Asian Feastival, Sep.6, 2010

I met a lot of interesting people, tasted plenty of diverse, exotic food, and learned a lot about Asian vegetables. My mission for the event was to demonstrate 2 kinds of Korean kimchi making: perilla leaf kimchi and spicy stuffed cucumber kimchi.

One of my readers came up to me: “Maangchi! I’m your reader! Do you need any help?” His name was Samson Woo and he was a Asian Feastival volunteer.
“Sure, I may need your help!”
I asked Sam: “How long have you been my reader?”
He said: “For years! Long time.”
I asked: “Have you ever left any comment on my blog?”

“No, I’m a silent reader, but I’ve made some Korean food with your recipes.”

I was lucky to meet Sam there because I really needed his help. He helped me set up the table, took some photos for me, and even cleaned some bowls and my cutting board after I finished the demo. Thank you, Sam!

Sam and Me

a blogger and my reader, Lori Lee

yummy perilla leaf kimchi with multi-grain rice

ooh hoo hoo! It’s fun to wrap rice in this spicy leaf!

yummy! Now I know what Korean kkaennip kimchi is!

oisobagi (spicy stuffed cucumber kimchi)! “What is oi?”
“oi is cucumber and also my Thai friend’s name! ” lol

yes, yes! I love kkaennip kimchi (perilla leaf kimchi), me, too~~

“Did u taste it?” “Yep! my stomach is on fire now!” : )
very good!!

Before and after my cooking demo, I was at the vegetables and fruits table on the Hotel terrace with 2 other panelists: Kian Lam Kho and Cathy Erway. We explained the name of the fruits and vegetables to those who asked and if they wanted to taste some, we helped them with it. There were all kinds of fruits like Korean melon, jack fruit, durian, and dragon fruit. There were a lot of familiar items there, but some Chinese vegetables I had never tasted. Of course I asked Cathy and Kian so many questions.

“What is this?” Cathy says, “yes, it is…”

Durian: the most popular fruit that people wanted to taste

Qingdao cold noodles (my number one favorite among all the dishes!)

Korean rice cake and rice cake balls (gyeongdan)

“kyaaa! Taiwanese beer tasted good!” : )

I was happy to meet my readers there. “Maangchi, can I take a photo with you? I’m your reader!”
Yay! awesome! I was going to take a photo with Cheryl Tan who was one of the New York kimchi contest judges, but I missed her.

It was great and fun day, but I was really tired when I got home. After dinner, I fell asleep until 8:00 am today! : )

I met Akira Back executive chef at Yellowtail Restaurant & Bar at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and he gave me his book. He’s a very down-to-earth person! Once we started talking, he said, “hangukmalo haeyo?” “Let’s talk in Korean” Cool guy! : )

Jenny and me. Jenny is a culinary arts student and she also has a blog. She made rice cake soupwith my recipe and posted it on her blog.

Ravi Jolly, one of my long time readers. I actually met him last year at a festival in Brooklyn by chance which means I meet him often? : ) He loves healthy and delicious food. Ravi! I was delighted to meet you there!

James, Julie, and me! It was great meeting u guys! : )

aww! cute smile! Wonderful photo! don’t u think so?

My cute readers! : )

Lori and me

I got to attend the Asian Feastival in Flushing this past Monday and it was fantastic! A great mix of samples from diverse Asian restaurants, as well as lectures, demonstrations, and an Asian green market too! (pictured above – Dduk sweet rice cakes).

One of the new things I got to try was Burmese noodle salad, which was part of the Burmese cooking demo. It had fish oil, shrimp flakes, tamarind, onions, and was really yummy!

More Dduk! I think these were from the Korean restaurant KumGangSan.

I got to try my first ever Durian and it was way better than I expected. It’s always hyped to be this really scary stinky fruit, but I don’t think it was too bad (of course it was cut outside, which may have made it less smelly). I actually really liked the custardy texture.

The best drink was Golden Star Tea, which was very Champagne-like.

Banana Langka Toron with Caramel Sauce from the Filipino restaurant Payag.

Payag also had Halayang Ube Cake. Ube is a purple yam jam.

Gorgeous carved watermelon by George Wong!

Mooncakes from Deluge Asian Fusion!

Shanghai Soup Dumplings from Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao in Flushing. Considered by many to be the best in NYC!

Close-up!

Kazuko Nagao of Artisanal Japan and PecoPeco did a fun Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki demo!

Lovely sugar cubes from Chambre de Sucre!

Natural Vegan Way had these cute cupcakes in Green Tea, Wasabi, and Pandan flavors!

We also stopped in at the Flushing Mall food court while we were in the area and got some dumplings! Dumpling makers in action!

Finished product! Yum!

Shaved ice in the Flushing Mall! We will definitely be back to check more of Flushing out, there is so much to see and eat there!

Let’s Eat In with Cathy Erway

This week on Let’s Eat In Cathy hosts ethnic food fanatics Wendy Chan and Joe DiStefano to discuss the goings-on in NYC’s most ethnically delicious borough, Queens. The Asian Feastival is coming up, and the gang discuss why there is no better place to have it than Flushing Queens. The Feastival is a one day culinary explosion–a series of events and tastings and discussions all taking place on September 6th starting at noon. Give a listen and find out what these ethnic foodies would make for their special someone on a date. This episode was sponsored by Fairway: like no other market.