other metal ~ of course ~ the vaccine! Surely, that’s a sign of very good luck. 

February 12 marks the start of the Lunar New Year. This is the Year of the Ox.

Asian countries, not just China, celebrate this gateway to spring. 

From Korea to Malaysia to Japan to Indonesia, and our own city’s Chinatowns and Asian markets, Lunar New Year, or Tet, is celebrated with centuries-old traditions marked by food and flowers and plants.  While the colorful street parades we all love will be tabled this year, you can enjoy the restaurants’ special foods. Frequent them. Order take out. 

You can also visit the Museum of Chinese In America. The Museum offers a plethora of virtual programs ~ for the entire family. 

It’s worth noting that the ox is a hardworking zodiac sign. Therefore, no rest for the home-bound workers nor the front line health-care or essential workers.    

Rather than be disheartened or woebegone about the prospect of more work,  Let’s be grateful for the opportunity to work at all. 

In addition, I believe “Work” takes many forms. We can work to seek new ventures (open up that business that maybe has been a side hustle); to work to improve our community ~ volunteer where needed. We can work on ourselves to improve our character, our health (mental and physical) and work to improve our garden soil, plants and the environment… 

I’ve learned that the Year of the Ox is a lucky sign that will focus us on relationships. I’m going to extrapolate that to lean into building better relationships in a post-covid world that embraces our work, family, friends, community and loved ones. Including our pets and our gardens…

So, Cheers ~ Ganbei (sounds like: “gon bay”).

And to toast to the year of the ox, here’s a perfect drink for your Lunar New Years’ celebrations ~ and I hope you have many over the 15-day festival ~ from my from from my Art of the Garnish book.  

Courtesy of Jordan Bushnell, national brand ambassador for Hennessy. 

As told in the Garnish book, This is a fiery red drink, its star anise and cocktail cherry garnish is sure to spice up your fortune…. “The drink was created for Chinese New Year so all the elements you see in the background are themed for good luck in the culture,” noted Jordan.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. Hennessy V.S.O.P Privilège

• ¾ oz. fresh lemon juice

• ¾ oz. simple syrup

• ¼ teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

• 5 dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters 

Method: 

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake until chilled, and strain into an Old Fashioned glass containing fresh ice.  

Finishing Touches: 

Garnish with star anise and a maraschino cherry. 

Thank you so much Jordan for this exquisite drink recipe, plus all your other spectacular contributions. 

Back Story to the Lunar New Year Festival: 

Lunar New Year is also known as the Spring Festival. Originally the purpose was to scare off Nian ~ the name means “new year” is a beast that lives under the sea or in the mountains (I think nian represents a kind of winter).  Folks wanted to prevent Nian from returning, and created holiday decorations that are typically a bright and loud red to scare off the beast.  

The color red is now a much loved color; representing happiness and good fortune. 

Plants

Plants are an integral part of the Lunar New Year celebrations.  

Many Asian families love flamingo flowers (Anthurium, a house plant in colder zones) for its auspicious red color, which symbolize good luck and prosperity. Meanwhile, as the shape of blossoms looks like hearts, which can also work for Valentine’s Day.  The flowers also indicate happiness and enthusiasm and not just for their beauty; they are some of the longest-lasting blooms. (Some folks refer to the plant as the Little Boy flower for the, ahem, suggestive structure of the spadix. Smile)  Everyone can love the plant as it’s super easy to take care of. 

Orchids may be the most popular - they symbolize elegance, wealth, fertility and abundance.

 

Orchids bring good fortune. I’d like to believe that too. These exotic blooms surely bring me happiness. 

Ahhhh, then there is my all-time favorite, the peony. 

As the national flower of China, peonies are always popular in the flower markets. In Chinese mythology, peonies are always associated with richness, peace, honor and prosperity. As peonies are well-known as wealth flowers, they are great, especially red ones. 

