Let's Get Ready to Crumble!! KCRW Good Food Pie Contest & FREE PIE For All! Sat., Nov. 14th from 12:30pm till 4pm. Westfield Topanga. Canoga Park, CA.

Here's pie in your mouth!

Well, well, well, it looks like all those years of gluttony has finally paid off. All that training at Vegas, hot wings and Chinese buffets has finally brought me to this pinnacle of power eating.

The bingeing, the stuffing, the acid reflux have all culminated to this one day, Saturday, November 14th from 1230pm to 4pm, when 150 pies will face off against 10 judges. And I'll be one of those judges.

I can feel the absolute power coursing through my veins even as I type these words. I will be one of those who decide which pie will be the pie to rule them all!!! MwahahahaHAAHAHAAA!!!

Stop by for the pie or just to say "hi". Hope to see you there!


Who wants pie?

KCRW’s GOOD FOOD PIE CONTEST
FREE PIE FOR ALL!

Sat., Nov. 14th, beginning at 12:30 pm till 4 pm
Westfield Topanga, Canoga Park: Canyon Atrium

Public radio station KCRW-Santa Monica (89.9 FM; www.KCRW.com) holds its first-ever PIE CONTEST Saturday, Nov. 14th, at Westfield Topanga Shopping Center. www.kcrw.com/pie 150 pies will be judged then sliced and served. FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

PIES BEGIN ARRIVING at 12:30. JUDGING BEGINS AT 1:30 pm. Event ends at 4 pm.

Evan Kleiman, host of Good Food, KCRW’s international award-winning radio show/podcast (www.kcrw.com/goodfood) is ringmaster. 10 judges include a who’s who of food-world stars: celebrity chefs, cookbook writers, bloggers:

Mark Peel (Campanile); Russ Parsons (LA Times Food Editor); Stefan Richter (Top Chef; Stefan’s at LA Farm); Eric Greenspan (The Foundry); Elizabeth Belkind (Cake Monkey Bakery); Amy Scattergood (LA Weekly’s Squid Ink blog); Amelia Saltsman (The Santa Monica Farmers Market Cookbook); Eddie Lin (DeepEndDining.com, author Extreme Cuisine); Pim Techamuanvivit (The Foodie Handbook; ChezPim.com); Clifford Wright (noted chef and cookbook author, “Best Soups in the World; Bake Until Bubbly: Casseroles).

The pie contest grew out of Evan Kleiman’s “Bake A Pie A Day” Project.

Sexy, Savory, Sweet & Yes, Steamy. The Steamy Kitchen's Book Release Party with Jaden Hair Hosted by Todd & Diane AKA the White On Rice Couple.

Eddie, Jaden & the brand spanking new Steamy Kitchen Cookbook!

There probably should be a show called "Everybody Loves Jaden" because it seems that everybody does. If you're even a casual reader of food blogs, then you're probably aware of Jaden Hair. If you're a food blogger, chances are she's left a comment on your blog or, better yet, she's broken bread with you. Given a chance, Jaden will either captivate you with her radiant smile or seduce you with her irresistible cooking. Behold the power of Jaden's Steamy Kitchen.

It all started on the rooftop terrace of Todd Porter and Diane Cu's (aka the White on Rice Couple) uber hip, urban downtown L.A. loft just a couple of blocks away from L.A. Live, where a cozy group of friends, family, bloggers, writers and, above all, food lovers, gathered to celebrate the release of Jaden Hair's The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

But, it really didn't begin at a swanky rooftop cocktail party. This journey to the publication of Jaden's first cookbook actually started in 2007 when she launched her Steamy Kitchen food blog. And like a bat out of hell's kitchen, she was on a mission to make her mark on the culinary world. By any measure, she's accomplished that with her weekly columns, regular television appearances and now her first cookbook. From my initial examination of the book, it's going to be a great success for Jaden.


The hosts with the mosts, Todd & Diane of White On Rice Couple.

