Sunday, July 8, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
In Our Own Voices
Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights’ (ALAP) longest-running program returns on July 7 and 8!
In Our Own Voices, which began in 1994, gives members 10-minute slots to read from their work. The reading can be a 10-minute play or an excerpt from a longer piece, and writers may bring up to 4 actors to help. The two rules are (1) no piece can be longer than 10 minutes, and (2) the playwright must be one of the readers – hence the title In Our Own Voices.
The July 7 program is at Barnes & Noble Glendale, where the scheduled readers are Roy Battocchio, Dan Berkowitz, Thomas Cook, Charles Domokos, Julius Galacki, Henry Holden, Leigh Kennicott, Kres Mersky, and Lucy Wang.
WHEN & WHERESaturday, July 7 @ 2:00 PM
Barnes & Noble, 210 Americana Way
Glendale 91210
2-hour validated free parking with purchase
Barnes & Noble, 210 Americana Way
Glendale 91210
2-hour validated free parking with purchase
ALAP's Book Fair at Barnes & Noble kicks off this Saturday, July 7, and continues through Thursday, July 12 -- almost everything you buy at any Barnes & Noble store, or at Barnes & Noble online, can benefit Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights!
Here's how it works:
Visit any B&N store from Saturday through next Thursday, and make your purchase. When you check out, tell the cashier you're part of Book Fair # 10785764, benefiting ALAP. If you prefer to shop online, enter the Book Fair ID number at checkout. A portion of all sales will be donated to ALAP at the end of the Book Fair!
There are exceptions to what's eligible -- gift cards, B&N memberships, magazine subscriptions, and a few more things. But almost everything else in the store or online works, and ALAP can really use the money -- so please do your shopping at B&N this coming week, and tell your friends to do the same (and give them the Book Fair number!) If you're afraid you'll copy the number incorrectly, click here to download the Book Fair flyer -- it's also available on the ALAP website -- which gives all the details. Print it out, stick it in your pocket or purse, and you're all set.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Cooking Lessons
You might have noticed I'm Asian American. Most of my friends say I'm as American as Apple Pie, and in spite of this, there are people who will say "You speak English very well." I should hope so!
And then there are people who do know me, some quite well, and for some reason they assume I cook and eat Chinese food exclusively. I find this surprising, hilarious and shocking. How is this possible?
Most people find it shocking that I rarely cook Chinese. Almost never. This time, it is they who ask, How is this possible?
For many reasons:
Too labor intensive. I live in a metropolitan area where it's relatively easy and economical to get really great Chinese/Asian food. I figure, why compete?
I once taught Chinese gourmet cooking in Austin Texas thinking if you cook it, they (chefs, restaurants) will come. They did. But before that happened, my roommate had to drive me to Houston to buy "special" ingredients.
Then I remembered. Long ago I used to cook Chinese food every single day. In Akron Ohio where "special" ingredients were hard to come by. Required weekend trips to Toronto. While cleaning up my office, I found an essay I wrote for ChefShop in Seattle. It was for Mother's Day, Food Memories of Mom, 2000. This probably best explains why I gave up Chinese food.
I cannot cook Chinese food without thinking about my mother. She's probably the reason I stopped cooking Chinese for several years, why there are some dishes that are still too painful to make. My mother was a gourmet cook with a chef's license from Hong Kong. David Bouley was impressed. You know how difficult it is to qualify for a chef's license in Hong Kong? One of the hardest. So imagine, if you can, a teenager being forced to recreate her mom's sumptuous dishes night after night, after school, after homework. What dooms a tomboy to such folly?
My parents had a most volatile marriage. Since my father used to bark, my house, my rules, it was always my mother who picked up and left. For a week. A month. A whole summer. Then one day, she never came back. Never. So it became permanent -- my responsibility to cook and clean for my family.
I missed my mother terribly; my life was wrecked, but somehow the act of preparing meals compelled me to collect my wits quickly and focus. Since my most vivid memories of my mother revolve around her in the kitchen, she was always there when I struggled to compose a menu. Her voice lingered in the air. Delicious with garlic and black bean sauce. Slit fish to insert scallions and ginger. Peel broccoli. When I felt overwhelmed and on the verge of tears, she urged me to mash that potato. Boil that carrot. Pound that tenderloin.
