Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge

Tonight, I surprised the DH with a cooking class at Central Market. They're usually in the $50-$60 range but I had a fabulous groupon that made it far more affordable. I cleverly kept it a secret by telling him, "hey, keep June the 5th open and don't eat dinner beforehand." I also gave him a choice between stir fry and the basics of soup making. Was it any surprise that he guessed that we were attending a cooking class?

Well, it was really more of a cooking demonstration by Grace Young. She's written an amazing cookbook all about the basics of stir fry. The menu for the evening was pepper and salt shrimp, Yangchow fried rice, beef with black bean sauce & baby bok choy, and sitr fried sugar snap peas with shiitake mushrooms. Everything tasted super fresh and flavorful. She showed us how to season a carbon steel wok and how to give it a Grace Young "face lift". Of course I ended up buying the book and she very nicely told me I asked such good questions. And then she signed my book.

I sometimes wonder if when people tell me that I ask "good questions" if what they really mean is that I ask intrusive annoying questions. I just ask the questions I'm interested in knowing the answers to. I figure for $55 a person, I should get to ask whatever questions I want :).

Grace was very nice to answer all of my questions (even if she secretly found them annoying). and if you should ever pick up the book, you should know that the recipe on the cover of the book is one of her favorites. It is a mixture of Chinese and Jamaican cuisine called Chinese Trinidadian Stir-Fried Shrimp with Rum. Grace spoke about how the Chinese have ended up all over the world but have been discriminated against no matter where they have gone. Their strong spirit can be seen in their ability to find ways to preserve their culture through cooking even though they have often been without financial means.

The recipe that Grace found most meaningful to her, is a recipe called Spicy Long Beans with Sausage and Mushrooms. It is a recipe of her mother's and it looks amazing. I plan on making it in the near future so I'll post about it when I do.

I have to admit that I was halfway tempted to stalk her to tomorrow night's cooking demo at the Fort Worth Central Market. And I'm definitely considering ordering a carbon steel wok with my Amazon prime discount. but we live so close to so many Asian markets, I suppose I should check out their stock first.

Fun night, good food, and good company; what more could one ask for?