Market Talk: A Conversation with Tammy Wong, Part II

Tammy Wong's Curried Summer Vegetables

Several weekends ago, I had the pleasure of touring the Minneapolis Farmers' Market under the guidance of Tammy Wong, chef/owner of the popular and well-regarded Rainbow Chinese Restaurant, located on Minneapolis' culinary corridor, 'Eat Street' (Nicollet Avenue). In addition to cooking for the restaurant, Tammy also caters private dinners, for which she works closely with her clients to create menus that reflect their tastes and her skills.

Tammy and I talked about the farmers' market and the Twin Cities' ethnic (particularly Chinese) food scene, some highlights of which I posted in Part I. Now, I'm pleased to share more of Tammy's insights on her cooking inspirations and about encouraging others to try new flavors with confidence.

On finding, and providing, inspiration at the farmers' market:

Tammy has been doing cooking demonstrations during Market Talk at the Minneapolis Farmers' Market, where she uses ingredients purchased there that morning. While the fresh offerings inspire her to create original recipes, Tammy also inspires the market's vendors by showcasing their food in new, delicious ways. In turn, they often share her cooking tips with their customers.


"I shop from the farmers' market [for her restaurant and catering menus] because it's just a completely different group of people who love food . . . It's really rewarding for me that many of the growers know me now much more. [They would ask], 'Tammy, do you cook this weekend*?' Or this sweet woman [a local grower who supplies her with long beans] would come up to me and ask, 'How are you going to make this? Could you please tell me how you cook it to make it taste soft, not hard?'"

"[I've had vendors] tell me, 'Normally, I don't have time, but whenever I take a break, I just listen to you and I think [the demonstration] was really good. I learned something from you, too!'"

*Tammy will be at MFM this Saturday (9/19) at 10:30am, preparing a dish of my current favorite - wild rice! She'll also share her recipe for candied crabapples, which she created for a client's dinner party after spotting them at the market.

"I was able to find crabapples and I had never seen it before. First of all, it looked beautiful - bigger than a kumquat and it was pale yellow with a little bit of pink. Beautiful. And so [I said], 'I'm going to get this' . . . I did gingered candied crabapples [for the clients] knowing that they would appreciate it. And they did - there were a lot of children at the party and it was a lot of fun for them to eat."

On being a better cook than writer:

In addition to the candied crabapples, Tammy had also picked up rhubarb, which she paired with rock sugar, ginger and tapioca for a delicious-sounding dessert. After my unsubtle hints about sharing the recipes, she admitted to being lax about saving the details of her creations:

"I was telling [my sister] how I'm inspired to make this and this dish, and how you put them together. And she said, 'Tammy, you really have to write them down because you're going to forget!' [She's right] because every [catering] job is very different, and it depends on what I find at the market and who is my client . . . but I don't write. I can tell you stories all day long [but] I don't have the patience and I don't feel confident to write." (I should offer my services as recorder and taste-tester!)

What confidence she lacks in the composition of words is more than compensated by her talent for composition with food. And she's not intimidated by cooking in less than optimal conditions, as is often the case at the farmers' market:

"Cooking comes very natural to me, since I was very young . . . I'm not afraid to cook. In Vietnam, I was cooking with fuel or coal or wood - I've done it all! Cooking outside is definitely challenging. The first [MFM demo], it was really windy and the second time, it was raining. Everybody was holding down the tent and here I was, trying to coordinate the time and I didn't have assistants. [It can be hard] trying to keep the audience interested. People are curious, they want to learn but they also want to taste!"

Something new: amaranth leaves

On encouraging others to find a similar confidence in trying new foods:

Tammy takes into account her clients' preferences when developing a menu but she also tries to encourage diners to venture into new flavors:

"[Clients] will say they are only meat-and-potatoes people and they don't like this or that, but it turns out they love [all kinds of] food. As long as you do food really simple, people are willing to try it . . . so you have to start with very good ingredients."

