Water is the sweetness of my hometown, and Taiwanese food touches my nostalgia!——Fengcheng Taiwanese Food and Cooking Show

Water is the sweetness of my hometown, and Taiwanese food makes me feel homesick!——Fengcheng Taiwanese Food and Cooking Show (This website news) Hsinchu rice noodles paired with Taiwan beer, wow! No...

(This website news) Hsinchu rice noodles paired with Taiwan beer, wow! Don’t laugh at me, I am so excited that I want to cry, even though I just returned from Taiwan. This pure and mellow Taiwanese flavor makes me feel homesick tonight, Li Yuquan and Wang Liyu blurted out this emotion at the banquet where the couple performed a Taiwanese food and cooking show, but this is also the common sentiment of friends all over the place. Pan Mengren and Luo Jinhan are two well-known master chefs in Taiwan. They were entrusted by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Council to serve as chefs for the Taiwanese Food Lecture Tour during the Taiwan Heritage Week. Phoenix was the first stop, which put great pressure on the organizers of Taiwan Heritage Week, Zhang Qingling and Huang Lijing. They had to succeed but not fail. They had no confidence when they took over.

>Pan Mengren (right) and Luo Jinhan (left) are two well-known Taiwanese master chefs

Huang Lijing, Luo Jinhan, Zhang Qingling, Pan Mengren, Lin Huiyi, Li Linglin

Xu Aini and Li Linglin contacted Tempe and Phoenix respectively. The sister city committees of the Phoenix City Taiwanese Heritage Week 2013 were co-organized by the two sister cities and were grandly launched.

What surprised everyone was the PK final performance of Iron Chef in Phoenix on May 1st and the grand banquet "Taiwan Night" in Tempe on May 2nd. Hosted by food expert Lin Huiyi, both events were not only successful, but also made the "Taiwan" element cause a sensation in mainstream society. Gao Jiafu, director of the Orange County Cultural and Educational Center of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Council, and Greg Stanton, mayor of Fengcheng City, were invited to serve as judges in the PK final. Although Taiwanese cuisine won a great victory, Director Gao said that it was all due to the exquisite cooking skills of Pan and Luo, and the mayor overwhelmingly supported Taiwanese cuisine. The mayor of Fengcheng City is expected to be invited to visit Taiwan in October, and the Traditional Week activities will be indispensable. The grand banquet on May 2nd was full of Taiwanese elements. Zhang Qingling said: How come the names are so beautiful! When everyone was tasting the food, they took the initiative to drink Taiwanese beer. The really drunk people were Zhang Qingling, Huang Lijing, Li Yuquan, Wang Liyu... Richard Neuheisal, the chairman of the Tempe City Sisters Association, was not drunk, but he walked onto the stage excitedly and announced to Zhang Qingling and all the distinguished guests that Tempe must establish a sister city with Taiwan! The Taiwanese Beauty Heritage Week has come to an end, but the two masters Pan and Luo and all the working volunteers left everyone with not only joy but also nostalgia. The water in my hometown is the sweetest, and the moon in my hometown is brighter.

>Taiwanese Cuisine Cooking Teaching/Dinner Party

After watching the successful cooking competition between chefs Pan Mengren and Luo Jinhan on May 1st, May 2nd is our chance to enjoy the feast not just for the eyes, but also for the nose and tongue. The name of the menu alone makes you drool.

All the major "chef gods" perform together It is not easy to do a Chinese cooking show plus a dinner party in an American-style kitchen. Xu Aini looked for several cooking schools and finally we decided on the cooking class of Hackett House, a sister club in Tianpi City. We were also very lucky to find Gao Zhizhong who agreed to be our kitchen director. Li Jiayi also let us prepare food in his kitchen in the market. Huang Lijing even tried Chunxiang Bao as a dessert for the first time. Li Linling also designed unique trophies and medals. With these lucky stars and the help of countless people, including members of the Tempi Sisterhood: university lecturers, retired engineers, and housewives who served as bartenders and service staff.

Starting at six o'clock that night, eight tables were opened. The bar stocks Taiwanese beer, lychee wine, white and red wine. The dim sum is braised beef pancakes with soy sauce.

At 6:30, Hackett House party director Kathy Andrews will introduce the famous chef and food critic Lin Huiyi. Teacher Lin has written fifteen cookbooks, which are also her masterpieces when food appears in Young Pi. Teacher Lin was our program host and translator that night. Teacher Lin is fluent in Chinese, English and French and is eloquent. He interspersed many short stories about food with his translations, making the atmosphere very lively.

Master Pan said that he had extra ingredients, so he added beef and radish soup that was not on the menu. Therefore, this pre-meal soup is tentatively named: New Beitou White Jade Clear Soup.

The first dish is: Yilan, Missing Kavalan. After frying the outside of Rib Eye steak, Chef Pan cut it into thin slices to make roses. Extra-large scallops are coated in fine bread flour and fried until they are fragrant on the outside and tender on the inside. They are placed on a lettice topped with sweet naise.

>Two: The Glory of Prince Zhang of Tainan Master Luo said that this is how to make three-cup chicken. The trick is to stir-fry the seasonings first and only add Taiwanese rice wine without adding water. The soy sauce needs to be from Jinlan.

Course 3: Hsinchu Chenghuang Ye’s Power 𩆜 Hsinchu Fried Rice Noodles, I just ate it and forgot what Master Luo said

Course 4: The famous name in the hearts of southern pitchers. Beef tenderloin steak on a plate of finely chopped white and purple onion salad. The beef was tender and the salad was refreshing. I don’t know how Master Pan did it.

The fifth track: Taiwan, the deep love of our hometown. Red bean jelly is accompanied by green mint leaves. We all felt the deep love brought by the masters from their hometown. So Huang Lijing made this to express our gratitude to the Overseas Chinese Committee, the masters and Teacher Lin on behalf of all of us.

A busy kitchen

Among the guests present were former Congressman Harry Mitchell and his wife, former president of the National Sister City Committee and current president of the Tempe City Sisterhood, Richard Neuheisal and his wife. Mr. Neuheisal also said that he believes that using food as a medium to establish sisterhood with foreign cities is his national diplomacy. He also hopes to become sisters with cities in Taiwan.

The organizer and co-organizer, the distinguished guests took a group photo. With the efforts of all the staff, the dinner ended successfully in a warm environment.

(Photos for this article were taken by Zheng Hong)