Happy Chinese New Year of the goat!

The Chinese New Year of the goat is from 19 February 2015 to 7 February 2016.

The goat, sheep or ram is a well-loved animal.

It is usually gentle and calm and its fleece has long been used to create warm clothing, as well as to make writing brushes.

According to the ancient Chinese annals, people born in the year of the goat are gentle, polite, filial, clever and kind.

They appreciate and admire beauty, art and like to live quietly.

Valentine's Day 2015

Valentine's Day is here again, where everything about love is celebrated.

This year, instead of the usual profferings of chocolates, flowers and perfume for your loved one, why not take a leaf out of Charles M Schulz's books?

The Peanuts Guide to Love (or kiss her, you blockhead!) is full of witticisms about love, from the famous Peanuts gang, including loveable Snoopy, the beagle.

A time for giving

Christmas is a time for giving and why not start by giving gifts with a conscience?

The Australian Women's Diary 2015 has an attractive hard cover and will glamourise any woman's handbag.

It is full of essential information that can improve the health and wellbeing of all women and proceeds from the sale go the Breast Cancer Research Institute of Australia to support research that identifies new treatments and prevention strategies.

What is Christmas without a lovely leg of ham, all fragrant with a golden glaze?

Try this recipe from Australian Pork

Spiced honey and orange glazed ham

Ingredients

4.5 - 5kg leg of Australian ham
¾ cup orange juice
½ tsp nutmeg
1 cup honey
1 cup orange marmalade, sieved
¼ cup Grand Marnier or whisky
60 cloves to stud ham

To serve:
Roasted vegetables
Mustard

This Christmas A Wok on the Wild Side is pleased to present a message from Fr Jeremy Morgan of St Philip's in Collingwood:

We live in a world which is captivated by the concept of love, and is in many respects, obsessed by it.

We know when we feel its thrill and we know when we feel its crippling absence
– but are these experiences – often felt during 'falling in' or 'falling out of' romantic love, the fullness of Love itself?

This is a question which is much easier to ask than answer.

Recipe requests

My cousin Juliet Ong wrote:

Give us some recipes, Ida. How about start with the latest: asparagus. I love them whatever the color but have not eaten the white ones since my mum taught me how to present dainty white asparagus rolls for Tea

Here you are Juliet, a delicious recipe for chicken and asparagus stir fry.

Enjoy!

If anyone has a recipe they would like to see on this website, why not send me a message and I will try to source it.

Chicken and asparagus stir fry

Serves 4

Book review

Mr Hong by Dan Hong

Mr Hong by uber chef Dan Hong is a cookbook like no other.

It doesn't begin at the start of his career as a chef, rather, the chapter about it is near the end of the book, titled Younger Years.

Leaf through Mr Hong and you will gain an insight into his love of good food and his talent for innovative dishes.

Dan's appetite for rare sneakers,hip hop, Instagram and collecting cookbooks is only surpassed by his passion for everything from fast food to fine dining.

Fabulous foodie fun

Australian Mushroom Growers support Pink at Blue Diamond

A group of fabulous foodies gathered recently at the Blue Diamond function centre in Melbourne to help Australian Mushroom Growers support the fight against breast cancer and also to sample some scrumptious food, made with mushrooms, of course.

We were thrilled to hear that Australian Mushroom Growers have donated lots of money to charities involved in Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Pink Ribbon Day.

Asparagus spears are here!

Spring is here and so are beautifully crisp asparagus spears!

Visit your supermarket or greengrocer and choose your favourite variety of asparagus to cook a range of healthy and delicious dishes.

We are all familiar with green asparagus, but do you know that there are also white and purple varieties?

Visit www.asparagus.com.au, the website of the Australian Asparagus Council to find out more, but here's a taster.

Asparagus tips

Good buys

Essenzza’s Natural Facial Cleansing Wipes

You know how it is when you are travelling.

You want to maintain your regular beauty and skin care routine, but without bringing a heap of products to clutter up your luggage.

During my recent trip overseas I found the recently launched Essenza natural facial cleansing wipes very handy and easy to use.