Gung hay fat choy!

It’s almost the Year of the Dragon—when the Lunar New Year begins on January 23. To get prepared, I went on a shopping spree at 99 Ranch (4220 Florin Road), which is like the megamart of Asian groceries.

There are certain foods that are traditionally eaten for the new year. The first thing on my list was pomelo, which represents a whole, unified family—the larger the better. These are typically shared with the family, along with other fruits like mandarin oranges, which sounds like the word gold in Cantonese.

Since I was shopping for a Singaporean new year’s salad called yu sheng, I also needed pickled red ginger for good luck, white daikon radish for success, lettuce for harmony and carrot for eminence.

99 Ranch had mountains of enormous pomelos and other gorgeous produce like baby bok choy and enoki mushrooms. If you can’t make it to a big grocery, try the regular farmers markets—especially the Asian Sunday Market at Sixth Street and Broadway.