(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)The two-week long Chinese celebration of the Lunar New Year begins today – it’s 4720, the Year of the Tiger. The Tiger is known for his strength, bravery, and particularly his ability to purge evil – and if ever we needed that specific set of superpowers, it’s now.

But even COVID can’t stop us from embracing all of the traditions that make this holiday so extraordinary. One that I particularly enjoy is the way in which wordplay and homophones factor into the selection of traditional foods specially prepared to mark the occasion. For example, at festive gatherings a whole fish will be served, because the word for fish (yu) is a homophone for surpluses.

So since I could definitely use some surpluses right now, I’ve made a whole steamed fish stuffed with ginger and scallions and bedecked with even more julienned fresh ginger, scallions, chives, and cilantro for the centerpiece. Accompanying the star of the show were snow peas and black mushrooms in black bean sauce, and char siu fried rice (homemade char siu, to be sure).

Now, if you read me, you know that of course there’s a backstory that involves the preparation of this feast, and I’m going to save the near miss details for a future post. But there is a Lunar New Year story I would like to share with you now, one I wrote a few zodiac signs ago, a mystery involving a particular nian gao (the traditional sweet rice cake and a homophone for high year) that resonates to this day. It’s all in my very short story, “The Case of the Uncrackable Case!”

新年快乐! Xīnnián kuàilè!
恭喜发财! Gong hei fat choy!