Last year, I splurged and got three tree peonies for my own garden. To amplify or complement my many 

Narcissus, or water fairy flowers, symbolize wealth, prosperity and good luck, which will be perfect for you if you’re looking for lucky Chinese New Year flowers.

The sweet scent, bright color and delicate petals make narcissus quite popular among Chinese people.

Pussy willows, known as silver willow in China, symbolize prosperous wealth, and just like here, the coming of spring. As the branches of pussy willows usually come in tall height, they are related to growth and prosperity. Meanwhile, the furry blossoms are associated with abundance of fortune. 

Fruit, fruit plants and cut fruit stems are equally important in Lunar New Year traditions 

I grow lemon trees indoors all-year long. I adore the fragrance and the leaves. The fruit is almost a lucky-extra. I’ve got several ready for picking shortly. Usually, their harvest coincides with a favorite niece, Lauren and her husband’s visit to our homestead. So BC (before covid,) Lauren would  pick a lemon for our martinis!  So don’t be shy, citrus is easy and fun to grow.  

Photo: Wallpaperflare.com 

In China, the peach fruit represents longevity while peach blossom symbolizes growth, prosperity and romance. As a result, peach blossoms are considered sacred. In my little orchard, too!  With bright color and beautiful appearance, peach blossoms are quite popular during Lunar New Year. Look for them in your local flower market. 

Peach blossoms are very popular among young people because they believe that peach blossoms will ignite romantic luck for those who are single. Leading into that Valentine’s Day…

Plum blossoms are another symbolic flower,  indicating courage, perseverance and reliability. As the blossom season is around the same time as the Spring Festival, it’s a great idea to buy some plum blossoms to decorate your home. According to tradition, plum blossoms will attract long-term good fortune. I’m thinking it’s a good idea to put some plum blossoms in a pretty vase in your home office and bedroom… 

Kumquats are a golden, festive color that represents wealth and fortune. 

Add to that the fruit’s delicious flavor on its own and in various desserts, and it’s not a surprise why not only the cut flowers but having a small tree as an indoor, pretty, and fragrant plant is becoming so popular.

Kumquats are thought to bring auspicious meanings of wealth and good luck.

It’s also believed that the emerald green leaves will attract wealth, luck, and prosperity, as the leaves look like jade stone.

 

Mandarin oranges are also a great plant to grow and bring good luck. I have grown one for years in my home spa. 

Chrysanthemum flowers are a long-time favored flower for bringing good fortune. (There is an autumn festival in Japan: Kiku, dedicated to the national flower.)

I just loved this cute image of puppies fashioned from mums!)

Where, you might ask, is the best place to purchase plants? 

THE best place - for Lunar New Year plants ~ or anytime ~ is KinKa. 

My esteemed friends, EunYoung and Tom, are the wonderful couple ~ both of whom are talented artists ~ who lovingly curate and run the shop. How adorable are these two?! I am so encouraging fine-artist Tom to create a children’s picture book. I love his sweet illustrations. Don’t you agree??

(KinKa fronts the excellent restaurant Maki Kosaka created by the award-winning, and Michelin-starred omakase KOSAKA restaurant owners. You must experience its incredible seafood, sushi, seasonal vegetables and elegant decor.) 

KinKa is the “forbidden flowers” of the tea ceremony (wink) but you can readily get flowers and gifts here.

  Who wouldn’t love these heart Hoyas as a gift? 

The bouquets are heart-breakingly, tenderly, beautiful.. 

More beautiful floral compositions. See the web site for delivery and shipping. 

A Love Note card: KinKa 

Decor & Style

The Spring Festival Lunar New Year celebrations culminate in the Lantern launch  after the 15 day celebration, this year on February 26th. That date is often referred to now as a Lunar New Year Valentine's day because young women could go out to view and admire the lanterns and, ahem, meet boys. (or those they are attracted to….) People write their poetry; most often their wishes, on the lanterns, then release them to the heavens in the hopes that their dreams will come true in the new year. Plus it’s so very cosmically beautiful.  You could recreate this at home if you live in a place with a big enough yard. 

