Chinese New Years Meal

CHinese new years is often celebrated by the family. It's just my parents, siblings, and me who gather together to enjoy a small recipe. Although it's a stew it's commonly referred to as Chinese fondue. It's simply a a stew with a variety of vegetables and other meat that is heated in a very spicy broth. The thing that is different about this recipe is that instead of using a stove, we always would use a portable gas stove to cook our simple dish. as the spicy broth gradually heated up we would place the meat first into the pot, then would be the vegetables. As the stew cooked we would always discuss the new zodiac and the prospect of the new year

Comment from Martha:
When Don and I lived in Los Angeles back in the day, we used to go to a Mongolian restaurant that had the same kind of "fondue"-- each table had its own burner and bubbling pot of broth, and everyone took turns cooking their meat and vegetables on long forks or skewers in the spicy broth.  Unfortunately, we were too ignorant to discuss the zodiac!  I have a feeling the Romans would have loved this, and I wonder if some of the corner snack bars might have offered similar dishes.