As you know, Sweet Mandarin has a cookery school that is growing by the week, literally. Classes are held every Saturday morning and places are filling up fast….the next available dates are in January 2009!  My twin sister, Lisa and her trusted team teach you the secrets of the wok, how to cook the perfect fried rice, wrap the most delightful dim sum and tell the fascinating stories behind the 5,000 years of history of Chinese food.

So its no surprise that when I met Martha Stewart, who has a new cookbook out called Cooking School – that we had a lot to chat about. Wok verses oven baked recipes….. Who inspired us to cook? – Martha was inspired by her third grade teacher Miss Weyer, we learnt from our mum and grandma how to cook in the family food takeaway (Lisa was cooking banquets by the age of 11!). Also, Martha’s reading Sweet Mandarin (and “loving it!”). 

There are many things in this world that try to divide us, but one thing that unites us is food. To all you budding chefs out there, cook cook cook. If you get stuck, call Lisa and join the class. You’ll impress your friends and family forever!

(To book your place at the Sweet Mandarin Cookery School or to purchase a gift voucher for a budding chef call Tel 0161 832 8848, email: sweetmandarin@gmail.com – see more details at www.sweetmandarin.com  Classes are held at Sweet Mandarin 19 Copperas Street, Manchester, M4 1HS on Saturday mornings 10am – 12noon).

A wonderful woman and award winning writer, Amy Tan (of Joy Luck Club) helped me launch in America – by providing a quotation for my book Sweet Mandarin.

“Sweet Mandarin is a banquet of family stories that take us from a small Chinese village to cosmopolitan Hong Kong and urban Manchester.   Along the way, the ingredients of special dishes and a rich life are added:  a homemade stock of hard life,  a pound of tragedy, a spoonful of daring, a dash of curses, and dollop after dollop of sheer will.  This is a family memoir of survival and victories, luck and determination, and perpetual mounds of dirty dishes waiting to be washed. “  Amy Tan

We hung out on Miami Beach after appearing in the Miami Book Fair – I spoke to students at Miami Dade College and to a packed out hall at the Miami Book Fair - Amy appeared in the Rock Bottom Remainders (a band made up of authors including Amy, Stephen King and Frank McCourt). This was a wonderful experience at one of the world’s largest book fairs.  Congratulations to Mitch Kaplan, owner of Books and Books and the creator of the 25th Anniversary of The Miami Book Fair.

Student Literary Encounters

Students throughout America have been relishing Sweet Mandarin for their lessons in English Literature and World Literature. It was wonderful to visit some of these young readers and share my story and meet with budding authors. I was inspired by their enthusiasm and inquisitive questions. As America approaches new economic, social and spiritual crossroads, the next chapter of America’s epic story will be written by this generation.

On my journey travelling around schools, I asked the question, “Tell Me About Your Roots”. I believe you can only progress forward if you know where you came from and what you stand for.

Sweet Mandarin is my story about my roots. It tells the story of three generations of Chinese women (my grandmother, mother and me) and our journey from East to West. Its a sad story that ultimately tells a journey of survival against the odds. In essence, if I can achieve my dreams, so too can you.  As the Chinese proverb on the front of my book states “A Journey of A Thousand Miles Starts With One Step.”

 Thank you to all the students, schools, librarians, teachers and parents in America, for listening and appreciating my story.