Wok Star Kit

NBC Miami Celebrates Chinese New Year

January 23, 2012 By Eleanor Hoh 2 Comments

I was invited by NBC Miami to celebrate Chinese New Year with their audience and thought you might enjoy some funny things that happened and the three lessons I learned:
– check lists are only good if you actually check them
– sisters are helpful except when their shots are of producer’s backs
– you can’t always trust your GPS

Thanks to Betty Yu, news reporter for NBC Miami for hooking me up with the producer for the Today Weekend Sunday Show to celebrate Chinese New Year!

Jennifer Reeves, meteorologist made my cooking segment so much FUN! She’s the BEST, got right to my cooking classes and Wok Star Kit, what a STAR!

I got Jennifer to stir fry and had to apologize because she had to use a plastic spatula, yuk! While packing for the TV appearance, I forgot to repack my spatula even though I checked it over & over, so thank goodness there was one in the studio drawer! This goes to show the IMPORTANCE of a good tool and why my spatula is so perfect.

Uh the spatula wasn’t the only thing I forgot, I also forgot the dish to put my prepped vegetables prior to the stir fry. Good thing I can think fast and used the red paper plates!

Sharon Lawson, news reporter had a taste of the Sizzling Shrimp dish and asked about my Chinese New Year table setting before winding down the news show. I can’t wait for them to join me in a Wok Star class.

After the show, we were chatting and Sharon thought she was supposed to sprinkle the contents of her red packet into the Shrimp dish! Good thing Jennifer stopped her cause she knew it was a buddha inside!

It was fortunate my sister, Valerie was visiting and was able to help me. It’s not easy to drive, work the GPS, setup and take photos as well as focus on my message, ha, ha!

Thanks to Yari, the floor producer for all your help. Sorry, my sister only got your back! Wow, you were fantastic running the whole show. I love how the reporters and producer would say, “oh, 15 seconds is a long time!” Really?

Thanks NBC Miami for inviting me!

FREE CHINATOWN Event Launching The Red Thread

April 14, 2011 By Eleanor Hoh 32 Comments

The Playground Theatre is showcasing their new play, The Red Thread in a very unique way! They’re bringing a CHINATOWN MIAMI event to Miami Shores this Sunday, April 17 from 12-6pm!

My friend & Wok Star cooking class alumni, Maria Cummins has invited me to participate in her tent for CookingWithKidsMiami, a cooking school for kids, except I’ll be teaching adults! The tent will be set up outside her retail store and cooking school, A Place 4 Kids at 9612 NE 2nd Avenue, right on the main drag!

I’ll have my Asian decorations up as well as my Wok Star Kit and a sign up sheet for cooking classes when it starts at her school! Do drop by for surprise giveaways or a chat and especially if you have any burning questions about woks or stir fry techniques! I will NOT be giving a cooking demo just so you know.

Read review of The Red Thread here. I can’t wait to see it, who wants to go? But, not that night for me, I’ll probably be too tired.

Full details with map of all the fun things to do there including music acts, green market, craftspeople, kids stage culminating with a dragon parade! Of course, any event in Miami has to have gourmet food trucks, such a great idea, need to feed people! I’m very impressed how organized this is.

WOK STAR KIT KICKSTARTS CHINESE NEW YEAR HEALTHY RESOLUT

January 30, 2011 By Eleanor Hoh 1 Comment

Buddha’s Delight, a Wok Star’s modern twist!

Chinese New Year this year falls on February 3rd, and it’s the Year of the Rabbit. My husband is one, so it’s his year to shine. If you’ve missed the western new year’s resolutions to eat healthier, you can kick start it with our Chinese New Year and a new approach to cooking with my Wok Star Kit. My Kit has the both the tools and techniques to help you succeed and Be a Wok Star, hence the name of my blog!

My family usually celebrates New Year Eve with a dish of everything like chicken, fish, shrimp, pork and many veggie dishes as well as fried rice and longlife noodles. These dishes symbolize good luck, health and prosperity, you can find out more about this topic in my other New Year posts below.

I wanted to cook Buddha’s Delight because it uses both fresh and dried veggies to give different textures and flavors. I hope you’ll try this dish even if you don’t have any dried ingredients where you live, it’s not essential but adds an Asian touch. I’ve included gourmet morels and sugar snap to give it a modern twist.

Typical vegetables used in this dish are cabbage or lettuce with Chinese mushrooms, toufu, dried bean curd sticks, glass noodles, fungus, hair moss. My husband had two huge helpings before I could take my final shot in a serving bowl, oops, so the dish above was it! I had to set some aside for my sister to try as she’s arriving tonight. We’re going out New Year’s Day to celebrate at Chu’s with the traditional dragon dance as well as jazz music, yeah, nothing like a mix of east and west. It’s a busy week, also giving a cooking class New Year’s Eve at beautiful Lyons Spa who’s a new venue hosting my classes this year.

Here’s what and how I made my Buddha’s Delight with.

Fresh vegetables I had were napa cabbage, sugar snap peas, carrots and scallions.
Fresh garlic and ginger are mandatory to start off any stir fry.

Dried veggies included Chinese mushrooms, morels, fungus, bean curd sheets, goji berries. These need to be rehydrated in warm water to plump them up.
I cooked the dried ingredients in my clay pot, another wonderful piece of cookware which I love using. It makes everything so juicy and tender. Added dash of tamari, sherry and a little black vinegar.

Because there were quite a lot of different veggies, I stir fried them in batches. It’s important not to overload your wok, it lowers the temperature of your wok and creates juice, resulting in a ‘soupy’ stir fry, a very common mistake.
First, I fried napa cabbage with carrots, always starting with garlic and ginger. Added dash of tamari and sherry.
Next, I fried the sugar snap peas with goji berries and added scallions last. Added dash of tamari and sherry.
Last, I recombined the fresh vegetables and dried vegetables from the clay pot.

I served Buddha’s Delight right from the hot wok! We had it with some curried grilled leg of lamb. Yes, very untraditional but that’s what being a Wok Star is all about.

This Year of the Rabbit, BE A WOK STAR! Kung Hei Fat Choy…

Here are some simple wok dishes to show you eating healthy isn’t about deprivation but ADDING flavors and textures to spice up your appetite and palette. These dishes illustrates easy, mostly one-dish dinners and mostly cooked in my cast iron wok.

Fried or Grilled Fish

Healthy, Delicious Snacks

CHINESE NEW YEAR EATS:
If you don’t want to cook and just want to eat out, here’s a great roundup if you live in Miami.

CHINESE NEW YEAR EVENTS:
Miami Dade College’s Chinese New Year events.
Feb. 1, 2, 20 (main, big event)
This year, they’ve expanded to 2 other campuses! Get details here:

IBPS Fo Guang Shan Temple
An amazing lineup of innovative & multicultural performers blending East and West. I hope to see this.
Sunday, Feb.6: 2pm – 3:30pm
9341 NW 57th St, Tamarac, FL 33351
FREE
Details of performances here.

MY OTHER CHINESE NEW YEAR POSTS:

Chinese New Year, Simple Home Dinner:
Roast Duck, Zesty Shrimp & Veggies

Year of Tiger 2010

Year of Ox 2009

Year of Rat 2008

There are hundreds of Asian food blogs, too many to mention but you can see some here.

My friend, Shulie who I ‘met’ through Twitter has done her homework and posted a list of superb Asian food blogs to celebrate Chinese New Year, honoring some awards.

I love New Asian Cuisine, it’s full of resources, chef features, interesting tid bits and recipes from all over the world. Here’s their Chinese New Year roundup.

Wok Star Kit

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