Lunch & Learn with Chinese Southern Belle and Farmer D Organics

I was the featured "chef" in this seasonal "Lunch & Learn with Chinese Southern Belle" with Farmer D in Atlanta. (I suggested Munch 'n' Mulch or Ode to Brassicas...)

Farmer D gave harvesting tips and supplied me with fresh-cut veggies and herbs, washed and prepped outside at the garden center. I turned it into a multi-course gnosh festival that included Thai Basil Lettuce Wraps, Unfried Purple Fried Rice, Daikon Radish Salad and Orange Chicken over Dinosaur Kale. It was a wonderful cook/farmer collaboration and the wraps weren't the only ones that left stuffed. I think I fed the whole block!

It's mostly him in the video but I get the last line. (Hey those are my hands doing the lettuce wraps! ) Fun video and nice to be included.

Go Wok the Garden and enjoy!

Natalie

Country Asian Tapas hosted by Chinese Southern Belle

Our Country Asian Tapas event Sunday night, May 31 was a "smashing success" as one guest exclaimed. Held at Urban Oasis B&B in Atlanta's historic neighborhood, Inman Park, new friends from around town (and from MD, OK, CA) mingled and munched over a dozen selections of Chinese Southern Belle Asian Tapas creations, including Plum Wine Sangria (couldn't keep punch bowl filled), 5-Spice Roast Beef, "Keng's Wings" Original Honey Braised Wings (they put me through college!) and local/organic Garlicky Greens Stir-Fry.

Big thanks to our partners--Sevananda Natural Foods Market; Slow Food Atlanta; Urban Oasis; New Tricks; China Cafeteria; Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts; and Chinese Southern Belle, LLC.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the fun, delicious evening making new connections and supporting "good, clean, fair food" (a portion of proceeds benefit Slow Food Atlanta).

Maybe this will become an annual tradition....Enjoy the pics!

Natalie

No Biscuit No Cry

Recently, while arriving early for a class downtown, I went to the Flying Biscuit for a dinner snack. It was in-between meal times and the servers enthusiastically announced “$3 Mimosas!” Not a big drinker, I declined but excitedly noticed it was “Biscuit Happy Hour” on the daily special board. Excited about the prospect of a free or perhaps “all you can eat” biscuits, I asked my server about the daily special. He flew by and repeated “$3 Mimosas!” I asked again and this time pointed to the poster, “What is the Biscuit Happy Hour?” He repeated in the same cheery tone as he flew back the other way, “$3 Mimosas!” A bit flustered and confused, I reiterated, “But it says BISCUIT Happy Hour.” Then, it dawned on me that they were all about the “happy hour mimosas” and this Raccoon Foodie was all about the biscuit! Ha! I had a good chuckle at myself as I munched on my whole wheat biscuit and love bean cakes.

My Mother: Country Asian Cooking & Teacher of the Year

My mother was born in Hunan, China, grew up in Taiwan, and immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1960’s, first to Houston (“where I have a Jewish mother”), then to Atlanta where my dad was studying at Georgia Tech.

As a fourth and fifth-grade then a gifted program teacher, she was beloved by her students. She was a creative sparkplug in the classroom, incorporating multidisciplinary or complex subjects like aviation, bridge-building, world trade and/or Chinese literature when other teachers stayed with more traditional topics, and even more popular on the playground, as she taught (and played) sports like Chinese dodgeball and Double Dutch jump-roping. More than once, she was selected Teacher of the Year. Reflecting wistfully,"Under today's bureaucracy and policies, I probably couldn't teach or do half of the things I did, for fear of liability or parental complaints."

My mom invented fast food Chinese long before Panda Express ever came along. She told friends, “I worked full-time as a school teacher, had three kids, and they didn’t sell tofu or soy sauce at the local Winn-Dixie grocery store back then. Who had time to make dumplings for dinner!” She also preferred a cast iron skillet to a wok. After 40 years, she still uses the same skillet which is a permanent fixture on the stove. "Woks are wobbly and didn't work well on the electric stoves popular back then."

My favorite dishes included: “Pepper Steak n' Fries," Scrambled Eggs & Grits w/Preserved Radish," “Five Spice Rutabaga" and “Hot Hunan Catfish.” Instead of soda, we drank honey water and made honey popsicles. Baked items, like bread or pastries were virtually nonexistent. Fruit was dessert. Kind of like Atkins pre-Atkins. According to my mom, she was "not really a great cook, but fast." And she cooks fast "because I'm hungry and recipes make me dizzy!" But don't ask her to bake. "I prefer to cook a 5-course meal than make a cake!"

At the urging of her friends (and frequent dinner guests), my mom taught the first community school Chinese cooking class in the area. Even though I was only ten, I helped her and we did it together. The hardest part was creating the recipes since there were none. I sat perched on a stool beside her and the blazing cast-iron skillet with ingredients flying, trying to scribble “pinch of this, pinch of that” on an index card while my mom created. After teaching school for 15 years (and a divorce, unheard of for a Chinese couple at the time), she made a mid-life career change and became a successful self-employed businesswoman.

We are now preparing to teach an Asian market and food class at Emory University (March, 2009) called "Eggrolls n' Sweet Tea" Check out the course listing: http://cll.emory.edu/eate/classes.cfm?cla=-137736890&pt=3