I'm Writing a Cookbook!

When I first started this blog 3 and a half years ago, I had an inkling that maybe I would someday write a book. I had just arrived in Beijing, after a couple years in New York attending culinary school, working in a pastry kitchen, and writing freelance food and travel articles. I had a lot of interests, mostly centered around food. But where would I start?

The road from blog to book always seemed to be a fuzzy path. There were a lot of blogs in the news whose writers found agents and publishers seemingly overnight, and others I enjoy reading whose writers segued into other media opportunities, which led to the books. But at that time I didn't know where to begin. So I just concentrated on eating.

Getting acquainted with Beijing was a really eye-opening experience, and I just started photographing and sampling street food and restaurant meals wherever I went. I experimented with making Sichuan dishes from favorite restaurants at home, and when I wanted a break from spicy food, started cooking Cantonese dishes that my parents had taught me. Pretty soon the comments started coming, and questions about how to use this spice or that vegetable. That was encouragement enough to continue, despite the long hours.

BlogDiana KuanJanuary 13, 2011 Comments

Chinese Cooking Classes in New York, Winter 2011

BlogDiana KuanJanuary 3, 2011 Comments

A Little Love from Wall Street Journal Asia, and the Holiday Nostalgia Train

What a nice pre-Christmas gift! Appetite for China was just featured in the Wall Street Journal Asia's round-up of food bloggers around Asia, along with Robyn Eckhardt from Eating Asia, Andrea Nguyen from Viet World Kitchen, Makiko Itoh from Just Bento, Mark Lowerson from Sticky Rice, and many others. We each recommended a dish we "can't live without" in cities across Asia (my city being Beijing.)

Check out the WSJ's slideshow here!

In other news, I spent a few hours last Sunday indulging in a non-food-related interest: checking out relics of bygone New York. Every year around the holidays the MTA digs into its collection of old train cars that ran way back in the day, and takes them for a few spins on Sundays in December to keep them in working condition. This being my first holiday season in New York in three years, riding a Nostalgia Train was high on my must-do list.

BlogDiana KuanDecember 23, 2010Beijing, Press Comments

Soupy Dumplings and Pan-fried Bao at Nan Xiang

Since coming back to the US, I have had a hard time finding pan-fried pork buns, called shenjian bao in Chinese.

In Shanghai, they were available on practically every street corner. Like the more widely known xiaolong bao (called "soup dumplings" in English), sheng jian bao is also filled with ground pork and piping hot soup. But unlike its steamed counterpart, sheng jian bao is panfried until crispy on the bottom, then topped with sesame seeds and chives. They're so juicy that you have to bite into them carefully, or risk having hot broth spray out onto your shirt or at your dining companion across the table, neither of which are good ways to begin a meal.

A couple weeks ago I headed out to Flushing with Kian to try Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao. Fortunately, this place has no relation to the overrated and overly touristy Nan Xiang mini-chain in Shanghai. This Nan Xiang is a plainly adorned, two-room restaurant that draws a huge lunch crowd. We ordered a handful of dishes, one of my favorites being stir-fried glutinous rice cakes with seafood. If you like your starch dishes chewy, this is one to try, and even better topped with shrimp and fish. The texture of the rice cakes is similar to that of knife-cut noodles, or maybe even gnocchi.

BlogDiana KuanDecember 1, 2010Queens, Restaurants Comments

General Tso's Potato Chips, a Taste Test

While shopping at the horribly chaotic Target at the Atlantic Center several weeks ago, I noticed something strange in the freezer aisle. Maybe I was just oblivious before, but there was a good number of frozen entrees based on Chinese takeout. Yes, frozen egg rolls and dumplings have been around for a while, and Trader Joe's is no stranger to frozen-foodifying Asian dishes. Now it seems PF Chang's has a shiny new line of "Home Menu" dinners, including Orange Chicken, Beef with Broccoli, and Shrimp Lo Mein, just waiting to be taken home and zapped in the microwave. (These are apparently for all those times late at night when the Golden Panda around the corner is closed, or when 15 minutes of waiting for the delivery guy is too much to handle.)

From an anthropological standpoint, I was dying to buy a package of P.F. Chang's Sweet & Sour Chicken to try in my own microwave. What a great blog post that would make! Then I read the ingredients, became dizzy with complex chemical terms, and turned my cart away from the frozen food section.

That was when I stumbled on a huge display of Archer Farms products, and an entire row of "General Tso's Thick Cut Potato Chips" at eye level. It seems that after exhausting all the possible barbecue and chili flavors on the market, the potato chip industry may have pinpointed Chinese takeout flavors as The Next Big Thing.

BlogDiana KuanNovember 11, 2010American Chinese, Global Chinese Comments

Mongolian Beef

I've been thinking a lot recently about how the names of Chinese foods vary so much between China and the US.

