Midweek Check-In

Planting Lemongrass How-to Video + Lemongrass Beef Stir-Fry + Better Asian Ingredients at Whole Foods + October in Philly + Spice Deals

Hello everyone!

A number of folks are rooting lemongrass for their gardens. For further encouragement, we shot this quick video this afternoon.

It takes a while for the lemongrass to grow. Go ahead and buy some! Stock up whenever the stalks look super fresh. Right now is the season! Below are some grown by Hmong farmers Tra and Kou Her who drive from Fresno to our weekly farmers market at Cabrillo College.

You don’t have to purchase from the Hers to cook up something wonderful. How about a Vietnamese lemongrass beef and asparagus stir-fry (thịt bò xào sả)? The recipe is easy and fast. If asparagus is no long available where you are, use green beans or celery cut at a sharp angle. They should cook at the same rate as asparagus.

Attention Whole Foods Shoppers

If you’re a WF shopper, check out the Asian section. Last week, I noted that two premium, artisanal fish sauces are now stocked. Red Boat has been on the shelves for years but now there’s Son. Both are Vietnamese and excellent. They are the brands I use most often. The sesame oil by Kadoya is great too.

In the refrigerated section, I purchased shiro/white/light miso by Whole Foods. I needed some pronto for a recipe assignment and was surprised at how good the WF miso is. There’s no indication of where the miso is made but there is international organic certification so it may be an imported product.

Yes, you generally pay more at WF than at an Asian market for ingredients. However, that’s the price of convenience. Yes, you may not want to put more money into Jeff Bezos’s pockets. I understand.

However, getting products on supermarket shelves is darn difficult. The families behind Red Boat and Son have worked for years to get their nuoc mam onto more mainstream grocery shelves.

Philly in October

I have a handful of event coming up, including two with Vietnamese women chefs in Philadelphia. The events are part of the city’s “Cookbooks & Convos” program that’s bring authors to do special events with women-owned businesses in town. Sisterly Love Collective is organizing the series.

Tickets just went live for my October 16 dinner at Revolution Taco. Chef/owner Carolyn Nguyen has come up with a splendid dinner (menu below!) based on her repertoire and recipes from Ever-Green Vietnamese.

Each multi-course dinner ticket includes a copy of the book plus all taxes and service fees. Join us for this collaborative dinner if you can! Purchase event tickets via Open Table.

Good Reads and Deals

September’s Costco Connection has an article on poo. I consider that ground breaking. We should talk about bowel movement health more often. It’s not available online yet, but you likely have already read it too?

99 Ranch is coming to West Los Angeles, as reported by Frank Shyong in the Los Angeles Times covers more than just grocery shopping.

A New York Times review of a new biography about actress Ana May Wong includes why she could not be filmed kissing certain people.

⚡️Two of my favorite ingredient vendors are getting ready for new harvests and shipments so they’re holding great sales.

• Burlap and Barrel is discounting certain spices and herbs including Vietnamese lemongrass powder and robusta black peppercorns. The cobanero chile and oregano flower buds are spectacular too. I’m getting the smoked black cardamom. (You could also add the Andrea Nguyen spice collection or red turmeric to your cart too. ;-) Regardless of what you buy from B&B, when you spend more than $15, put a set of their thirsty kitchen towels in your cart; at checkout, to get the towels for FREE, enter this code: ANDREA-NGUYEN

• If you want to try excellent Sichuan peppercorn oil, check out the deals at 50Hertz Tingly Foods. The oils are a great way to add numbing zing to food. The green peppercorn oil is fantastic.

In closing — a zillion thanks to those of you who decided to become paid subscribers. The discount on new annual subscription ends on Friday, September 8. I’m going to experiment with having a virtual meet-up for premium paid subscribers, who will get a separate note from me this Sunday. Stay tuned.

That’s it for now. I’m on recipe development deadline so I need to head to my lab (my kitchen!).