Red Pocket Lucky Money 

I use these red envelopes as part of my Lunar New Year tablescape. I would go to Chinatown every year and get that year’s red envelopes and gift to our dinner party and Ladies Who Lunch guests - for good luck. It's said that the money “anchors the year.”

The red, lucky money envelope tradition started as protection against Nian. Parents would give children money on the first night of Lunar New Year. This way, the children would have something to bribe the monster or other evil spirits with.

Food 

I’ll single out a delightful cookbook here for you that was recently sent to me for review: Real Vietnamese Cooking, Everyday Favorites from the Street to the Kitchen. 

As the overview proclaims, the cookbook combines the “collective culinary wisdom of three intrepid food explorers” Yumiko Adachi, Shinobu Ito, and Masumi Suzuki, who trained with some of Vietnam's best chefs while eating their way through the country’s city streets and “country kitchens in search of tastes” and treats.  The 88 recipes are arranged in a terrific presentation including: from the history or origins of Vietnamese cuisine, a presentation of Vietnamese seasonings, 

Herbs and Aromatics, Seasonings, followed by the Basic Recipes. 

There is an interesting background that explains what the Vietnamese eat for their three daily meals, in addition to Snacks and Feasts ~ and lots of Street Food! 

I find the full-color photographs so helpful. And fun to view. It’s like you are there with the author/cooks as they guide you step-by-step.

The images very much illustrate the ingredients, the step-by-step preparations, and the finished dishes.  

The recipes are grouped into categories: mainly Rice Dishes ~ (paper, rice flour, and noodles), Bánh MÌ sandwiches, Pub Food and Bar Snacks, Salads and Vegetables, Vietnamese Hot Pots (love these), Snacks, Desserts, and Drinks. 

I should point out that while the dishes look exotic, the ingredients are all readily available at your local markets.  

I very much look forward to making my favorite food and drink recipes: Fresh Spring Rolls, Hot Pots, Firecracker Shrimp, and the Coconut Coffee Milkshake! 

Here’s a recent Lunar New Year menu that is worth repeating. I mixed Asian and Peruvian and Mediterrean dishes! Hey, we’re a melting pot!

A fun food serving presentation is to place an amuse bouche or finger food in a music box. 

When you’re guests and loved ones open up the box at their plate, not only is the pretty box and music waft out to greet them, but the surprise of finding a treat is pure joy! 

 

Miso Soup ~ Our remix, photo: Angie Lambert

 

Valentine & Lunar New Year Celebration 2018

Hosted by: Duchess Designs 

• Pink Champagne   

• Alfajores Cookie Baking with Marita Lynn 

• Dumplings in Music Box

• Miso Soup with Carrots

• Beet Burger Heart Salad

• Heart Cheese Ravioli with Shrimp Marinara Sauce

• Pink Raspberry Panna Cotta 

• Chocolate Fondue with Citrus, Banana, Strawberry, Marshmallow 

• Bourbon/or Mocktail Milkshake

• Shrub Mocktail

• Coffee, Tea 

Alfajores Recipe - Marita Lynn 

Yield: 50 alfajores

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

¾ cup butter, room temperature

4 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 cup dulce de leche

Preparation:

In a bowl, mix together, the flour, butter and sugar. Once mixed, use your hands to create a uniform dough. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

On a floured surface, making sure to flour your roller, roll the dough to ½- inch thickness. 

Using a 2 inch round cutter, cut out alfajores and place on baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes, let the alfajores cool on a wire rack.

Filled the alfajores with dulce de leche sandwich style. 

Dust with powdered sugar.

*Dulce de leche can be bought at any store, jarred or in a can

* @KitchenIntuitionByMaritaLynn 

Good luck to you and your loved ones for a prosperous, lucky, 2021.

