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February Book Club

February 4th, 2025

06:00PM - 08:00PM

February Book Club - 2/4

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** Registration will open 12/1/24.

Join Ginger and the team for a lively discussion on this month’s food themed book, Chop Fry Watch Learn: Fu Pei-mei and the Making of Modern Chinese Food by Michelle T. King.

Food and drink will be available for purchase during the event and a complimentary snack from the book will be served.

Book Club is a free event. No ticket is necessary but RSVPs are required.

Visit Old Firehouse Books in Old Town to purchase your book – Book Club books purchased at Old Firehouse the month before or month of book club receive a 20% discount for being a part of the Ginger and Baker Book Club!

More about Chop Fry Watch Learn: Fu Pei-mei and the Making of Modern Chinese Food by Michelle T. King:

In 1949, a young Chinese housewife arrived in Taiwan and transformed herself from a novice to a natural in the kitchen. She launched a career as a cookbook author and television cooking instructor that would last four decades. Years later, in America, flipping through her mother’s copies of Fu Pei-mei’s Chinese cookbooks, historian Michelle T. King discovered more than the recipes to meals of her childhood. She found, in Fu’s story and in her food, a vivid portal to another time, when a generation of middle-class, female home cooks navigated the tremendous postwar transformations taking place across the world.

In Chop Fry Watch Learn, King weaves together stories from her own family and contemporary oral history to present a remarkable argument for how understanding the story of Fu’s life enables us to see Chinese food as both an inheritance of tradition and a truly modern creation, influenced by the historical phenomena of the postwar era. These include a dramatic increase in the number of women working outside the home, a new proliferation of mass media, the arrival of innovative kitchen tools, and the shifting diplomatic fortunes of China and Taiwan. King reveals how and why, for audiences in Taiwan and around the world, Fu became the ultimate culinary touchstone: the figure against whom all other cooking authorities were measured.

If you are looking to dive into next month’s delicious read, in March we will be reading, Love & Saffron, by Kim Fay.

When twenty-seven-year-old Joan Bergstrom sends a fan letter–as well as a gift of saffron–to fifty-nine-year-old Imogen Fortier, a life-changing friendship begins. Joan lives in Los Angeles and is just starting out as a writer for the newspaper food pages. Imogen lives on Camano Island outside Seattle, writing a monthly column for a Pacific Northwest magazine, and while she can hunt elk and dig for clams, she’s never tasted fresh garlic–exotic fare in the Northwest of the sixties. As the two women commune through their letters, they build a closeness that sustains them through the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy, and the unexpected in their own lives.

Food and a good life–they can’t be separated. It is a discovery the women share, not only with each other, but with the men in their lives. Because of her correspondence with Joan, Imogen’s decades-long marriage blossoms into something new and exciting, and in turn, Joan learns that true love does not always come in the form we expect it to. Into this beautiful, intimate world comes the ultimate test of Joan and Imogen’s friendship–a test that summons their unconditional trust in each other.

Cancellation/Refund Policies
• ALL TEACHING KITCHEN TICKETS ARE FINAL and NON_REFUNDABLE and must be used for the specific class for which they are purchased. However, Teaching Kitchen tickets can be transferred to friends or family should you be unable to attend. Simply forward your confirmation number to them!
• We reserve the right to cancel a class due to inclement weather, low attendance or emergencies. If we need to cancel, we will notify you by telephone and email to ensure we reach you and offer you a credit towards another class or a full refund.

Age Requirements
• Our cooking classes are designed for adults, ages 18 and older.
• We do offer specific classes for kids and teens. Please review our calendar for class offerings.

Food Substitution Policy
• We respectfully decline any substitutions or modifications to our published menus. We are unable to deviate from the published menu without adversely affecting the experience of other students. We are happy to craft a private class with you and customize according to dietary restrictions and allergies. Class attendants are always welcome to order from our restaurant menu, during class, as an alternative.

Stay up to Date!
• If you’re interested in hearing about upcoming classes or have a class suggestion, please send our Teaching Kitchen Coordinator an email with your name and number!

FAQ: To register for a class with a gift card, please email or call our Teaching Kitchen Coordinator, at teachingkitchen@gingerandbaker.com or 970.223.7437 option 4

Thank you !!