If your New Year didn't get off to a roaring start, take heart; this Sunday, you'll have another shot at it. The Year of the Dog is almost here, and Chinese tradition calls for a feast with friends and family. Not inclined to cook? Not to worry. You can still set out a “prosperity tray” piled high with foods that symbolize wealth and good fortune: tangerines, dates, Chinese cookies, and cakes to serve your guests.

I'm planning a simple meal for Sunday, consisting of two traditional Lunar New Year dishes: rice cake soup and an Asian salad with pomelo, a citrus that looks like a grapefruit on steroids. I was all set to follow the rice cake soup recipe from Wednesday's New York Times, which calls for beef and pork, until my fellow blogger Valerie over in Balance pointed out that the Lunar feast is traditionally vegetarian.

The Times recipe also erred by including tofu; according to CulinaryChef.com, fresh bean curd should not be consumed on New Year's because its white color symbolizes death and bad luck. Oops! No wonder the mainstream media has such a bad reputation in the blogosphere. Memo to self: stop believing what you read in the New York Times.

The soup's key ingredient, rice cakes, is not to be confused with the Styrofoam-like snackfood that some people eat in lieu of potato chips. These rice cakes have a delightfully chewy, glutinous texture and are only found in the frozen section at Korean markets. We made a special trip to one such store yesterday to stock up on all the specialty ingredients we need for our little feast, including the pomelo, Chinese dates, and an assortment of Chinese cakes and cookies. And, of course, we picked up a bag of brown rice cakes, which, although we put them in our shopping basket, mysteriously did not make it into our grocery bag. We discovered the error upon arriving home.

Matt says he'll dash up to the Korean store to get another bag, but if he doesn't, we've still got the makings of a fine prosperity tray. Rice cakes or no rice cakes, we'll savor the company of loved ones and the sweet treats that represent all the abundance and good fortune we wish for in the New Year.