The White on Rice Couple, Todd and Diane, smoothly guided the guests from the rooftop to their loft, as we segued the evening from cocktails to dinner and then back to drinking. (That's my kind of night, friends.) Todd blazed in the kitchen while Diane blasted with the camera that always seemed to be in her grip. When she wasn't snapping shots, she was skillfully setting up the buffet. No sweat, at least not anywhere visible.


Betty Hallock, food writer for the Los Angeles Times, engulfed in the Steamy Kitchen.

The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook is a love letter to Jaden's mother, family, friends and heritage as well as an unabashed celebration of Asian cuisine. The book is full of vibrant photos that show off Jaden's wonderful life to the degree that you can practically feel the love glowing off of the pages.


Diane setting up the steamy spread.

Oh, and the recipes and food she covers in the cookbook look pretty good too. From Asian Crab Cakes to Korean Kimchi Fried Rice to Bubble "Boba" Tea, I could easily be happy till my dying day eating food from this book of recipes.


Aaarrrrr!!!

Food bloggers, big shot food magazine editors and pirates all seemed to have enjoyed themselves at this intimate affair where you could've actually talked to everyone. Imagine that.


A little bit of everything.

The food was gorgeous to look at and just as beautiful tumbling about in the mouth where it counts. My wife Diane particularly enjoyed the Chinese Sausage Fried Rice and sake tasting, so much so that she began recounting the time she tried her first "Chinese sausage". I told her, "Honey, you're drunk. No need to tell that story." She continued and shared with our group how much she looooves Chinese sausage. Ahem, I'm sure everyone was laughing with her.


A very edible arrangement.

On the menu: coconut shrimp, cucumber salad with Vietnamese nuoc cham dressing, tropical fruit salad, beef meatballs with lychees, garlic noodles with Asian pesto, Chinese Sausage fried rice and, last but not at all least, "Mom's famous eggrolls".


Beautiful booze. Sake from ginjo to daiginjo grades.

There was even a sake tasting led by a super smart sake sommelier. I'm never really good at tastings especially when it comes to booze. The "tasting" part usually eludes me and I end up guzzling instead. I never realized how delicious and potent really good sake can be. Now I do. Now I do. Thank you, Tylenol.


Beautiful people eating beautiful food.

Now, all you beautiful people go out and buy Jaden's beautiful book The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook. Everybody's doing it.

Eddie Lin's "Extreme Cuisine" Listed on Entertainment Weekly's The Must List!

Is she screaming about the alligator cheesecake in the book?

What do Amy Poehler, the PC guy and my book, Extreme Cuisine, have in common? They're all on this week's Entertainment Weekly's The Must List! My book is number 3 on the list on page 5 in the November 6, 2009 issue.


Three is a magic number!

I'm not sure why my book made it on the list, but, hey, friends, I'm not complaining at all. I'm glad somebody finds the book entertaining.



Thanks to Jessica Yee, a reader and fellow Sunny Hills High School alum, for the heads up! Also, thanks to Entertainment Weekly for the cool honor, and, definitely thanks to Rana Freedman, my U.S. publicist, for all her hard work! You guys are great!

Eddie Lin Talks Extreme Cuisine w/ Merrill Shindler on KABC 790 Talk in LA Today from 5 to 6pm. Listen Online Too!

I'm going in to KABC 790 Talk Radio today, Halloween, from 5 to 6pm to talk to one of my food heroes, Mr. Merrill Shindler.

Waaay back before food was cool in Los Angeles (or even very good), Merrill Shindler was wading through the murky mire of the local LA restaurant scene. Along with the late Elmer Dills, another LA food critic pioneer, Shindler would vividly share with the KABC radio audience in mouth-watering detail his food adventures, many of which took place in LA's diverse ethnic enclaves. He was ahead of his time.

So I'm very excited and more than a little nervous to be meeting him for the first time since I was listening to the man back in high school on my crappy little mono radio. And now you can not only listen to the show on your kick ass Bose system that you bought from an infomercial but you can listen ONLINE as well. We've come a long way, baby!

Hope you can catch the LIVE show! Yikes. Have a fun Halloween!