This episode we’re joined by cookie maker extraordinaire Amy Wong of Batch 22 Bakery. Lunar New Year might be a little behind us for the year but Amy’s dish, leen goh, is so classic and so beloved we’ll talk about it any time of year.

We talk about Amy’s diligent testing to turn her grandmother’s loosey-goosey recipe into a near-exact replica, her mother’s version that could feed an army, and honoring the recipe while still using an Instant Pot for a lil modern day ease.

We also talk about pivoting from the perceived stability of a cushy tech marketing job to being a baker, the near-comical naming conventions—or lack thereof—of Chinese pastry, and if Amy’s dad may or may not be Garfield.

Be warned that we have a lengthy cookie discussion so maybe have a snack first or keep some cookies close by!

Our first live episode! This one is doubly special as we did our first live episode AND celebrated Lunar New Year with a panel of illustrious guests. Thank you to KALW for featuring us as part of their Bay Made series and thank you to guests Margot Seeto, Eric Ehler, and Deanna Ulrich for joining us to talk about their Lunar New Year traditions as kids and what LNY means to them as adults.

Special thanks to:

• David Boyer
• David Kwan
• Ben Trefny
• Charles Lighthouse
• KALW Staff
• Outta Sight Pizza
• Nicole Lugtu

It’s Thanksgiving in February on this episode! We talk with author and coach Tracey Gee about turkey jook, something so beloved by her and her family, and special to our family that we couldn’t dare pass this one up, no matter the time of year.

We talk about the origins of Thanksgiving turkey in Tracey’s household growing up, her very thoughtful method for making it vs our arguably slap-dash way, and come up with a hyper specific Buy Nothing group that we’re sure could be a hit.

Plus we talk about Tracey’s brand new wonderful book The Magic of Knowing What you Want and we get very useful, very actionable tips on how to know what you want and what to do with that—especially if what we want is turkey jook.

Come for the turkey jook, stay for the life-changing magic of Tracey’s wisdom!

Oh hey!! It’s out first live episode ever!! Come join us for a special Lunar New Year episode as part of 91.7 KALW Bay Made Showcase. We’ll be in conversation with past guests Margot Seeto and Deanna Ulrich, plus new special guest chef Eric Ehler of Outta Sight Pizza about our Lunar New Year traditions past and present. Plus special LNY-inspired pizzas by Outta Sight. And we’ll have stickers! Get your free tickets! Come for the pizza, stay for the chats!

This ain’t your mother’s bao! But it *is* Jessica’s grandmother’s bao! On this episode we talk to pastry chef Jessica Fu about her grandmother’s special bao, filled with pork, spices, and secret ingredient vermicelli. This one is so special that between the three of us, none of us have ever seen it on a menu or out in the wild! We talk about where this dish came from and whether or not Jessica’s grandmother made it up. We also talk about Jessica’s fear of cooking savory, her aversion to trying to make these bao (surprise: perfectionism!), and how being brought up by immigrant parents with high standards actually kinda makes for becoming a good pastry chef.

Plus, growing up in a tiny Northern California community surrounded by a much larger one, being exposed to a stand-mixer, and the superiority and resurgence of whipped cream cakes.

Do not listen to this one on an empty stomach or a sugar detox. You’ve been warned!

Upon some digging we did also find a single similar recipe that uses beef instead of pork. Sub ingredients at will if you’re up for the challenge! And if you’re going more in the direction of Jessica’s grandmother, no ginger or cilantro!

We should really stop pretending like we don’t do holiday episodes because whoops we actually love them. We’re back with a holiday x new cookbook x baking for a cause episode with Hetal Vasavada, author of Milk and Cardamom and Desi Bakes, founder of baking pop up Milk and Cardamom, and former Master Chef contestant. What started with a pitch for butter (not that we have a problem with that! It’s butter!!) turned into a super fun conversation about growing up Indian American in New Jersey, how baking saved organic chemistry lab, and the ways in which Hetal is becoming her mother, which we’re here for!

Plus munching cheese, unintended food traditions, and accidentally creating entirely too expensive kid palettes.

And of course, butter. We talk about Hetal’s partnership with Challenge Butter which has partnered with Cookies For Kids to raise funds for pediatric cancer research, a cause that’s close to Hetal and just so deeply important. Bake your family favorite holiday cookie or any other holiday cookie recipe from their site and tag @challengebutter and @Cookies4kids along with #ChallengeForACure with your cookie photo. And if the idea of baking with your littles is too much, Hetal gives us some stellar tips on how to bake together without making huge messes or being overly stressed about it.

No single recipe for this one but MANY recipes in Hetal’s gorgeous cookbooks and a recipe for some beautiful stained-glass sugar cookies on the side of special holiday edition Challenge butter. Go check them out and have your own lil bake sale, after all, it’s cookie season!

On this episode we’re talking to author Ellie Yang Camp about her new book Louder Than The Lies: Asian American Identity, Solidarity, and Self-Love, and just as importantly, we talk about soups!! Yes, not one, but two family soups: beef noodle soup made by her dad, and chicken broth made by her mom.

We talk about growing up Taiwanese American in not-so-Asian California suburbs, chasing taste memories, and passing on culture through food (our fave!)

Of course we dive into Louder Than The Lies, which we can’t recommend enough. We love how it succinctly articulates so much of what we’ve been feeling about being Asian in America. Ellie reminds us that the fight for equity requires practice and stamina, and offers us a way forward, which we’ll probably need now more than ever.

Plus the scurry-and-hide method of cooking, lightly dunking on Dr. Oz, and dismantling systems of oppression while being a full-time introvert parent!

In true Asian parent form, we have no exact recipe, but we have it on good authority that Clarissa Wei’s recipe for beef noodle soup hits exactly right for many Taiwanese families, which you can find in her book Made in Taiwan.

On this post-election one we present our first ever disliked dish, because apparently there are no rules anymore. This was meant to be a revenge episode with Eli Beutel, but instead of raging against this German Christmas dish, stollen, they were the consummate food and alcohol historian—and still funny!

We talk about the history of this dish, why they hate it, and why it’s still important to share family recipes, even not so great ones.

Plus flavor profiles as identity, accidentally becoming an expert in Hittite bee law, and a dip into tiki culture.

• Eli recommends their mentor Dawn Bohulano Mabalon's book Little Manila Is in the Heart: The Making of the Filipina/o American Community in Stockton, California
• If you're curious about stollen, Eli recommends trying it first before diving into making your own loaf. Here's a couple places you can purchase it:
  • World Market
  • Dresden Stollen Bakers (this year's batch is sold out but you can sign up for a reminder to buy next year's)