Celebrate Lunar New Year, Asian Gardens & Chinoiserie

The Lingering Garden,  China

It is with great reverence that I approach Asian gardens. See, before I studied landscape design (and earned my certificate from The New York Botanical Garden - NYBG), my Western aesthetic hadn’t prepared me for the artful meaning and beauty to be discovered in Asian garden design. Even my many trips to Japan hadn’t opened my eyes - probably because my heart wasn’t yet ready to embrace this ancient art form.


As part of business trips, I visited many gardens in Japan and most certainly was awestruck by their incredible detail - later I would learn that Asian gardens combine the basic elements of Nature: water, rocks, and of course, plants. I was readily impressed by the gardens - and daresay, humbled by their ability to create an intense aura of mystery. I loved the winding paths (it’s said evil spirits travel in straight lines so one can thwart the spirits with curved paths.).


I also was intrigued by the romance of the quiet fountains, the ponds with their golden fish and moss-covered shores and tree groves that whispered with pine needles underfoot and just the birds to sing hymns to the gods. But I was also confounded by the “karesansui” or “dry landscape garden” raked to super Type A perfection in their Sand and Stone Garden.





Kyoto's Daitoku-ji Temple garden

In my naivete, I wondered, “Why not green or grass there?” I was enchanted when I was told that legend had it that Japanese sailors who went to sea to explore and never returned were thought to have found heaven, never to return. These sand gardens were said to recreate the boats and islands - using the rocks and moss and the sand as sea, in order to bring the gods - and their heaven into the garden.





The boat-shaped stone on the "water"

I have since come to understand the enduring beauty of Asian gardens and further, to not only take to my heart the teachings and fundamentals of this particular garden design and to incorporate some elements of its ancient discipline into my own and client's’ garden designs, including Feng Shui - (“wind and water are associated with health”) and Zen landscapes but to recognize that I’ll always be a student of this eternal, timeless art form.

I am fortunate to be able to attend the many landscape design garden lectures produced by both NYBG and Wave Hill, in particular. Just over the past few years, lessons learned I’ve learned from some of the masters would inspire a lifetime of learning...

Shunmyo Masuno who I covered here in Landscape Design NYBG Lecture Review of Japan's leading Garden Designer and Zen priest: Shunmyo. It was written that “Shunmyo is at once Japan's most-acclaimed landscape architect and the head priest of Kenkoh-ji, his Buddhist Temple in Yokohama. Renowned for his ability to blend striking contemporary elements with the traditional design vernacular, he has established gardens around the world in a wide variety of settings: traditional and contemporary, urban and rural, public and private, and include temple, office, hotel, and campus venues. HIs design work in inseparable from his Buddhist practice. Whether in his celebrated traditional gardens"Vancouver's Nitobe Memorial and the Yuusien in Berlin"or his striking karesansui (dry-landscape gardens) "the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo"each project becomes a Zen garden, "a special spiritual place where the mind dwells.’ “

I also learned much from the Chinese landscape star, Kongjian Yu, who I covered here: NYBG Landscape Design Lecture featured Chinese Star - who spoke about “Green Infrastructure,” and urban gardens. Some background written about Yu, “He is founder and dean of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Peking University and founder and president of Turenscape, one of the first and largest private architecture and landscape architecture firms in China. His practice includes projects in major cities in the United States and around the world, and his numerous awards include this year’s prestigious ASLA Excellence Award for his work at Qunli Stormwater Park. His guiding design principles are appreciation of the ordinary and a deep embrace of the power of nature. (My emphasis.)

Personal Asian Garden journeys
Perhaps because tomorrow is Valentine’s Day - but really because I lean into the romance of all gardens - including Asian gardens, so I’ll share with you just a few of the gorgeous, hypnotic gardens I’ve had the good fortune/lucky chance to visit in China and Japan. In China, my niece Marissa, who was teaching English to Chinese students in Shanghai, made arrangements for us to visit the UNESCO: World Heritage Lingering Garden, located within the famed garden district, Suzhou, often referred to as the “Venice of China.” The Lingering Garden has long been acclaimed as an “earthly Paradise,” and so begins a Tang Yin poem.




