acknowledgments
This book really is a dream come true. I wouldnt have been able to create this blossoming career without the love and support of my husband and best friend, Scott. To my squeezeable bugaboos, Andrew and Nathan, who are always there to help me in the kitchen, cook with me on TV and to be so patient and not eat the yummy food until Mommy takes a photo.
Thank you to my publisher Tuttle Publishing for giving me the opportunity to pitch a beautiful book and for having the faith in me to finish it: Eric Oey, Holly Jennings, Colin, Christopher, Ann, Donna, Samantha and Rowan. Oh yes, a shout-out to Hollys sister, Heather, who read my column in the paper two years ago and urged Holly to contact me as a possible author.
My sisters-in-blogs (yes, I know that sounded dorkish) Bee Yin Low, Diane Cu, Elise Bauerthank you for answering late night phone calls, Skypes, IMs, emails, tweets and even last-minute flights to see you. To the gals whose beautiful writing inspired me to start a blog of my own, Tea Austen, Lucy Varnel, Sara Gim, Jennifer Jeffrey, Nicole Controneo, Deb Perelman (remember that email I wrote to you guys?! Who knew??); and to the talented food photographers who wowd me with their luscious food styling & photos, Matt Armendariz, Bea Peltre, Lara Ferroni, Adam Pearson. And how could I not mention my foodie friends David Lebovitz, Kate Moeller, Morgan Painvan & Club Med, Andrea Nguyen, Dave Liske, Lisa Fain, Kalyn Denny, Greg & Michelle Baker, Chuck Lai, Veronica Perez, Anu Karwa, Mark Tafoya, David Leite, Michael Ruhlman, Diana Kuan, Dr. BBQ, Jeni & Dylan, Carrie Oliver, Slashfood, FoodGawker, SeriousEats, Tastespotting, BlogHer, Sean Timberlake, Eating Out Loud Alan, Lydia Walshin, Cookthink, FoodBuzz, Kim ODonnel, Marthas Circle Pim Te, Morgan Hartman, Traca Savadogo, Lynne Halleran, Carolyn Jung, Martin Yan... YOU ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE FOR ME GAINING 10 POUNDS THESE PAST TWO YEARS.
Thank you to the East County Observer , the little newspaper that gave me my very first food column in print and to Creative Loafing for giving me my first paid writing gig! A big dose of gratitude to the Tampa Tribune staff and readers who allow me the luxury of sharing my sometimes wacky thoughts with you every single week. To Sarasota ABC7, Tampa Bay CBS 10 and of course my friends at the Daytime show, thank you for shining the spotlight on my cooking! My first experience in front of a TV camera was with the Emmy Award Winning Jack Perkins Showthank you Jack and Jen Noble for telling my story. Of course, a warm thank you to The Chefs Table (where I taught my first cooking class), Rolling Pin in Brandon and The Epicurean School of Culinary Arts in Los Angeles who have all graciously hosted me in their teaching kitchens.
I have a very special place in my heart for Jeff Houck for being a wonderful friend and spying that talent in me. You gave me an opportunity of a lifetime that sparked my career.
To my girlfriends in my hood: Jules Price, Jessica Rivelli, Jan Small, Kelly Hutchins, Lisa Holler, Julie Freed, Wendy Crane, Jeanette Casey, who I hope will forgive me for being so busy that I dont have time to hang as much! And girlfriends in my old hood, Irene Lim and Maria Villaruel, who taught me the art of eating well and eating often. To the Digital Doctors team, thanks for taking care of things and keeping the business humming along smoothly.
See the gorgeous photos of me in the book? Thats the work of Carrie Hasson and Diane Cu. And the picture perfect shots of ingredients? My good friend Matt Wright.
Thank you to the experts who took time to read my book and offer your stamp of approval, including Guy Kawasaki, Andrea Nguyen, Kim ODonnel, Michael Ruhlman, Ming Tsai, and Martin Yan.
What would a food blogger book be without a blogroll? Come see my full list of friends at www.steamykitchen.com/ link-love. And a hurray to all my blog readers and Twitter followers, I wouldnt be here living my dream if you hadnt thought I was entertaining enough to keep coming back time and time again.
Of course, my family, Jay, Mom, Dad, Uncle Billy, Uncle Patrick, Auntie Virginia, Auntie Rumy, Ivan, Sylvia, George, Maridel and Rob. I love you.
