The Chinese calendar isn’t as straightforward and predictable as the Western (Gregorian) calendar. The length of a month isn’t always 30…um…31…no…29…or 28 days.

Okay, okay, so both calendars are kinda screwy.

But what I meant was that Western New Years is always called January 1st. Chinese or Lunar New Year falls on a different day every year, anytime between January 20th to Feburary 19th, depending on the sun and moon cycles.

This year, it just so happens that that Chinese New Year is on Feburary 14th, 2010, which means you can take Valentine’s Day off as a paid holiday. Well, that is, if you celebrate Lunar New Year….but I promise….I won’t tell your boss.

The Chinese are highly superstitious, especially with food. Honestly it’s quite complicated, and rather than risk an entire year of good fortune (i.e. nixing the possibility winning $76 million in the lottery), I play it safe. I eat what’s on the list.

So wanna know what’s on the list?

I know it’s V-day on February 14th, so if you’re celebrating the day of love with cutesy hearts and fondue, perhaps you can do a combo-dinner (Chinese fondue anyone?) or even celebrate Chinese New Year a little early. I’ve got a list of simple recipes for your Chinese New Year feast to ensure you a prosperous, healthy and happy year of the Tiger.

What to eat for Chinese New Year

	Mom’s Famous Crispy Egg Rolls – to bring on wealth
	Chinese Whole Steamed Fish – for having “more than enough” this coming year
	Garlic Brandy Prawns - for happiness
	Chinese Tea Eggs – for wealth
	100 Blossoms – to wish you a blossoming and beautiful beginning in the new year.
	Pork and Shrimp Potstickers – recipe from Andrea Nguyen to represent gold ingots.
	Broccoli Beef Noodle Stir Fry – for long life (don’t cut the noodles – leave them long!)

And if you want more Chinese New Year recipes, head over to Rasa Malaysia and Lily’s Wai Sek Hong!

What’s on your menu for Chinese New year?

Another sweet and smoky recipe? Yep! I can sweet and smoky anything – even tofu (maybe next week!)

BBQ fans are loving the new BBQ Pitmasters Show on TLC and I was lucky enough to get a recipe for Chef Paul Peterson’s Sweet and Smoky Ribs.

New Twitter friend, Steve Wilson, who runs Grilling Companion website was kind enough to help me out by testing, photographing the recipe and also interviewing Chef Paul.

Get Chef Paul Peterson’s Sweet and Smoky Ribs recipe on Steamy Kitchen on TLC.

When I first heard on Twitter that I was named one of the 10 Hottest Women in Food by SlashFood, I seriously had to double-check the URL to make sure it wasn’t a spoof site, because you all know what happens when misspell a website name and end up in pornville.

Well, it was legit, and even after an hour, nobody on Twitter shouted “you’ve been punk’d!” Though if I really had really been punk’d, more than likely the person responsible would be missing a few teeth today.

The difficult part of all this is that now I really have to live up to the title…and it means that maybe being photographed in my neon hair rollers isn’t a good idea.

Hmmm…..

And I should stop slapping my head on Wonder Woman’s body.

I really am taking this honor very seriously, and have started off this week with a striptease class with 18 girlfriends at Rancho La Puerta.

Rancho La Puerta is known as one of the premier health and fitness spas in the world, and one of my biggest concerns about spending an entire week here was the fact that they serve a primarily vegetarian diet. No meat, almost no alcohol and no junk food.

Could I go a whole week without steak? bacon? wine? potato chips? Could I survive on just lettuce, sprouts and beans?

The first couple of days, the withdrawal symptoms became almost unbearable. I tweeted for help. I even texted Diane, who was to arrive the next evening to sneak in a stash of contraband chips and booze.

So, in our strip tease class, our instructor told us to imagine a guy sitting in the chair as she led us in sexylicious moves: sashaying our hips, flipping our hair, throwing an attitude, rubbing and teasing with our body parts. All for the imaginary friend sitting in the chair.

This is all I could think about:

and this:

Oh, and no I wasn’t joking about Diane smuggling in the goods. She came through. God, I love this woman. She arrived at 7pm last night with this:

I guess if this is what sexy is all about – I AM ALL FOR IT!!

This is possibly one of the best 10 minute meals I’ve ever made! I’ll take clams any which way (well, except rubbery overcooked) – steamed, raw, fried, smothered and creamed in soup. When I’m lucky enough to get my hands on really fresh manila clams, I always invite friends over to feast…. (Continue reading at Steamy Kitchen on TLC)

17.2 million American children face hunger each year.

If you break that down, that’s almost 1 in 4 kids.

As many of you know, one of my favorite charities is Share Our Strength, an organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America. This month, I’m so honored to have partnered with Quaker Oatmeal and Goodbite, along with several other bloggers, to bring you a fundraiser that will raise up to $25,000 for Share Our Strength.

$25,000 = 75,000 meals.

It’s simple. There’s no contest, no voting….just a few clicks on your part.

Head to Quaker’s Create Your Day website and in just a few clicks, create your own oatmeal flavor combination. Every oatmeal creation earns Share Our Strength $1.00.

Will you please take just a few seconds to help us earn a dollar?

Here’s my oatmeal creation: