Pumpkin Spice & Crazy Rich Asians

Pumpkin, Spice & Everything Nice…

Tuesday I had a cooking (& eating) class of sorts at the Chocolate Café in Grandview. The class was offered through the city of Upper Arlington and there were seven of us in attendance, which was apparently the minimum required to hold the class. 

The first item on the menu was Pumpkin Truffles, which were pre-prepared for us since they’re a little time consuming to make in an hour and a half class. We got to dip a couple in the chocolate machine (which I noticed was made in Hilliard). Apparently the Chocolate Café is one of only a few places in Ohio to have one of these machines.

Here's how it probably should have looked (one of the pretty ones)

Our next project was to make an Apple Pear Tart. We were each given a small tray with a piece of puff pastry on it. Then we chose an apple and a pear, and it was up to us whether or not we wanted to peel them. Otherwise, they needed to be cut into even-sized pieces and spread out on the puff pastry. We were then given brown sugar and cinnamon to crumble around the fruit and butter to drizzle over top. We also got a small container of honey to drizzle over it after it came out of the oven. 

Here's mine - not pretty, but still tasted good

Then the staff brought out ‘one we made earlier’ that we could sample. Of course I said Yes! when they asked whether or not I wanted ice cream on the side. 

Unfortunately we ran out of time to do Buckeyes, but I was sufficiently stuffed, so I wasn’t exactly gutted. All in all it was a really fun class. I especially enjoyed talking to the girl sitting next to me (who also worked in insurance – car insurance claims) and her friend that accompanied her.

Crazy Rich Asians…

Earlier in the week my sister texted to me to say she had just finished reading Crazy Rich Asians (written by Kevin Kwan) and wanted to know if I wanted to see the movie with her. Of course I said yes; so we arranged to meet at Movies 11 Dine-in at Mill Run. Being a Friday night and it being Happy Hour (wine $4, beer $3), I was already in a good mood going into the movie, and it certainly carried on as this is one funny, but also sentimental film. Back when the movie first came out I heard an interview with one of the cast who, of course, was quite upbeat about it saying she had seen the movie several times. The actress also mentioned “The Joy Luck Club” and how difficult it is to market a movie about Asians. They must be doing something right this time, because I believe the movie has been quite well attended grossing over $190 million dollars so far. 

Among other things, there’s a star-studded cast with well-knowns like Constance Wu (Jessica from “Fresh off the Boat”), Ken Jeong (Dr. Yap in “Bob’s Burgers”), and Nico Santos (Mateo Liwanag in “Superstore”). We all really loved the character of Peik Lin Goh (played by Awkwafina), described by her family as “an Asian Ellen” who was a college friend of Rachel. She is responsible for most of the comic relief in the movie (along with Nico Santos who played Oliver).

The movie is set in Singapore (the venue for the Young family wedding), which my husband, Andrew found interesting having once visited there on business in 1999. He said it appears to have changed quite a lot judging from all the new buildings glimpsed during the movie.

Now all that’s left to do is read the book and see how they compare!