The Year of the Dragon

The Chinese New Year begins on February 10th, and according to the Chinese Zodiac, the Dragon years include 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, and 2024. Each year, the calendar aligns with an animal, but the Dragon is the only mythical animal in the Chinese Zodiac calendar, which makes it a very special Year.

Celebrating the Chinese New Year is about tradition and how it all got started. As the legend goes, the Jade Emperor in the Qin Dynasty over 2,000 years ago challenged all the animals of the Kingdom to a great race. Whoever arrived at his palace first would win his favor.

Everyone’s bet was on the Dragon to take home the top prize for he was sacred, mythical and he could fly. According to legend, during the race the Dragon came upon a village suffering from drought. He took pity on them and used his powers to send them rain. For this delay, the Dragon finished fifth behind the Rat, Ox, Tiger, and Rabbit.

Despite their rough, fierce fire-breathing exterior, Dragons have a softer side. They are seen as confident, idealistic, and ambitious. If you are born in the year of the Dragon, you can access all those powers but only if you harness the most important Dragon quality – compassion. And earthly rules don’t apply to you because you are a dragon – this is the year of making dreams come true! 

Chinese New Year is about feasting on your favorite symbolic dishes with family and friends. It is considered good luck to start your New Year with a few traditional favorites. The most common Chinese New Year foods include dumplings, fish, spring rolls, noodles, shrimp, vegetables, rice cakes and oranges.

Chinese dumpling is a classic lucky food and generally consists of minced meat and finely chopped vegetables wrapped in a thin dough or wrapper and then cooked by steaming or boiling. While pork is the most common dumpling filling, you can also use shrimp, chicken, or vegetables.

Have you ever wondered what is the difference between spring rolls and egg rolls? Egg rolls have a wonton or yeast dough wrapper, while spring rolls have a thinner wrapping.

Longevity Noodles signify long life and happiness. It is longer than normal noodles and either served in a bowl with broth or with stir-fried vegetables or your choice of meat. But you can settle for shorter noodles like lo-mein or ramen. Not many restaurants serve longevity noodles.

Shrimp is a Cantonese Chinese New Year dish that represents “liveliness” as well as good fortune. The Cantonese word for Shrimp is Ha – which sounds like laughter. 

A celebration menu is not complete without the “spring” vegetables signifying spring and renewal. Common vegetables will include Chinese cabbage, mung bean sprouts, baby Bok choy, and white radish added to your spring roll or to stir fry dishes.

Mandarin oranges, tangerines, or something round and golden in color symbolize wealth. Mandarin oranges are easy to peel and are thought to have traveled across China, where they picked up the name “mandarin.”

The challenge is finding the perfect place to celebrate the Year of the Dragon. The PJK Neighborhood Chinese restaurant located in Old Naples opened in March 2023, and for the Year of the Dragon, they are offering a family-style Chinese New Year special. 

PJK offers traditional Chinese dishes with “modern interpretations.” For starters, we ordered from their Dim Sum selection and settled on Pork Dumplings and Duck Potstickers. For our main course, we ordered the Mongolian chicken. It was crispy, not too sweet with an addictive sauce.

The Chicken Lo-Mein was tossed with shiitake mushrooms, mixed vegetables, lo-mein noodles, and slices of chicken – a good mix of flavors and texture, making it the perfect Chinese comfort food. Just pretend the noodles were hand-pulled!

Definitely worth going back to try the other Chinese dishes on the menu.

Releasing the Dragon – on January 25th, the United Postal Service released its commemorative Forever series celebrating the Year of the Dragon 2024!

Wishing you luck in the Year of the Dragon!