Unfortunately, my father was not so supportive of my culinary innovations. He was too accustomed to tradition, served promptly at 6 PM. One evening, I planned to surprise the family with steak au poivre, haricots verts and chocolate mousse. Instead my father surprised me by dumping his dinner in the garbage. How dare I serve him a huge hunk of meat! We fought bitterly over whose cuisine reigned supreme. French or Chinese.
Naturally I hated cooking. I cursed my mother for leaving me with him. For bequeathing me the legacy of Bird's Nest Soup (a play published by JAC Publishing). The last time we cooked together, mom likened us to those poor swallows that have so little food they must regurgitate their insides to build their own nests to survive. That these nests, as unappetizing as they sound, are actually sublime delicacies that command thousands and thousands of dollars. Which means, of course, she assured me, that one day, she and I, we'd, be valued and prized. I couldn't understand any of this. Why can't you stay forever like other moms? She seemed stunned. Haven't you learned anything from cooking? All those times I was away? Indeed. Too much.
And then there are people who do know me, some quite well, and for some reason they assume I cook and eat Chinese food exclusively. I find this surprising, hilarious and shocking. How is this possible?
Most people find it shocking that I rarely cook Chinese. Almost never. This time, it is they who ask, How is this possible?
For many reasons:
Too labor intensive. I live in a metropolitan area where it's relatively easy and economical to get really great Chinese/Asian food. I figure, why compete?
I once taught Chinese gourmet cooking in Austin Texas thinking if you cook it, they (chefs, restaurants) will come. They did. But before that happened, my roommate had to drive me to Houston to buy "special" ingredients.
Then I remembered. Long ago I used to cook Chinese food every single day. In Akron Ohio where "special" ingredients were hard to come by. Required weekend trips to Toronto. While cleaning up my office, I found an essay I wrote for ChefShop in Seattle. It was for Mother's Day, Food Memories of Mom, 2000. This probably best explains why I gave up Chinese food.
I cannot cook Chinese food without thinking about my mother. She's probably the reason I stopped cooking Chinese for several years, why there are some dishes that are still too painful to make. My mother was a gourmet cook with a chef's license from Hong Kong. David Bouley was impressed. You know how difficult it is to qualify for a chef's license in Hong Kong? One of the hardest. So imagine, if you can, a teenager being forced to recreate her mom's sumptuous dishes night after night, after school, after homework. What dooms a tomboy to such folly?
My parents had a most volatile marriage. Since my father used to bark, my house, my rules, it was always my mother who picked up and left. For a week. A month. A whole summer. Then one day, she never came back. Never. So it became permanent -- my responsibility to cook and clean for my family.
I missed my mother terribly; my life was wrecked, but somehow the act of preparing meals compelled me to collect my wits quickly and focus. Since my most vivid memories of my mother revolve around her in the kitchen, she was always there when I struggled to compose a menu. Her voice lingered in the air. Delicious with garlic and black bean sauce. Slit fish to insert scallions and ginger. Peel broccoli. When I felt overwhelmed and on the verge of tears, she urged me to mash that potato. Boil that carrot. Pound that tenderloin.
Unfortunately, my father was not so supportive of my culinary innovations. He was too accustomed to tradition, served promptly at 6 PM. One evening, I planned to surprise the family with steak au poivre, haricots verts and chocolate mousse. Instead my father surprised me by dumping his dinner in the garbage. How dare I serve him a huge hunk of meat! We fought bitterly over whose cuisine reigned supreme. French or Chinese.
Naturally I hated cooking. I cursed my mother for leaving me with him. For bequeathing me the legacy of Bird's Nest Soup (a play published by JAC Publishing). The last time we cooked together, mom likened us to those poor swallows that have so little food they must regurgitate their insides to build their own nests to survive. That these nests, as unappetizing as they sound, are actually sublime delicacies that command thousands and thousands of dollars. Which means, of course, she assured me, that one day, she and I, we'd, be valued and prized. I couldn't understand any of this. Why can't you stay forever like other moms? She seemed stunned. Haven't you learned anything from cooking? All those times I was away? Indeed. Too much.
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