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 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!
Hello again! It took me a little longer than expected to put up this post, due to the influx of submissions at the eleventh hour, but here it is!
At the beginning of February, I organized a Chinese New Year Virtual Potluck as a fun way to both celebrate Chinese New Year and to get readers cooking from The Chinese Takeout Cookbook. Participants would receive a copy of the cookbook to keep or give away. In addition, they would be entered in a drawing for other great prizes, including a Le Creuset French oven, set of 6 Random House cookbooks, GrubKit recipe kits, and Edgeware graters.
The turnout was even better than expected: 41 of you wonderful bloggers cooked, photographed, and shared your thoughts on 7 dishes from The Chinese Takeout Cookbook for Chinese New Year. I loved reading all your posts on shopping for Chinese ingredients, introducing your family to new year foods and traditions, making ingredient substitutions to suit your lifestyle, and even getting a little creative in reinterpreting the original recipes.
Read MoreHappy early Chinese New Year!
This year I'm unable to make it home to Boston, but I'm still planning on celebrating in two ways: 1) Gathering a big group of friends for dim sum here in New York, and 2) hosting a Chinese New Year Virtual Potluck here with the online food community.
I've never done a big event like this here on this blog, so it's very exciting to announce. My goal, in addition to celebrating the release of my first cookbook, is to get as many bloggers as possible to make Chinese dishes this month (even if it seems a little intimidating!) I hope to make this an event for sharing and learning from each other about how to adapt Chinese cooking to suit your own lifestyle.
I've also teamed up with wonderful sponsors including — Le Creuset, Random House, GrubKit, and Edgeware — to give something to everyone participating.
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