Gung Hay Fat Choy!

For those of you who don’t know, I am half Chinese.  That means that when Chinese New Year rolls around each year, there is a bounty of deliciousness to be had.  My mom goes all out and prepares a lip-smacking, finger-licking feast of Asian proportions…good food and lots of it!  This year she worked around everyone’s food allergies and there was only one dish that Matthew could not sample.  Unfortunately for me, I am on the same diet as Matthew while I am nursing Malia.  The goal, according to the allergist, is to give her immune system a chance to mature before exposing her to foods that she may be genetically predisposed to be allergic to.  So sometimes I see something that looks amazingly tasty, something I love and really want to eat…

(Mmmmm…hot, crispy wontons…drool...)

…and I ask myself, “Why am I doing this?!”  And then I remember…

…and (almost) happily pass over that particular bit of deliciousness.  My mom made it a bunch easier because the wontons were the only bit of dinner that I needed to avoid.

Today Matthew and I made Chinese almond cookies, another tasty treat that he usually can’t have.  But we made the necessary adjustments, Matthew did the red dots (FYI: Did you know that when splattered across the floor, red food coloring looks remarkably like blood?), and unless you were in the know you would never suspect that they were egg, dairy, and nut free.

So for those of you who may not have the blessing of having truckloads of Chinese food on your table this week, order take out and remember that long noodles are for a long life, oranges are for a sweet life, and red is a lucky color.