She understands that many diners are reluctant to go beyond familiar and comforting foods. She's particularly sympathetic to native Chinese diners for whom the authenticity of Chinese cuisine is important in reconnecting them with home; she will even go so far as to recommend other restaurants if customers are looking for regional dishes that she does not offer (many want Szechuan food, whereas Rainbow offers primarily Mandarin- and Cantonese-style preparations). But Tammy would also like diners to judge food on  its own qualities rather than just on a sense of familiarity:

"People will ask me to come up with a menu that would please their guests from China. When I come up with one that I think would be a really nice experience for them to try, they will say, 'Well, this is not Chinese, this is American.' I thought that was really interesting. Now, when I'm going to New York or to Hong Kong, I wouldn't expect to have the same experience that I would find [in Minneapolis or America]. It would be different [because] different chefs make different things, and sometimes people don't understand that."

But she's confident that given enough encouragement and opportunity, most diners are willing to be adventurous. So, she makes it a point to greet her restaurant customers at their tables:

"When they see me and they know me, they say, 'You know what, I'm going to try [a different dish].' They feel more confident to try - people are willing to try when they see you and how you do it. That is the comforting part."

"[When people] really love food, they pay attention to every little thing that I serve and they will tell me what they like or what they don't like about it. People have really loved the food [if I] just give them a different kind of experience."

**********

And a different kind of experience is exactly what Tammy inspired me to attempt with a couple of strange vegetables that piqued my curiosity: amaranth and Thai eggplant. Fortunately, and despite her admission to the contrary, Tammy posted on her restaurant's website the recipes for Curried Summer Vegetables and Stir-Fried Amaranth, which she prepared during Market Talk demos this season.

I recently made both dishes with a few changes, which I hope Tammy doesn't mind. The original recipes can be found at Rainbow Chinese Restaurant's website.

Curried Summer Vegetables with Walleye
(adapted from a recipe by Tammy Wong)

Tammy used young squash in her recipe; I decided to incorporate a fillet of walleye with the intent of having nice chunks of tender fish. But I added it too early and the fish flaked apart during the cooking process. Happily, my mistake resulted in the flavor of the walleye being spread out, even if the texture of the fish was missing. Tammy also used Penzey's Hot Curry Powder spice mix, which I didn't have, so I used a variety of spices found in that product.

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

1/2 lb green beans, end sliced off and cut into approximately 2" pieces

1 lb cauliflower florets, cut from stalks (I used Romanesco broccoli**, a.k.a Roman Cauliflower and fractal cauliflower - superb flavor!)

1/2 lb (approximately 5) round Thai eggplants, tops cut off and quartered)

2/3 lb fresh walleye fillet, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 large onion, chopped

1" piece fresh ginger, slivered

1 shallot, sliced thinly

5 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped

1 cup fresh Thai basil leaves

1/4 cup canola oil

Patis (Filipino fish sauce) to taste; salt may be used

1 (14 oz) can coconut cream (coconut milk, which contains at least 25% water, may be used)

1/2 tsp EACH of turmeric and cayenne pepper

1 tsp EACH of ground coriander, ground ginger, cumin, Jamaican allspice (for cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves)

**For another great recipe using Romanesco broccoli, check out this dish from Amy at Green Your Plate!

To make:

1. Boil 1.5 quarts of water in a pot to blanch vegetables (approximately 2-3 minutes), one at a time. For each, remove from boiling water and run under cold water to stop the cooking process, then add next vegetable to the pot;
2. In a large wok, heat oil and sauté ginger, onions, garlic and shallots until soft and fragrant;
3. Add walleye (this tender fish will flake up and all but disintegrate during the remainder of cooking; if you prefer, add at the very end);
4. Add Thai eggplants and beans, stirring until beans turn bright green;
5. Add cauliflower, followed by spices;
6. Add coconut cream and stir until thoroughly mixed. Add patis to taste, followed by Thai basil, stirring until blended and basil leaves are slightly wilted;
7. Remove from heat and serve with steamed rice.

Stir Fried Amaranth
(adapted from a recipe by Tammy Wong)

During the market tour, Tammy commented that amaranth was used in Filipino cooking, proving that she knows a lot more about my native cuisine than I do! Called kulitis in Tagalog, it is used in such favorite Pinoy dishes as sinigang (a sour soup). However, in the Americas where it originated, the grain is more widely used, first as an ancient dietary staple in both Incan and Aztec civilizations, and today, as a popular food in South America and Mexico (such as popcorn-like snacks). In the U.S., it is perhaps best known as a gluten-free alternative to wheat flour (source: Wikipedia/Amaranth). Its similar taste and texture make it an excellent substitute for spinach.


