KUOW Book Club's February pick: A celebratory cookbook from Seattleites Hsiao-Ching Chou and Meilee Chou Riddle

The KUOW Book Club is reading and cooking along with "Feasts of Good Fortune" by Hsiao-Ching Chou and Meilee Chou Riddle this month.

With Valentine's Day right around the corner and the cost of eating out rising ever higher, KUOW food reporter Ruby de Luna brought me a fun idea: featuring a cookbook for February. The idea is to encourage y'all to connect with another culture's culinary traditions and history while testing your skills in the kitchen. Luckily, Ruby had the perfect book to accomplish those goals. So, we'll be reading and cooking along with this Chinese American book of recipes and stories.

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"Feasts of Good Fortune" was just published in December and runs the gamut from traditional Lunar New Year menus (Happy Lunar New Year, by the way!) with recipes passed down generations to Thanksgiving get-togethers celebrated with tantalizing side dishes.

And I think what made it extra tempting to me were the personal stories the mother-daughter team wove throughout the book. It's described as a "deeply personal intergenerational cookbook, cowritten by mother and daughter," but it goes beyond their bond. We, the readers/cooks, are welcomed not only to their table but also to their family history. This is a cookbook that can also be read.

That said, "Feasts of Good Fortune" includes 75 recipes "for a full year of celebrations with family and friends the Chinese American way," and I want y'all to try a few for yourselves. 

Here's my proposal:

• Make two recipes and read the corresponding history/family lore by February 17. I recommend using this as an opportunity to make Valentine's dinner at home for your partner, friends, or yourself!
• Make another recipe and read about it by February 26. Share something about the experience with me at kcampbell@kuow.org by February 24 to possibly be included in my final write-up. 

I have something fun in the works with the authors for their interview, so be sure to keep an eye out for more details about that. As per usual, I’ll send out a newsletter at the halfway point and when we finish the book.

Subscribe to the book club newsletter here, and join the conversation by emailing me directly at kcampbell@kuow.org.

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Spoiler alert: I'm happy to announce we'll be reading Putsata Reang's stunning memoir, "Ma and Me," in March. Reang's family fled war-torn Cambodia when she was just an infant. She explores her inherited trauma and the expectations foisted upon her in the years that followed. 

Reang's memoir won the Pacific Northwest Book Award for Nonfiction in 2023. It was also a finalist for a Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Lambda Literary Prize. In short, you know it's going to be good.