Happy early Chinese New Year!
This year I’m unable to make it home to Boston, but I’m still planning on celebrating in two ways: 1) Gathering a big group of friends for dim sum here in New York, and 2) hosting a Chinese New Year Virtual Potluck here with the online food community.
I’ve never done a big event like this here on this blog, so it’s very exciting to announce. My goal, in addition to celebrating the release of my first cookbook, is to get as many bloggers as possible to make Chinese dishes this month (even if it seems a little intimidating!) I hope to make this an event for sharing and learning from each other about how to adapt Chinese cooking to suit your own lifestyle.
I’ve also teamed up with wonderful sponsors including — Le Creuset, Random House, GrubKit, and Edgeware — to give something to everyone participating.
To participate, all you need to do is cook one recipe from The Chinese Takeout Cookbook (from a list of 7 recipes available on online on here or Amazon), photograph the dish, and write a blog post on their blog about the dish that also mentions the cookbook. (Anyone with a blog centered around food, lifestyle, or home life is welcome to join in.) Then publish the post between now and February 24th, the 15th and last day of Chinese New Year. I’ll link up to everyone’s blog, randomly select a Grand Prize Winner and Runner Up, and post it here on February 25.
- All US-based participants will receive 1 copy of The Chinese Takeout Cookbook, courtesy of Random House, to keep, give to family or friends, or use in a giveaway on their blog.
- Grand Prize Winner — One grand prize winner will receive:
- a Le Creuset Signature Round French Oven, 5 1/2 Quart, in any of the available 12 colors. (Great for Asian braises and soups as well as Western cooking!)
- A cookbook set of 6 wonderful new releases and older favorites, from my friends at Random House: The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
, Steamy Kitchen’s Healthy Asian Favorites
, The Sprouted Kitchen: A Tastier Take on Whole Foods
, Vietnamese Home Cooking
, Asian Dumplings
, and another copy of The Chinese Takeout Cookbook to keep or give away.
- Runner Up Prize — One runner up will receive:
- Two best-selling recipe kits from our friends at GrubKit – Pad Thai and Kung Pao Chicken. Since the Kung Pao is from my own recipe, I’ll just comment on the Pad Thai kit: This is so well-tested and makes way better pad thai than you’ll get ordering in. And these kits are perfect for gifts or last minute dinner parties.
- Premium Edgeware grater set (seen here, here, and here) – Three total. Wonderful sharp edges for vegetables as well as cheese.
- We are only able to ship prizes to U.S.-based bloggers, unfortunately.
Scroll down for more details!
So far I’ve received some wonderful feedback from food blogger friends and Appetite for China readers about the book. But I’m curious to hear from more of you! So from now until 11:59pm EST on February 24, 2012, just cook and write 1 one blog post on any of the following recipes that are available here or on Amazon:
- Kung Pao Chicken
- Cold Sesame Noodles (vegetarian, vegan)
- Dan Dan Noodles
- Chinese Tea Eggs (vegetarian)
- Chinese Barbecued Pork
- General Tso’s Chicken
- Black Sesame Ice Cream (vegetarian)
Please make any dietary substitutions and other small adjustments as needed. (For example, substituting tofu in Kung Pao Chicken or using gluten-free sauces.) I *love* hearing how creative readers get while making adjustments to suit their needs and lifestyle.
(When blogging about the recipe, just keep in mind the FTC requirements about disclosure, since you’ll receive a book as part of joining the potluck and be entered in the giveaway.)
Then email me the link at appetiteforchina(at)gmail(dot)com. I’ll keep updating the links to the participants on this post, plus do a new full write-up of everyone’s posts on February 25th.
Pad Thai and Kung Pao Chicken Recipe Kits from GrubKit!
I’m very excited to see what you choose to cook for Chinese New Year. Let me know in the comments below if you’re planning on cooking and the name of your blog. And spread the word! Let’s make this a big festive Chinese New Year celebration for the Year of the Snake.
Happy cooking!
This is such a great idea I wish I had a food blog! Forwarding this to my sister and two book club friends though, they have blogs and this seems like something they would be into.
This is really a terrific idea! I’m going to try my hand at the kung pao chicken. Happy new year!
I’ve always wanted to make tea eggs – hopefully I will find some time to participate! This weekend I’m catering my sister-in-law’s photography exhibition, and next weekend my in-laws are in town, but I am going to do my best!
This is such a great idea! We were already planning to make the dan dan noodles this coming weekend!