Tammy's original recipe was for a simple stir-fry of the leaves, but I opted to add shrimp and tofu. I also replaced the main flavoring ingredient, miso paste, with balaw-balaw - a fermented rice and shrimp paste similar to more traditional Filipino bagoong, a by-product of fermented fish sauce.

The pinkish tinge comes from balaw-balaw, 

a fermented rice & shrimp paste from the Philippines

Serves 2 to 4

Ingredients:

1/2 lb fresh shrimps - peeled, deveined and chopped into small pieces
1 cup diced firm tofu
1" piece fresh ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbs canola oil, divided (2 & 1)
1 bunch amaranth, stems removed
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbsps balaw-balaw or bagoong

To make:

1. In a large wok, heat 1 Tbs canola oil over medium heat and sauté 3 cloves of garlic and minced ginger, being carefully not to brown. Add shrimp and tofu, cooking until shrimp is done (I neglected to add the tofu at this stage, which is why it looks rather pale in the above photo). Remove shrimp and tofu from the wok;
2. Add 2 Tbs canola oil to wok and heat; add amaranth, remaining garlic and balaw-balaw and cook, stirring constantly, until leaves turn a bright color and become wilted; add cooked shrimp and tofu, and stir to mix;
3. Garnish with green onions and red pepper flakes, and serve with steamed rice.

Mmm, Mmm Mahnomin Porridge!

 Mahnomin Porridge

I am Pancake Woman.

I love all manner of pancakes, both sweet and savory, stacked short or tall. I'll take them as small as silver dollars or as big as dinner plates; made with buckwheat, corn and potatoes; filled with fruits, nuts and chocolates; topped with whipping cream or sour cream; and baked, griddled, steamed or fried. If I had my way (and the metabolism of a hummingbird), I'd eat pancakes every morning. When it comes to breakfast, there's nothing better than a plateful of sweet, golden flapjacks . . .

. . . Except, perhaps, a bowlful of sweet, creamy rice. Did I mention that I am also Rice Woman?

I love all manner of rice, both plain and seasoned, sticky or fluffy. I'll take it as a side dish or as a dessert; from Bhutanese red to Japanese Koshihikari; topped with juicy meats and saucy vegetables; and baked, sautéed, steamed or fried. The way I grew up in a Filipino family, I have rice with nearly every meal - except breakfast. Now, I have found a rice dish that can claim the morning glory from my beloved 'cakes: Mahnomin Porridge.

'Gift from the Creator'

Mahnomin, or manoomin, means 'good berry' and is the word for wild rice in Anishinaabemowin, the language of the Ojibwe people who consider it a sacred gift from the Creator, known as Gitchi Manidoo:

"In the earliest teachings of Anishinaabeg history, there is a reference to wild rice, known as the food that grows upon the water [which] their ancestors were told to find so they would know when to end their migration west."

Winona La Duke, White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP) 

As I noted in an earlier post ('An Envious Appetite'), it is not actually a rice but rather a grass seed* which grows in abundance along the banks of Minnesota's northern lakes and rivers. However, increased demand has led to its cultivation in large commercial paddies that yield a hard rice that is darker in color and requires nearly double the cooking time than the naturally-growing variety (source: Wikipedia/Wild rice). Truly 'wild' rice is still hand-harvested in Minnesota using traditional Ojibwe methods and is the main ingredient in one of the tastiest breakfast dishes I've ever eaten.

(*Blogger's note: Seed or not, it's still called 'rice', so I reserve the right to consider it part of my rice addiction.)

Straight from 'Hell'

It's fitting that the sinfully delicious Mahnomin Porridge was created in Hell's Kitchen, the Minneapolis restaurant where author and Roadfood.com editor Michael Stern declared he would spend his last $20 to stave off starvation. Among co-owner and chef Mitch Omer's standout offerings are hearty bison sausage bread, delicate lemon-ricotta pancakes and a homemade peanut butter so scrumptious, I'm willing to aggravate my mild peanut allergy for spoonfuls of the stuff. But the most heavenly dish in this hotspot is the soul-warming bowl of hand-harvested Minnesota wild rice saturated in heavy cream and maple syrup, then topped with toasted hazelnuts and dried berries. After my first taste, all the other breakfast items - including pancakes - simply faded away.

