Ever since my cookbook came out last December, I've been fortunate to have found more time and spaces around New York to teach cooking classes. And to everyone who has attended a class in the past year, thank you for all your great feedback on new classes you'd like to see!
I'm happy to announce some new offerings for August, along with some old favorites. This month I'm starting to teach at 3rd Ward in Brooklyn. We have two weekend classes coming up, a very hands-on Dumpling Making Workshop in which we'll make everything from scratch (including the wrappers) and a Chinese Vegetarian Cooking class featuring four of my favorite meatless dishes. Then in late August, we have two daytime dumpling classes at the Brooklyn Brainery for all you freelancers, teachers, and anyone else who wants to learn some new cooking skills before the end of the summer!
Oh, and also at the end of August, I'm once again teaching the ever-popular Hong Kong-Style Dim Sum at The Institute of Culinary Education.
You can see the full list below. Hope you can join me in a future class!
Saturday, August 3, 2013– Chinese Home Cooking: Dumpling Making Workshop at 3rd Ward
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What a month this has been! New York has been blanketed by an insane heatwave, so I've been trying to keep cool by staying busy indoors in front of a fan and temperamental AC unit. And teaching cooking classes, which also happen to be indoors (fortunately!) I've also been prepping a few new recipes into publish as well, but in meantime I'm happy to share a few recent press mentions.
Stir-frying at Home - Epicurious recently published this great primer on stir-frying and featured Appetite for China and The Chinese Takeout Cookbook. Check it out to pick up some new tips and tricks!
Interview with Asia Society - If you've ever wondered how Puerto Rican cooking or French culinary training relates to Chinese food, read on!
Read MoreThe idea for Tangra Summer came about a few months ago. My friend Chitra Agrawal, founder of The ABCD’s of Cooking and a cooking teacher who specializes in Indian food, had suggested we team up to create a pop-up dinner to celebrate local food in Brooklyn. A farm-to-table dinner with a twist. Instead of New American cooking, we could combine our respective backgrounds in Indian and Chinese cooking and create a cross-cultural vegetarian dinner highlighting seasonal food in Brooklyn.
It took me about half a second to say yes. And so Tangra was born.
Named after a Calcutta neighborhood home that was the birthplace of Indian-Chinese cuisine, Tangra will be held once a season to celebrate farm fresh produce. Our inaugural dinner, Tangra Summer 2013, will debut August 25th at the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum, a Dutch farmhouse that dates back to 1652 and is New York’s oldest surviving structure. The dinner will take place inside the historic farmhouse, with dishes served family-style, featuring vegetables grown onsite from head Wyckoff gardener Jason Gaspar and beers from our sponsors Big Alice Brewing out of Long Island City. We’ll also have pre-dinner lawn games; in short, plenty of fun to cap off the summer!
Read MoreAs a food writer and cooking teacher, I spend a lot of solo time in the kitchen testing recipes and solo time at my desk researching and writing. So recently, when I got asked by BlogHer and Malibu to go out for a night on the town with friends to sample cocktails, I was more than happy to deviate from the routine.
My friends Barb and Colleen joined in on this girls' night out to try out cocktails at Prohibition on the Upper West Side, one of the places in New York that serves the new Malibu Island Spiced rum. Sweetened with Truvia®, a natural sweetener, Malibu Island Spiced is infused with coconut, vanilla, and cinnamon flavors. The weather in New York was finally starting to warm up, so it was the perfect time to try out these cocktails made with Caribbean rum.
Read MoreWhat a great 5 months it has been since the release of The Chinese Takeout Cookbook!
The last few months have been a whirlwind of interviews, classes and events, article-writing, and the like. Thank you for all the support. You've helped so much by buying the book, recommending it to your friends and family, participating in the Virtual Potluck back in February, and otherwise tweeting, Instagramming, and Facebooking about the book and its recipes.
Other than the potluck, I haven't had a chance to organize a cookbook giveaway on the blog yet. So today I'm offering up a giveaway for three signed copies of the cookbook! To enter to win one of the copies, just visit the Chinese Recipes archive and leave a comment below, telling me 1 or 2 of the recipes on the Chinese Recipes page that you're interested in trying out. (The recipes don't have to be in the cookbook.)
Read More(Photo by The Crepes of Wrath)
Have you had a chance to check out the Appetite for China cooking videos yet?
A few months ago I started putting together short 'n sweet cooking videos set to music. As a visual learner myself, I personally think cooking videos are great for easing into new or somewhat challenging techniques.
So far there is a small but growing collection. And just this month I did a fun collaboration with Sydney from The Crepes of Wrath, making Sichuan Wontons, in a video shot and edited by her talented husband Kramer. (It really was fun. In the picture above, I'm just seriously concentrating on mixing the ingredients together.) Since my other videos are shot on an iPhone with natural lighting, it was great to see how a fellow food blogger goes about the process differently.
Read MoreSpring is finally here! If you live in the NY area and would like to join in a fun hands-on class in Chinese or Asian cooking, here are some upcoming events for the spring.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013– Dumplings and Wontonsat West Elm Market, DUMBO
- Love dumplings and eager to make them at home? Join us in this 2-hour dumpling extravaganza, now at West Elm Market in DUMBO! We’ll learn the basics of wrapping both Chinese dumplings and wontons. Even if you've never cooked Chinese food, you can easily learn how to make scores of dumplings with these simple techniques. After hands-on practice in wrapping, we will move on to the cooking process. You'll learn a sure-fire method for pan-frying dumplings to crispy perfection. And you'll also learn how to prepare the wontons as a deliciously spicy Sichuan appetizer, and get tips on other ways to prepare them at home. And vegetarians are welcome! Both meat and vegetarian fillings will be available to work with. Sign up here!
Thursday, April 25, 2013– Seasonal Asian Cooking at Haven’s Kitchen
- Discover how to use the best in-season produce to create an array of Asian dishes that will make your mouth water. We'll apply techniques such as stir-frying, steaming, and dumpling-making to create a colorful and sumptuous, Asian spring feast. Sign up here!