Today marks Chinese Lunar New Year, the longest and most
important holiday in the Chinese calendar. It’s celebrated on
the new moon of the first month in the lunar calendar, and it’s
a time for families to come together for reunions and meals
together. This year is the Year of the Dragon, considered the
luckiest amongst the 12 animals which appear in the Chinese
zodiac and the only animal that is mythical. I considered myself
a lucky animal to live in San Francisco near Chinatown, which is
the largest outside of Asia. My friend Claire threw a wonderful
Chinese new year dinner party at her apartment in Russian Hill a
couple of years ago after she had returned from a long work
assignment in Hong Kong. During her time there, she picked up a
certain je ne sais quoi in her flair for making Chinese food. It
was delicious. She even sent us home with the traditional red
envelopes which are handed out on occasion of the new year. I
felt the whole city energized when I walked down the hill to
Chinatown for the festivit