A big hug to my fabulous group of testers who responded to my call for recipe testing. Thank you for testing and re-testing each and every recipe in this book:
Lynne Halleran
Dickie Adams
Emily Adkins
Patricia Allen
Patti Anastasia
Christine Anderson
Zoe Baker
Carmen Bao
Regina Benko
Kindra Birss
Johanna Blanco
Kitt Bo
Laura Bomar
Graham Bowman
Bonni Lee Brown
Phil Burch
Jude Cabal
Dani Cantor
Maria Carrillo
Elizabeth Carroll
Sarah Carter
Linda Chen
Jennifer Chess
Elizabeth Chou
Silvia Cocco
Patti Cockerham
Angelo Comsti
Robin Cosby
Kerrie Cougle
Ashley Covelli
Alexander Cowan
Ric Crabbe
Lynn Craig
Melissa DiStefano
Marion Dumas
Chris Duval
Jennifer Eiler
Barry Enderwick
Lori Falcon
Brenda Falk
Teresa Favilla
Juliana Fels
Amy Ferguson
Brilynn Ferguson
Dolores Ferrero
Susan Filson
Sara Finne
Nicola Fowers
Valerie Fox
Helen French
Hans-Jurgen Friese
Marvin Gapultos
Lisa Ghenne
Sharon Giljum
Susan Ginsburg
Claudia Gnahm
Melanie Godfrey
Shari Goodman
Sandy Hall
Lynne Halleran
Emily Hanson
Seetha Hari
Dave Harralson
Jim Heivilin
De Hendrix
Cindy Higgins
Amanda Hohnstreiter
Margy Houtz
Irene Hsu
Brian Huang
Vitor Hugo
Sarah Imholt
David Jenkins
Diana Johnson
Renee Johnson
Dawna Jones
Lexi Kern Hirst
Sherene Khaw
Jaime Presley
Suzan Krauland
Patsy Kreitman
Anne Adams Lary
Will LaShell
Michael B Latham
Stephanie Lynn
LeBlanc
Albert Lee Nanacho
Arlyn Lee
Susan Lee
Wendee Lee
Christina Leong
Laurie Leong
Jacqueline Leung
Kim Lewandowski
Audrey Lim
Ann Ling
Jeff Liu
Chun Hsing Angelia Maria Kim Ly
Jasmine Ma
Erika MacVicar
Anna Christie
Manlulo
Tina Martinez
Emily Lauren Martis
Garrett McCord
Madeline McGowan
Melissa McKelvey
Micha McNerney
Courtney Melville
Rory Metcalf
Kevin More
Mia Morgenstern
Andrea Moriarty
Rose Muralla
Annie Su Yen Neoh
Courtney Nzeribe
Li-Chia Ong
Dorrena Ortega
Cindy Owens
Kathleen Pehl
Shana Peiffer
Viviane Perenyi
Veronica Perez
Steve Perry
Melinda Pickworth
Mary Pilcher
Jaime Presley
Betty Quon
Dennis Reed
Jenn Robinson
Cindy Russell
Christine Schrock
Danielle Sell
Tiffanie Sia
Kwan Skinner
Richard Smittenaar
Gail Somodi
Kavitha Tamarajah-Sserunkuma
Daphne Su
Kathleen Swanson
Natalie Sztern
Thuy Ta
Su Eng Tan
Sze Tan
Ashley Teel
Susan Tenney
Ed Tepporn
Judy Thai
Suganya Thiagarajan
Shasta Turner
Joel vanBrandwijk
Susan Venegas
Sally Warn
Lily Wasik
Erica Wendt
Wiffy
Katherine Williams
Joanne Wong
Christine Wright
Lou Joon Yee
Sowjanya Yinti
Connie Zastrow
the basics
I hope that these recipes for chilli sauces, dips and stocks will be some of your favorites, whether you use them to cook dishes in this book or adapt them in your own recipes. The chilli sauces store well and are great to put out on the dinner table every night to add a little fire to your meal, and the dipping sauces (like the Cashew Nut Dipping Sauce, page ) are great for satays, chicken wings, summer rolls or even carrot and celery sticks! The stocks are the basis of many soups (stocks made from scratch always make a difference!) I also use stocks to flavor my stir-fries and when steaming vegetablesthey just add an amazing dimension of flavor! Make a big batch of stock and freeze them in freezer bags, plastic containers, silicon cupcake trays or ice cube trays so that you have homemade stock whenever you need some. Have fun with these recipes!