I do not pretend to be an expert. I don’t know much about the science of cooking, I don’t pretend to have a grasp on any sort of authenticity of the recipes I cook, I just know what I like. I’m sure there will be things that I get wrong. But it’s a good place for me to keep track of what I’m doing, what I’ve learnt, what I like, things I’ve tried, and things I want to try.

My goals with this blog are to:

• Try and document most recipes in Dunlop’s book
• Try and review every metro-accessible Chinese restaurant in Washington, DC
• Find the perfect pepper to use that I can actually buy for the dishes I make
• Try to recreate a dish that was on the specials menu at Yangming in the fall (Chongqing crispy cubed chicken with peppers was the basic gist of the dish)
• Share information about my experiences so that other beginners can benefit from them
• Find another good Sichuan cookbook, even if I have to translate it from Chinese myself

And so it begins…