The Chinese New Year is always fun to celebrate and this New Year begins the year of the pig. I like to incorporate the New Year animal symbol into a celebratory table design and also into the menu. So, try my Mu-Shu Pulled Pork Mandarin Pancakes to style-up your Chinese New Year party with the theme “When Pigs Can Fly!” For the food, prepare a pork tenderloin the day before by searing it and baking it in a Dutch oven with ½ part crushed pineapple, ¼ part soy sauce, and ¼ part orange marmalade. Pour on 1 cup of pineapple juice and cover tightly.  Bake at 400⁰ F until thoroughly cooked. Pull the cooked pork apart and refrigerate it overnight. Then, make the plum sauce with ½ part oyster sauce and ½ part molasses with 2 heaping tablespoons of plum jelly and refrigerate that overnight. Just before serving in a wok, stir fry mushroom slices, chopped green onion and the cooked shredded pork. Stir in the pork thickening sauce of ¾ cup water, ¼ cup soy sauce, and ¼ cup Sherry. Then, add shredded cabbage and bean sprouts. Serve the Mu-Shu with Mandarin pancakes and bacon crumble. Mandarin pancakes are not sweet; rather, Mandarin pancakes are like tortillas only thinner. Each guest should fill the Mandarin pancakes with the Pulled Pork Mu-Shu and top that with the plum sauce and bacon crumble. For dessert serve flying pig sugar cookies by using 2 cookie cutters: a pig and angel wings. For the table design, use a large piggy bank with “fairy” wings attached for the “flying pig.” Give red envelopes with money or lotto tickets…Don’t forget the oolong tea for wishing everyone a prosperous New Year! © Kelly McBride Loft