Ginger

"My paternal grandmother liked to serve these spareribs on special occasions," writes Lyn Utsugi of Kamuela, Hawaii. "She was a great cook and even owned a restaurant on Oahu in the late 1950s. My mother learned the recipe from her and has been making the ribs since 1961, the year she married my father." Serve these with steamed rice, perfect for soaking up the extra sauce.

With its crisp sugary topping, this creamy dessert combines the best of two worlds: pumpkin pie and crème brûlée.

Mascarpone cheese, with its slightly tart flavor, gets a sweet boost from honey. If you can't find mascarpone, top this with honey-sweetened sour cream or crème fraîche.

Beefy shiitake mushrooms stand in for the standard ground pork in this version of ma po tofu. What to drink: The bit of heat here calls for a spicy white wine with ripe fruit and crisp acidity, such as a Riesling from Alsace or Germany's Rheingau.

"Needing a cake for a surprise 60th birthday party for my husband and a friend, I used my mother's favorite cake recipe," writes Doris Lindsay of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. "It turned out that most of the party guests had never had gingerbread cake. It was so well received that I was inspired to send the recipe to you." Mrs. Lindsay sometimes mixes walnuts and raisins into the batter just before baking. It's also easy to double this recipe and have enough for a party; you'll just need 2 (9- by 2-inch) round pans or a 13- by 9- by 2-inch pan. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr

This recipe is a great use for cold leftover rice. Order extra rice with Chinese takeout or make a double batch of your own one night — you can keep it, chilled, up to 1 week. Active time: 35 min Start to finish: 35 min

The long noodles in this soup — representing longevity — are meant to be slurped up. In Chinese culture, cutting them would symbolize cutting one's life short. This recipe requires a whole chicken for its rich broth and makes double the quantity necessary. Reserve 1/2 cup stock for the Broccoli Spears in Garlic Sauce and freeze the remainder. After setting aside the breast meat for the soup, save the rest of the chicken for another dish. The reserved cilantro leaves can be used for the Steamed Striped Bass with Ginger and Scallions. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 3 3/4 hr

Serve a dry Riesling to complement the subtle ginger flavor of the roasted chicken.

The following recipe makes 120 cookies. Any excess raw dough may be kept, frozen, 3 weeks. You'll find these delicate wafers so delicious that they'll disappear in no time.

If you set aside several hours on three days to make the house, that will allow plenty of time for all the icing to set firmly and plenty of time for you to have some fun. The completed house can stand for up to one month.

Rick Rodgers, cookbook author and teacher, says, "The inspiration for this recipe came to me one Thanksgiving when my friends and I were sipping mugs of mulled wine while preparing dinner. I was doing a basic cranberry sauce and tossed in a bit of the spiced wine. The result was a fabulous mix of sweet and spice—and I've been making it this way every year since."

Dried shiitake mushrooms can be found in the Asian foods section of your supermarket. Steamed rice completes the meal.

The griddled persimmon cakes we had with duck in Xi'an inspired this salad.