The ad says “the perfectly designed outdoor eating utensil.”  I would beg to differ!  I keep 2 in my purse (for me and guest, they fit together well) and use it routinely at restaurants/cafes/fast food (when alternative is disposable), ice cream shops, Taste of Atlanta, traveling (car, bus, plane, boat). It’s durable, handy, easy to clean and comes in fun fashion colors.

Last time, I bought a batch of 20 and gave them away as spontaneous gifts. Wonderful affordable, portable gift for kids and adults.  My nieces and nephews are learning about sustainability and environmental conservation in school and they love theirs!

Buy Sporks here and give the gift that keeps on eating!

*New Student Special for CSB Friends:  60% off cooking classes!

For cooking & cultural classes in May/June at Buford Highway Farmers Market, say “Ni Hao, Y’All” when registering and get any cooking class (CSB or other)  for only $10 –what a deal! Regular price $25.

CSB classes are 2 hours and  include hands-on demo, eating, kitchen/cooking/shopping tips, entertaining Buddha-to-Bubba family stories, plus goodie box with store gift card!

These fill up fast! Call 678-873-7447 or email Bill.  Advance registration/payment required. First-time attendees only.

Great little Japanese grocery store, tucked away in Smyrna

Some good eateries and grocery stores remain a mystery to newcomers, including several along Buford Highway, because they sometimes have different Asian and English names or no English names at all on signs. What you call it often depends on if you can read the Asian characters, the English name (if given) or like most of us, guess at the phoenetics, usually a mangled Americanized pronounciation.

Glimpse of Restaurant Research “Process”

When I ask my Chinese relatives or their friends to give me their restaurant recommendations, we go through this “a.k.a.” or also-known-as ritual:

1) They give me the Chinese name (or translation). I write it down in pinyin with the tone marks- Yi Tiao Long.

2) I clarify the Chinese name – One Dragon? (Yes) What is the English name? (We only know it as Yi Tiao Long. We’ll take you there to eat.) What road is it on? (Don’t know. It’s near Gwinnet Place Mall.)

3) Eventually, we eat there together and I take a look at the English on the sign and menu. Nothing says One Dragon, but it does say Sydney’s Buffet!?

4)  I tell my non-Asian-speaking friends about the Chinese and Japanese buffet at Yi Tiao Long, a.k.a. Sydney’s Buffet in Pleasant Hill!

The photo above is the storefront of a great little Japanese grocery, Tomato, in Smyrna (Windy Hill Rd/Cobb Pkwy).  It’s next to one of my favorite Japanese restaurants for lunch, Umezono’s. You can find good quality soy sauce, my niece’s favorite candy (Hi-Chews), oodles of noodles, refrigerated/frozen food, plus non-food items, like Asian herbal medicines.

I will do my best to dig out favorites in the community then “translate,” locate and share them with you here…

For more on restaurants, the Sweet & Sour of Eating Out and other tips…

Recently, we used only eco-cooking pots at the Dunwoody Chili Cook-off! Instead of cooking continuously on a gas stove for 3 hours, our vacuum thermal eco-cooking pots (after an initial heating of 15 minutes) cooked our chili without additional electricity or gas, plus kept it piping hot for serving!

It has a regular stainless steel or aluminum  inner pot that lifts out for initial heating on a stovetop and an outer “thermal” insulating pot that seals in the heat (and flavors). Put all the ingredients in the inner pot with a liquid (broth, water) then put it back in the thermal pot, close the lid and let it finish cooking, without additional electricity or gas.  Depending on what you’re cooking, raw beans, veggies or meat, and their size/shape,  the cooking time will vary from an hour to several hours.  The eco-cooking pot (my name for it) doesn’t have a plug.

Like most Asian appliances, there are now many brands and styles. I like the  Japanese brands, Zojirushi and Tiger, but they don’t always have the handy carrying handle which makes them easily portable. Other brands that are less expensive ($30-70) usually have a weaker thermal capacity so some food, like raw beans, may not cook well or take a few rounds from stove to eco-pot, but work OK for most soups, stews, even noodle and rice dishes.  Supposedly, only these two Japanese brands own the patent or have access to the original thermal vacuum technology, which is the magic element. But they will be more expensive ($100-200)  I have two different brand pots and cook different foods in them.

The only way to tell the difference is actually cooking in them since the high-tech ones maintain the heat (or cold) for cooking/cooling insulation and the cheaper ones, lose the heat/cold capacity more quickly. We use these for soups, stews (lu rou), cooking beans or rice. My friend had a frozen margarita picnic party with hers and I used mine as a small cooler for the ice cream  in mid-summer heat!

Since it uses no gas or electricity while cooking in the thermal pot, I can “cook” while I’m working, commuting, hiking. It’s perfect for potlucks, guest parties, festivals.

Check back for more info and tips on where to buy, good models, recipes!

Whether it uses fancy “fuzzy” technology or is a simple one-button type like mine, a rice cooker will rock your world! Say goodbye to burnt on the bottom, dry or undercooked rice. No more watching the pot or stove!  The rice cooker is to Asians as the microwave is to Americans -  a must-have in the kitchen.  Most Chinese families use it daily.  I use it every week.

There are many different brands and dozens of models out there now. Traditional favorites are Datung, Zojirushi, National. Zojirushi is a quality brand and on the high end. Several Korean companies have come out with fashionable and affordable models.  I have not tested them all (and don’t plan to) so I can only tell you based on information from myself, friends and family.

I had an old Oster one that cooked fine but sputtered hot, messy steam from the lid’s edges.  Friends have complained about Sunbeam and one raved about her 10 year-old Panasonic model (even though the non-stick inner pot has started peeling). Some of the smaller sizes may not perform as well or may be designed differently than the medium and larger sizes, especially if it’s a loose fitting lid versus the click-close type. Even if you are cooking for one, I recommend getting a size larger for more versatility in cooking volume and quantity.

Please share your experience and recommendations with rice cookers here! It would be a helpful shoppers forum…