A Trip To Minnesota

Sheng and I are preparing for a trip to the Twin Cities, where we will cook in a test kitchen and the color photographs will be taken for our book. Neither of us know anyone in Minneapolis or St. Paul well. We are hoping to make connections with people there who want to talk about Hmong food. We especially enjoy cooking together with good cooks. That way, we pick up lots of recipe details and insights.
Last spring, Sami went to Denver and many wonderful people shared with her their cooking know-how. One lesson came from Chee Vang (Mrs. Xiong). She and Sami cooked stuffed chicken wings together. It takes a lot of skill! Here is a picture that Sami took of Chee making her very wonderful stuffed chicken wings.

First Post!

Hi - Nyob Zoo!

This blog business is new to us, as is writing a cookbook. Please let us know what you want to hear about.

We have been working on this project for over two years now. Sheng is identifying good dishes to include and jotting down recipes. Sami is writing the incidental information and the recipe text.

We are traveling to cities where there are communities of Hmong to do research. Sami has taken hundreds of photographs. Oh yes... our families and friends are eating plenty of good Hmong food.

I served these three chicken dishes at a recent dinner with friends (chicken wings with Hmong barbecue sauce, ground chicken with luffa squash and chicken with tomatoes and chilies), and of course - rice. YUM!