John and I hosted our CNY party at the start of February. In the past, we had an annual tradition of hosting a lunar new year celebration, but over the years, it fell by the wayside. Thankfully, this year we had the wherewithal to bring it back. We invited a small but compatible mix of old friends, and with the help of several extra dexterous hands, we managed to crank out hundreds of dumplings.

J typically uses a pork/napa recipe, but you know how he is: He likes to experiment and try new things, so this year, he tested a recipe with mushrooms. Eh, the shrooms ended up monopolizing all the flavor of the meat filling… Nonetheless, that didn’t stop us from stuffing a ton of dumplings into our pie holes. Next time though, we may switch it up again, and try a jiu cai Chinese chives recipe.

In addition to the feature dish, we had a dragon-themed fruit platter (inspired by Pinterest and tremendously improved by my buddy T), a bunch of dipping sauces (including a very popular chili oil and chili crisp combo), nian gao (rice cakes), and brownies for dessert. So a bit of hodge podge, but we couldn’t have asked for a better day. After a rather rainy winter, we had a beautiful sunny day. Thankfully, one of our guests captured some video.

And of course, J and I had loads of fun decorating the house with “evergreen” lunar new year items. Lots of snack/cookie tins with dragons, gold/red signs, a hanging felt dragon, felt majhong tiles, plus my blinged out Fossil dragon watch. Two weeks later, all the stuff is still out. Evergreen bling central, baby!

I know we have a tiny house, but I sure do like hosting gatherings here. It’s not Airbnb ready or anything like a staged home, but I feel like it reflects our low-key sensibility, and the space is cozy yet comfortable for small groups. Sometimes it’s challenging to be in the business I’m in, plus be in Silicon Valley where people are so accomplished and always one-upping one another… but I try to remind myself: J and I never want to let the size or condition our home prevent us from doing things we enjoy and spending time with our friends.