"KatieChin" news and stories

Meatball plate at Ikea. Photo: roboppy/flickr

Swedish meatballs may be the mainstay at the Ikea cafeteria, but the flat-pack furniture chain is branching out.

Next month, Ikea will hold five free cooking classes with well-known chefs as part of a marketing campaign with Family Circle, Mediaweek reports.

Food University Presented by Family Circle will stop at Ikeas in Seattle (Oct. 20, Caprial Pence), Costa Mesa, Calif. (Oct. 22, Katie Chin), Tempe, Ariz. (Oct. 28, Claudine Pepin), Sunrise, Fla. (Nov. 3, Oliver Saucy) and College Park, Md. (Nov. 5, Mary Ann Esposito) for two-hour seminars that promise an introduction to ingredients, tips on entertaining and spicing up a menu as well as healthy family recipes.

The seminars are free and open to the public.

[Via Mediaweek]

I have always had a fascination with Asian cooking. When I was younger, I would beg my parents for meals from our local Vietnamese and Thai restaurants and as I got older, any time I had the opportunity to eat out, my preference would be sushi or Pho. Several years ago, I started playing around with learning to cook food that tasted mildly similar to my restaurant favorites (I had particular success with baby bok choy).

If you have a similar culinary obsession to mine, there's a contest going on now that you might want to check it out. It's something of a long shot, but what an amazing trip it will be for the lucky person who wins. Thai Kitchen and Simply Asia are giving away a seven-day trip for two to the winner's choice of one of the following locations: Beijing, China; Shanghai, China; or Bangkok, Thailand. The trip includes air travel, hotel accommodations for six nights, transfers to and from airport and hotel, and even some spending money cash. Sounds like a dream vacation to me.

Even for those who aren't interested in the contest, it's worth checking out the website, as they offer lots of recipes as well as how-to instructional videos with Chef Katie Chin. One of their recipes, for Spicy Pork Noodle Soup, is after the jump.

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