Back in September 2016 (I know this is super late), I had the opportunity to work with Celebrity Chef Theresa Lin, the Julia Child of Taiwan at a Dumpling cooking demonstration at Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, CA.

You may not recognize her name, but she’s a household name in the Taiwanese food community as she’s written countless cookbooks and partnered with movie director, Ang Lee on a number of his productions. She was his food stylist for the movie Eat Drink Man Woman and the catering director for Life of Pie. Now she travels the world and works with local restaurants in promoting Taiwanese cuisine.

In essence she’s successfully combined my love for food and education and turned it into a wonderful career. She’s a great role model and one who’s adventurous spirit is still alive and strong. Before the workshop she told me that she just came back from Peru and will be back on the road again! Whew! I hope I have that much energy and spunk when I’m her age.

During the workshop patrons learned how to make dumplings, including the skin from scratch. She instructed us on techniques in how to roll out the dough as well as a step-by-step process in making an excellent traditional filling. We made two different types to accommodate food allergies (a vegetarian and a meat), and both were absolutely delicious.

While I do make dumplings from scratch at home, never had I made the dumpling skin from scratch. It definitely has a chewier texture that store bought can’t mimic, but it’s a lot of work and I think I’ll leave that to the professionals 😛

Overall, it was a really educational and delicious night. I learned tremendously and it reinforced my pride for my heritage and the amazing food that my culture brings. Cooking and eating is a wonderful way to share one’s ancestry, and it’s my hope to bring more people together by celebrating our similarities rather than our differences (over a good meal of course!).

What kind of food do you enjoy sharing with family and friends?

XOXO,

Rockstar