In our view, there is simply no comparison between the Chinese New Year celebration and the more prosaic Western variation. Never mind the fireworks, the dragon dancers, the parades-the Chinese New Year has one crucial element sorely lacking in the Western version, and that element, of course, is great food. Champagne at midnight and a white-clothed smorgas-bord, after all, are no substitute (in our opinion) for a delicious, intricate, per-fectly prepared multicourse meal. And while the Roman calendar's New Year lasts for just one sodden night, the Chinese lunar celebration goes on for three gloriously food-filled days. To help you fête the occasion in the proper style, we've asked Norman Weinstein, founder of Norman Weinstein's Brooklyn Cooking School and one of the city's top connoisseurs of Chinese cuisine, to lead a not-to-be-missed workshop on the very best foods for ringing in the Year of the Dragon.

Weinstein has spent a quarter-century spreading the gospel of great food, and Asian cooking is his special provenance. A former professional musician and voice teacher, Weinstein founded Norman Weinstein's Hot Wok, the original incarnation of his cooking school, to teach New Yorkers about authentic Asian cuisine. He has written two books on the subject- Wok Dishes (Barron's), nominated for an IACP Cookbook Award, and Chinese Cooking: The Classical Techniques Made Easy (Newsletter). He is a member of the faculty at LaGuardia Community College, a semi-annual guest instructor at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, and a longtime regular at The New School Culinary Arts Program, Peter Kump's New York Cooking School, De Gustibus, and a host of other top cookery venues, in high demand for his Asian cookery classes. When he's not in the kitchen, Weinstein is busy teaching television audiences about his lifelong passion, leading walking tours of Chinatown and other hotbeds of regional cuisine, and holding tasting dinners at the most intriguing Asian restaurants the city has to offer.

For this workshop, Weinstein promises to unlock the secrets of great Chinese cooking. Help him ring in the Year of the Dragon in grand Beard House style.