Shannon – Thanks for helping to spread the word!
Donald – Happy new year to you too! Let me know how the chicken goes!
Sydney – The great thing about tea eggs is you can do the hands-on part in a few minutes and then just let them simmer. And all the cinnamon and star anise aromas make the kitchen smell so good. :)
Emily – Thank you! Looking forward to seeing how the noodles come out!
Very excited to participate in this, great prize lineup. Looking forward to seeing everyone’s submissions on the 25th!
Great idea. I will be making the cold noodles. They sound delicious! I hope I win all those cookbooks!
awesome idea! I’m in.
I’m in…sounds like great fun!
Wow, what fun! Looks like I’ll be making more than one recipes. Glad to participate!
Congratulations on your new cookbook! I’d love to participate!
Sounds like fun! Since I’m Canadian, I guess I won’t get a cookbook automatically, but would I still be eligible for the prize?
Vincci – Thanks for the comment. Regretfully, we’re only able to ship prizes within the U.S. I’ll still link to every post and do a write-up of each if anyone from outside the US would like to cook and blog for the potluck. Hopefully in the future we can have other giveaways open to participants outside the U.S.
I am in and I’ll make General Tso’s chicken and the noodles too! Thank you.
Thank you so much for emailing me to let me know about this opportunity! I am absolutely interested and will be participating for sure! I am currently thinking the Kung Pao chicken–but that might just be because it is the first recipe I’ve looked at! Yum!
I am a Canadian but my older sister lives in Pennsylvania. If I were to take part, would it be possible for the cookbook to be sent to her?
Heather – Yes, you can designate a US address to have the book sent to. I hope you can join in!
Diana, must we have a blog to participate? I misunderstood, I thought we could post on this site. Please explain..thanks :)
Lyn – Yes, you need to have a blog to participate in this potluck. Sorry for the confusion! In the future I hope to have events that everyone can take part it. :)
Hi Diana! Thanks for the invite. I’m definitely in. Will make the Pork Belly, which was timely because I just bought a big piece! Can’t wait to get hold of your cookbook :-). We always celebrate Chinese New Year in our household & really enjoy all the dishes. Thanks again for thinking of me. Kung hei fat choy!
I’m so excited that I landed on your site last night! I just started up my blog so this is great! I bought some BBQ pork yesterday for New Years and it wasn’t as good so def going to try making your recipe on it! :) happy lunar New Years everyone!
We’ve started our prep work on the Dan Dan Noodles and I’m so excited to try them. We’re also making your Sichuan Wontons and Japanese Cucumbers to go with our meal, all three dishes are highlighted in my post that will go out tomorrow (I’ll email you a link then).
Hi, I love dan dan mian and enjoyed making it and writing about it on my blog. Participating in this potluck is just a nice bonus!
I made the tea eggs and they were delicious! =)
I LOVE tea eggs! One of my favorite snacks from when my family lived in China! I just posted about them. :)
Hi Diana, I love your virtual potluck idea. I made dan dan noodles and tea eggs, and I’m just in the process of writing them up on my blog. Oh, and thank you for your wonderful website – you’ve been my guide in my recent exploration of Chinese cooking!
I’m in! I made General Tso’s Chicken this weekend, and the post will be up on Friday 2/22! What a fun way to celebrate!
Thanks for this wonderful contest and all of your recipes! I made the dan dan noodles. Previously also made your General Tso’s tofu and it was really good – just like the Chinese restaurants!
Hi! What a great idea! I made General Tso’s Chicken this weekend & it turned out beautifully! Thank you for the chance to participate! :)
Thank you for inspiring me to move a little out of my comfort zone and try some of your gorgeous recipes! My parents were in town last weekend, so we had a Lunar New Year feast, starring your cold sesame noodles and roast pork. I also made crispy whole fish, braised bok choy and rice. We love to celebrate!
Just finished my blog review of Cold Sesame Noodles-
Delicious!!!!!! The whole family is hooked!
Hi Diana! I made Kung Pao Chicken and posted a photo of it here: http://www.daveskitchen.com/recipes/kung-pao-chicken-from-the-chinese-takeout-cookbook/. It was so delicious I could barely wait until I was done photographing it before I dug in. All of your recipes that I’ve tried have been great and I’m super impressed with the book. Great job!
Diana, congratulations on your book! I can’t wait to try more recipes from it. I have just finished cooking (and eating) an 11th hour entry to this great contest– the Dan Dan Noodles– and have to write it up now. It is FANTASTIC!