The lingering aspect of the garden - said to exist between Earth and Heaven - is designed to delight and prompt you to stay… The garden is a “series of scenes made up of the elements of rocks -- featuring 12 limestone peaks



-- water, vegetation -- known especially for its paeonia suffruticosa - and buildings was an extraordinary, decorative garden art. In fact, the Lingering Garden is noted as one of the four most famous gardens in China that was originally a private garden and once hosted the wealthy “pleasure-seekers” and gentlemen of leisure.” A key element of Asian garden style is creating vignettes that can't be viewed all at once. The winding paths and axis points beckon you to continue the discovery.










So too, the viewing pavilions and structures allow heart-clutching vistas. They frame your perspective. You have to love the names of some of the viewing pavilions in the Lingering Garden: “Good-For-Farming Under Favorable Weather Conditions” is a best-of.














So many of the gardens featured bonsai & container compositions







Many of the gardens I visited in Japan were the ones that were designed for devotional or ritual experiences, mainly in and around Kyoto -- which is where I think most Westerners think of their imagery of ancient, spiritual Japan. Tao tradition has it that to stroll in a garden is to enter a sacred world; “to follow the example of the immortals, who by walking in nature, sought to become one with eternity.” Amen to that. Couldn’t agree more.

I visited the Golden Palace in the autumn but love this winter look

Entrance to tea house, cleansing

If jetting off to Asia is not in your travel plans, then visit your local botanic gardens or arboreta where there is often stellar Asian gardens to enjoy close to home. (Find a listing at the American Horticultural Society and if you are a member, you have the added benefit of reciprocal admissions). The New York Chinese Scholar's Garden is an authentic garden, created and built by experts from China. The John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden of Locust Valley is a not-to-be-missed garden. Asian gardens were all the rage in Victorian times. Mrs. Caroline Astor built a glamorous one at Marble House in Newport, Rhode Island that I fell in love with the first time I saw it on our honeymoon there.

Mrs. Vanderbilt's Tea House, Marble House, photo courtesy of the Classical Addiction

In terms of decor, Asian style became so popular, the French term Chinoiserie Style (or in the Chinese taste”) that came to be a prominent decorative art style that imitated Asian style in design. I do love the lacquer and blue and white porcelain look that is characteristic of chinoiserie and use it quite a bit in my home design. I think it’s a timeless look that not unlike a true cosmopolitan, fits right in with most everything, everywhere.

Chinoiserie - photo courtesy of Veranda magazine. I have similar ginger jars in the master bedroom & garden rooms

This year, I hosted a luncheon with double celebrations - combining Lunar New Year Celebrate Lunar New Year's Fire Monkey with Valentine’s Day. I hope you’ll agree the lucky colors worked the stunning tablescape, especially the vibrant, fiery red. The jade monkey that I grabbed off our bedroom book shelf did the ultimate honor. It was an artful comeback for this simian. See, shopping in China on that 2005 visit, I really only wanted a few quality things - mainly art. (and some pearls - green water ones for me and a some for my mother, along with a silkscreen of ladies playing golf - a sport which the Chinese claim they invented. This is a funny story in itself, but I digress.) I asked the art vendor for a statue/sculpture of my zodiac or year -- and he ran to get me a monkey. It was solid, well-crafted - and soon it was mine. It was only after I got back home that I came to learn, I am not a monkey! So while I never quite felt the connection to my little simian, this is his year to shine.  And he made the tablescape just sparkle.

Monkey Art Redemption: Year of the Monkey

My Lunar New Year/Valentines Day tablescape

My menu was equally inspired by Asian and Valentine's Day influences. Of course, several of the recipes were selected from my book, "The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook" -- two of them specifically are from Chef James Tchinnis, Swallow Restaurant.

The Year of the Monkey logo was created by a dear friend and talented artist: Bek Millhouse. Adorable isn't it?

If you want recipes or want to "read" the full menu, just email me!

Even the food color-coordinated with the dinnerware. Beautiful.







Here’s to a lucky, art-filled Year of the Monkey.