Happy Chinese New Year.

I am happy to announce I have a brand new, and amazing assistant, Katie Joy! She and I were listening to NPR's Good Food on KCRW podcast this weekend while working, and realized from their story that it's Chinese New Year! The Year of the Ox - hard working! So, as we discovered, that means it's time to create your shrine to good living and good eating by adding a Kitchen God to your home. So, Katie Joy took off on her trusty bicycle for Chinatown to dig us up some of our very own Kitchen Gods! And she found the very man to hand paint them for us!


I also found this one online, which you can print, cut out and frame, should you not have a Chinatown nearby, like we do here in San Francisco - one of the largest in the country. The characters mean 'Reserve Fortune Kitchen God', and reportedly bring you good health, and make your food more nutritious and better tasting. Place a few grains of dry rice in a dish, burn some incense, and hang your Kitchen God. Happy New Year, everyone. And a big welcome to Katie Joy. Well done!