One example is lemon chicken. In Southern China, lemon chicken usually means a whole bone-in chicken, steamed, chopped up, and served with a light lemon sauce. In the US, you'd get perfect cubes or slices of breast meat that has been fried and coated with a thick lemon sauce. (In other words, more like this.) A few places, like this takeout spot in Park Slope, may serve you something that looks like a lemon chicken kit that you put together: breaded and fried chicken with little seasoning, on top of some iceberg lettuce, and a container of something that's more or less lemon simple syrup.

Another example is Mongolian beef. In Beijing, Mongolian-style lamb or beef is stir-fried with toasted cumin seeds and whole red chilis. In the US, what has become Mongolian beef lacks any whole spices, but is pretty tasty in its own right. The only thing similar to its mainland Chinese cousin is the thinly sliced steak and abundance of leeks. The sauce, when done well, is pretty terrific. The beauty of Mongolian beef sauce is that none of the flavors stand out on their own, but rather, come together (as the Chinese would say) "harmoniously".

BlogDiana KuanAugust 31, 2010American Chinese, Beef, Chinese, Global Chinese, Recipes Comments

Chinese-Jamaican Food in Brooklyn: De Bamboo Express

Every once in a while I get an craving for greasy Chinese food that's different from what you can find at your everyday takeout stand.

Some of you may remember my Caribbean-Chinese party from two years ago. The theme had been inspired by the wee bit of my childhood that was spent in Puerto Rico and the hybrid dishes I remember eating at Chinese restaurants there, like chicharrones de pollo and pineapple shrimp. I had also added some Jamaican influences as well, including jerk chicken wings and a cocktail made with hibiscus tea. It was a fun event, but needless to say, Caribbean-Chinese food never became a steady part of my diet.

Flash forward to 2010. Today I found myself in Prospects Lefferts Gardens at De Bamboo Express, one of the two or three Jamaican-Chinese restaurants I know of in the city. Objective: a cheap but filling lunch.

BlogDiana KuanAugust 19, 2010Brooklyn, Global Chinese, Restaurants Comments

Vintage Chinese Restaurant Ad, Texas

BlogDiana KuanJuly 30, 2010Culinary Culture, Global Chinese, Vintage Ads and Menus Comments

Kunjip in Koreatown

I don't really know why I don't go to Koreatown more often, other than the fact that many of the restaurants there can get pretty pricey. But for months I had been craving bibimbap, which has been an obsession since my trip to Korea two years ago. I especially love the crackling sound of the rice when the bowl arrives at your table and you quickly mix the raw egg on top with all the meat and vegetables in the burning hot stone bowl. And the six or eight side dishes that come with every entree.

Last week I met up with Kian from Red Cook at Kunjip on 32nd St. I'm not sure if it has the best bibimbap in Ktown, but certainly one of the most affordable. We spent under $30 including tip for lunch for two people, for a smorgasbord of food. Other than the above bibimbap with ground beef and vegetables, here are a few more reasons to go.

The spicy tofu and vegetable soup. Unlike with most bright red Korean foods, this isn't going to burn your throat. It comes with the bibimbap and a few other lunch specials.

Like with any Korean meal, you get a bunch of little banchan (small dishes), including two types of cabbage kimchi, dried squid, fermented soy beans, spicy tofu, and jicama.

BlogDiana KuanJuly 20, 2010Manhattan, Restaurants Comments

Chicken Adobo

This past weekend, I saw the effects of the chicken wing shortage that was reported earlier this year.

I was all set to grill wings for a last-minute July 4th/Birthday gathering, but one look at the Trader Joe's meat department derailed my plans. Brooklyn Fare didn't have wings either. Or Associated Supermarket. Forget shrimp. Chicken wings may be this season's most sought-after commodity.

What every store had, however, was plenty of chicken thighs. At ridiculously low prices. It'll set you back $1.99/lb for "natural, hormone-free" chicken, and just a bit more for the organic, free-range variety. Legs and thighs may be awkward to pass around while sipping a beer outdoors or pretending to care about the World Cup, but are perfect for a braising dish I like to make even in the summer.

BlogDiana KuanJuly 8, 2010Chicken, Filipino, Recipes Comments

Red Curry Peanut Noodle

Every year around this time, I start to become giddy at the prospect of a long summer of cook-outs. And the excitement usually lasts about an hour, until I remember I don't actually have an apartment with outdoor space.

I have spent the bulk of my post-collegiate years in enormous cities with no breathing room (New York, Beijing, Shanghai). Outside space meant a fire escape, at best. With each passing year, outdoor cook-outs become less of a reality and more of a quaint abstract idea, like white picket fences and rent control. Aside from cozying up to friends and family in other states, I have become used to barbecue-less summers.

