the 2011 chinese new year is the year of the rabbit! we are hugely excited about celebrating the chinese new year with our next dinner set for 02.20.11. 

there are some menu items that we are toying with for the next dinner, one being sopapillas. sopapillas are hugely popular in tex-mex restaurant's as being a light, fluffy fried pastry served with powdered sugar and honey. they are sooooo addictive, and it is easy to down 10 of them in one sitting. we are testing out some recipes to add another level of flavor and texture to it's original flour and baking powder base. we are thinking somewhere along the lines of a ginger-mexican vanilla ice cream atop the sopapillas with a plum+honey drizzle, or maybe even something with agave nectar....hmmm..the possibilities are endless.

we have just survived the chicago blizzard of 2011, and have been stuck inside our abode for 2 days! with that time we have been researching some popular chinese dishes that are made during the first weeks of celebration for the new year. we will take on the challenge of preparing some of these dishes, with some mexican flair to them! ay-yi-yi, i am getting hungry!

stay warm, and many great wishes for the new year!

mikey +brian