(Image from Amazon.com)

Stern has named Mahnomin Porridge one of 500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late, from his book of the same title. For those of you who may not be so fortunate as to visit the Land of 10, 000 Lakes any time soon, I'm pleased to share with you the recipe for this hella good food. If you like it as much as I do, watch out for Mitch Omer's first cookbook, Damn Good Food: 157 Recipes from Hell's Kitchen, to be released in October 2009 and containing even more great dishes. By the way, a video recipe of that killer peanut butter can be seen here.

Fair warning: after you've tasted Mahnomin Porridge, you may not want to bother with the remaining 499 foods on Stern's list.

Mahnomin Porridge 
Google this dish and most, if not all, results will lead you back to Hell's Kitchen. On the restaurant's website, Chef Omer says he was inspired to create his recipe after reading 19th century trappers' journals that mentioned this food. Fortunately for all of us, he was generous enough to share it with local TV station KARE 11's Showcase Minnesota which, in turn, thoughtfully posted it on their website. Not wanting to break the spirit of sharing, I now pass it on to you.

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked wild rice* (approximately 1 to 1 1/3 cups uncooked rice)
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 dried blueberries (I used fresh)
1/4 dried cranberries
1/2 cup toasted hazelnut halves

(*It is well worth the effort and cost to use naturally-growing wild rice; I purchased mine from Scenic Waters Wild Rice Company.)

To make:

1. In a non-stick** sauté pan, mix cooked rice, cream and maple syrup, and cook until warmed through;
2. Add dried berries and hazelnuts and mix well;
3. Serve in a bowl with warm cream and maple syrup.

(**If you prefer not to use a non-stick pan, melt 1 to 2 Tbsps of butter in the pan to prevent rice from sticking to the bottom.)


Update 9/27/09: Above, I suggested using melted butter in the pan if you do not have non-stick cookware. However, this evening I had the pleasure of speaking with Chef Mitch Omer, who very nicely yet firmly noted that the flavor of Mahnomin Porridge would be fundamentally changed by the addition of butter. Instead, Chef Omer says to pour the cream into the pan first before adding the rice to prevent the latter from sticking.

Bi-wiisinin! [Anishinaabemowin for 'Come eat!'] 

A little extra cream . . .

Market Talk: A Conversation with Tammy Wong, Part I

Chinese Broccoli Beef Stir Fry

Is it obvious yet how much I've enjoyed the farmer's market this summer? I've only mentioned it in several recent posts and in such awed terms that one might think I had found the Holy Grail after swimming to Atlantis! This kind of fervor might be expected of the newly converted, but I'm no farmers' market neophyte - I've shopped my fair share over the years.

But the shameful truth is that, until recently, I've treated farmers' markets as if they were simply outdoor, summertime extensions of the grocery store. Offered a cornucopia of picked-that-morning produce, I would faithfully buy my usual tomatoes, lettuce, onions and the occasional bundle of asparagus or broccoli, while completely ignoring the diversity of food around me.

So what's changed? Two words: Food blogs. Reading others' sites and writing my own have made me more aware of the incredible variety of fresh ingredients in the culinary universe. Ramps and garlic scapes? Sunflower sprouts and squash blossoms? This summer, my eyes were finally opened to the delicious gems that were hidden in plain sight.

But for every new vegetable that I tried, like kohlrabi, there were many others whose names I didn't know, much less how to prepare. So when local food advocate Susan Berkson, tireless supporter of the Minneapolis Farmers' Market and co-host of the radio program 'Fresh and Local' (AM950 KTNF), offered a spot on a guided tour of the MFM with Tammy Wong, chef and owner of the well-regarded Rainbow Chinese Restaurant, I didn't hesitate.

During the market walk a couple of weekends ago, I learned the names and uses of so many new vegetables that I could barely keep them in order. Fortunately, among our group was Katie Cannon, a writer and photographer for Twin Cities-based online food magazine The Heavy Table, who wrote a comprehensive, photo-filled re-cap of our foray and a follow-up article featuring Chef Wong's recipes that should not be missed.