Until this year. This year I am the proud resident of an apartment with a guestimated 120 square feet of terrace space. With a grill. In New York. (Okay, Brooklyn, but still.) This may not seem like much, but I'm excited. This summer I'll be able to cook while communing with nature, even if "nature" just means a few trees that muffle the traffic noise from Atlantic Ave.

BlogDiana KuanJune 23, 2010Noodles, Recipes, Vegetarian Comments

Grand Sichuan Redux

Maybe this post should be subtitled "How I feel about Grand Sichuan after living in China and teaching Sichuan cooking for a living."

While I had never in love with the Grand Sichuan chainlet around New York, it had always been a dependable source of cheap, tasty, and spicy food. It was also a source of fond memories. A year after college, having finally escaped the suburbs of Boston, my earlytwentysomething self had spent the first summer in the city exploring every single recommendation from a battered copy of Time Out's Cheap Eats issue. At the time, it was my bible. Grand Sichuan seemed to be the go-to Chinese restaurant outside Chinatown, so I dutifully tried all the locations, from St. Marks to Hells Kitchen to Murray Hill. That summer, like all others in New York, was unbearable. Eating sweat-inducing dishes like Chongqing chicken and mapo tofu in an air-conditioned environment was, really, the only way to eat spicy dishes in 95-degree humidity.

Yet, as somewhat of a stickler for authenticity, I was always irked by Grand Sichuan's highlighting Shanghainese xiao long bao on the menus. The long list of Cantonese dishes, "Diet" dishes, and Americanized stuff like Orange Flavored Chicken didn't help, either. While each trip ended with me and my companion(s) stuffing our faces and delightfully bringing home leftovers, something still felt amiss.

BlogDiana KuanJune 4, 2010Manhattan, Restaurants Comments

Vietnamese Coffee Boba Drink

There are two types of people in this world: those who go through bubble tea withdrawal every few days, and those who vehemently hate the drink. The latter will shudder at the chewiness of the tapioca pearls, and complain about how drinks should not be "lumpy". I have a hard time understanding this textural phobia, but to each his own.

As for me, when in need of a cold drink and an afternoon snack, I like to kill two birds with one stone.

Or maybe three birds with one stone, if you need a cold drink, an afternoon snack, and a jolt of caffeine at the same time. Few caffeine sources taste better than cafe sua da, or iced Vietnamese coffee. While New York's early summer is not quite as oppresive as Hanoi's, it feels pretty close. So lately, I have been making Vietnamese coffee bubble "tea" to help with the humidity and afternoon slump.

BlogDiana KuanJune 1, 2010Drinks, Recipes, Vietnamese Comments

3 Taiwanese Dishes Worth the Trip into Flushing

Getting my friends to come on food adventures in Flushing is like pulling teeth. Most of them live in Manhattan or Brooklyn, and are very proud of the fact.

"I don't do outer boroughs," says one.

"I don't leave the Upper West Side," says another.

"Why take the train for Chinese food when you can just get it delivered?" asks a third.

Since my life revolves around food, I probably have a distorted view of how far the average person should go for an ideal bowl of noodles or enlightening dim sum. (Queens residents, you're lucky.) Most of my trips on the 7 train are spent all by my lonesome, catching up on the New Yorker or, in the absence of reading material, fastidiously checking email on my phone. So I was pretty excited when Kian of Red Cook suggested we head out to Flushing in search of some restaurant a Taiwanese friend recommended that may or may not have an English name. Sold!

BlogDiana KuanMay 25, 2010Flushing, Queens, Restaurants Comments

10 Tips for Low-Light Cocktail Photography, from PDT and Manhattan Cocktail Classic

One of the biggest headaches when photographing food and drinks is the amount of lighting available. When I first started working on food-related freelance assignments a few years ago, editors would sometimes ask for photos to go along with the article. Unfortunately, I was such a novice with my DSLR that the photos I took on location (whether it was a cafe, bar, restaurant, or greenhouse) came out too dark for the photo editor to use. Sometimes they sent a *real* photographer out; other times, when the budget was too tight, they made do with PR promo photos instead.

Over the years my on-location shots got a tad better, but never as good as shooting recipe experiments at home, where it's much easier to get natural lighting by the window or get faux bright lighting with a small photo tent.

And so, thank you Manhattan Cocktail Classic, for organizing this cocktail photography workshop and recognizing that there is a need for food and cocktail geeks to acquire skills for taking nice and discreet shots in low lighting. The key word is discreet. After all, the main purpose of going out to eat and drink is enjoying what you are eating and drinking, not getting assaulted with flashes or shutter sounds while someone next to you is overdocumenting their experience.

And of course, low-light techniques be as useful in noodle shops, banh mi stands, and dim sum parlors as in bars.

BlogDiana KuanMay 18, 2010Bars, Photography Comments