(Katie Cannon/Heavy Table)

But the most fascinating part of that tour was our energetic guide: Tammy Wong. Watching as she confidently strode between the tables, greeting favorite vendors and pointing out the virtues of unfamiliar produce, I was so impressed by her enthusiasm for the local foods on display. Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking with her to learn more about her experiences at the market, her love of cooking and her thoughts on the ethnic food scene in Minneapolis/St. Paul. (Photo courtesy of Katie Cannon/Heavy Table)

At the start of our conversation, Tammy asked about my blog, then candidly confessed, "One of my weaknesses is that I don't write. I can tell you stories all day long [but] I don't have the patience and I don't feel confident to write." So, while I am more than happy to write about her, I think you'll agree that Tammy's own words speak clearly for her.

On how she got started in the restaurant business:

"[Opening a restaurant] was not my idea. My dad . . . whenever he made a decision, we had to follow. It was the same way that we moved from New York to California and to Minnesota! So, he just decided to buy this restaurant [a former noodle shop]. I am the oldest daughter [of 9 children] in the family - I feel like I'm the second mother or head of the household because that's what [my parents] would tell me and so I would go file the papers and learn how to run the business. I've been doing it since 1987."

Rainbow Chinese Restaurant on Nicollet Avenue (Eat Street), Minneapolis

On the state of Chinese food in the Twin Cities two decades ago:

"As much as I remember, there was not much variety. Let's say, if you want to have dim sum, there was only a couple of restaurants that will serve it on the weekends."

"In 1983, when I came to Minneapolis, my first job was working in a little restaurant in St. Louis Park. I saw that people ordered a lot of chow mein. I had no idea what it was! I had no idea what was egg foo young. I lived in Vietnam and I was a refugee in Hong Kong [before] I moved to New York. I had never seen chow mein being served - what is it?  . . . So, it was exciting to go to a restaurant where you can have actual Cantonese-style noodles but it was really hard to find. Now, in the past 10 to 15 years, we have more and more Chinese [particularly from the northern provinces, in the Twin Cities] so there are more authentic restaurants that have opened, like Little Szechuan and Tea House.**"

(**Correction: Tammy also mentioned another authentic Szechuan restaurant, Grand Szechuan [menu link from ah-ha! Cooking with Gas & Glass blog, via Heavy Table], which recently opened in Bloomington. My apologies for leaving them out in the initial post!)

On finding particular ingredients, then and now:

"[Back in 1987] there were not many grocery stores where you could get a lot of ingredients [for Chinese cooking]. It was very different than what I was familiar with when I lived in New York. Everyday I was in Chinatown . . . and in California, we grew our own vegetables because of the long growing season. When we came to Minneapolis, it was really, really cold - we came in winter of 1983 - and you had to go to a few stores and most of the time you just have to get what you get."

"One of the greens that many Asians are familiar with is Chinese broccoli, gai lan. Normally, in the winter, we have them shipped in from California and in the summertime, we would go to the farmers' market and buy them."

On her own discovery of the farmers' market's charms:

"At the beginning, I didn't shop at the farmers' market - my mother did. Later on, I was hired to do cooking for a group of Japanese exchange students for three weeks. So I had to be very clever about cooking something that they would love, something different every day. I would use the farmers' market and pick different vegetables but I didn't pay more attention like how I've done it in the past few years."

(Tammy first started going to the Minneapolis Farmers' Market regularly just to buy plants for landscaping around the restaurant.)

"I spent almost every day at the farmers' market to learn about different plants - over the years, I tried many, many plants. Then, I would meet a lot of growers later on, after they were done [selling] plants and were selling vegetables. They recognized me, saying 'I remember you buying this and this from me last year' and then we started to communicate. And instead of just buying broccoli, onion, and a couple of other vegetables, I started paying attention [for instance] to how a bell pepper ripens. It was very fascinating for me to learn."

On embracing the joys of growing her own vegetables and realizing that food in different places is, well, different:

"I don't live too far from the Soo Line Gardens [a Twin Cities community garden] and many years ago, I decided, 'I'm going to sign up if any plot comes available - I'm going to garden down there'. So I did that, too! By learning not just about buying [plants] but also of how they grow, [I learned that] if you're not taking care of them, they're not going to have better vegetables for you. So, now I feel that many of these people [at the market] don't get paid enough for what they do!"

"When I was in Hong Kong, the vegetables - even though they are the same [kind as here], like long beans - they have a slightly different color, different shape. It was the same thing when I was in Italy, when I went to the market, an artichoke looks slightly different [than one here]. In Minnesota, if you buy from different vendors, they have different flavors. I bought some carrots at Rolf's Produce - I thought that they were the best carrots! I remember he told me how his father chose the land, a kind of sandy land, how it made the vegetables taste really good because of the soil."

"[Three years ago] I went back to Vietnam for the first time in almost 30 years. I went to the market with my cousin and we were just fascinated at all the food. There was no way we could get the same [vegetables] in America. It's a different experience there even though [we can now get a lot here.]"

On the camaraderie and sense of sharing at the market:

"I saw this woman who had bought this young ginger root and I asked, 'Where did you get this?' She said, 'Oh, this was the last bunch. But I'm happy to share half with you.' So then, from what she gave me, I gave half to Lori [a vendor] from Rolf's Produce because I knew she would love it."


(I reminded Tammy of the instance during our tour when she had stopped an older woman in a sari, pulling a cart full of gourds, to ask what she was going to do with them.)

"I'm curious [about what others will do with vegetables] and it's the same way when I buy something, they ask me. And it's really rewarding for me that many of the growers know me now much more. Last weekend, I was there and this sweet woman [a grower from whom Tammy buys long beans] came up to me and asked, 'How are you going to make these?'"

That's exactly the question I kept asking Tammy during our market walk - 'How do you cook these?' - while holding up some alien vegetable. With her help, I've expanded my produce knowledge that much more and am now even more eager to discover other strange and fascinating foods at the market.

There is so much more from my conversation with Tammy Wong that I would like to share with you, so please check back soon to read more about what inspires her cooking, her thoughts on people's food preferences and how they react to new eating experiences.


Chinese Broccoli Beef Stir Fry
Tammy noted that Chinese broccoli, or gai lan (kai-lan in Cantonese), is a familiar vegetable to many Asians but is not yet commonly found in American grocery stores. As soon as she pointed them out during our market tour, I knew immediately what I would make with them - Broccoli Beef Stir Fry! So it's not the most original idea but it is a favorite dish in the Noodle household. In the past, however, I would make the sauce from a packaged, powdered mix and would use whatever cut of meat I happened to have on hand.

This time, I took to heart Tammy's words on the keys to good cooking: keep it simple and start with good ingredients. With a simply beautiful bunch of gai lan from the Minneapolis Farmers' Market, I picked up a juicy sirloin steak and set about making Broccoli Beef Stir Fry sans mix or recipe. The result wasn't bad at all! Although it is from the same family as the familiar crowns of broccoli we find at supermarkets, gai lan tastes less bitter, with a sweet flavor closer to that of asparagus. For as long as I can still find gai lan at the farmers' market, I don't think I'll go back to Western broccoli anytime soon.

Yields 2-4 servings

Ingredients

2/3 lb sirloin beef, sliced thin
1 small white onion, sliced thick

2 cups Chinese broccoli/gai lan, cut into 2" pieces, rinsed then blanched. All parts - leaves, stem and flowers - may be used
1 Tbsps canola oil
1-2 tsps sesame oil
2-3 Tbsps oyster sauce
1/2-1 tsp sambal oelek or other chili paste
1-2 tsps black bean garlic paste
3-4 small plum tomatoes, quartered
Sesame seeds for garnish

To make:

To blanch the gai lan, bring a pot of water to a boil then immerse vegetables for about a minute or so, then remove or drain. Immediately immerse vegetable in cold water to stop the cooking process, drain and set aside.

1. Heat canola and sesame oils in large wok over medium-high heat;
2. Stir fry beef until about medium rare, leaving some pink in the meat. Remove from wok and set aside.
3. Add sliced onions and stir-fry until onion slices begin to separate;
4. Add gai-lan, followed by oyster sauce, sambal oelek and black bean garlic paste. Stir well to coat the onions and broccoli;
5. Add the meat and stir again to mix well. Add tomatoes just before serving;
6. Garnish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and serve with fresh steamed rice.

Enjoy and please check back soon for more about Chef Tammy Wong!