dahi toast, from Priya Krishna's Indian-ish
soo the reason our spotlight last week was on Priya Krishna was that I (Melinda) moderated an event yesterday - I chatted with Priya for a whole hour! Gosh. It was fun :) I spent a lot of time researching her and preparing questions. She's super cool!! She has a cookbook coming out this year, but we focused on the cookbook she wrote with her mom, called Indian-ish.
a question for you to think about—when's the last time you tried to make a new dish from your culture's cuisine?
Love,
Jamie & Melinda
News
🥇 As the 2021 Tokyo Olympics wrap up, the US finishes with staggering total of 133 medals! WOW! Among the medal winners includes a number of AAPI individuals. Our favs include Suni Lee, first Hmong American to win gold in gymnastics, Carissa Moore, a Native Hawaiian surfer who won gold, and Lee Kiefer, a Filipina American who also won gold in fencing. (also wow look at all these girlbosses...)
👠 Speaking of girlbosses, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan became the second South Asian woman to appear on the cover of teen vogue! I love the look! In this interview, she talks about South Asian representation on TV, her character Devi making terrible horrible bad decisions, and her life over the past year.
🏛️ AAPI community leaders met with Biden last week on "key issues affecting the fastest-growing electorate in the country." Christine Chen, who leads APIAVote and went to this meeting, said Biden's administration "affirmed its support for two voting rights measures, the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancements Act."
Christine said, "We will continue to work with the administration to ensure stories from our community are used as examples of the danger these anti-voter laws have." Interesting context: exit polls from the 2020 Presidential election found that "AAPI voters voted for Biden over former President Donald Trump by a 2 to 1 margin."
⚖️ The U.S. Department of Justice filed a "notice of intent" on July 30 to pursue a retrial of Anming Hu, a former professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Hu was accused of hiding his affiliation with a Chinese university when applying for funding from NASA. His original trial under the "China Initiative" (initiative launched in 2018 by Trump) ended in a mistrial back in June.
Advocacy groups and Asian American politicians are frustrated. U.S. rep Judy Chu stating said "the case of Dr Anming Hu is the most glaring example of how investigations rooted in racial profiling lead to flimsy cases that cannot stand up in court." AAJC director John Yang said the decision to retry Hu is to "confirm an utter disregard for justice."
Chef's Specials
💕 Always a fav, Dev Patel gives an interview on his film history, his role in TheGreen Knight, and acting as a British Asian man.
🎉 I LOVE the support that St. Paul, Minnesota is showing Suni Lee after she won 3 Olympic medals. They dead-ass threw her a parade. Icon.
🎵 I recently discovered this vibey R&B band of 3 dudes from Singapore called brb. I realized I've been listening to more R&B inspired stuff lately. I liked this upbeat song from them.
🥋 "Bidhan Lama represented Nepal in the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul. He won a a bronze medal in taekwondo - Nepal's greatest achievement in the Olympic Games to date." But... taekwondo only became an official Olympic sport in 2000. Read more here:
Small Feelings [photo journal of Asian American things!]
Speaking of nice photos, I walked through chinatown the other day and it was v beautiful
also lmao we caught up this weekend and both of us lowkey really want an intern - is that?? weird??
I also went to Seattle’s Chinatown/International District :) there was a festival going on:
Also, in prep for moderating the talk with Priya Krishna, I made sure to try out one of her dishes from Indian-ish - she emphasized that all the recipes are approachable for EVERYONE. I'm a beginner cook so this was perfect. I tried the Roasted Aloo Ghobi! I didn't have all the spices she suggested, but at least I had cumin - I like cumin :D I think I sort of burnt them though... it tasted pretty good, except I added a bit too much salt.
I was lazy for lunch one day so I quickly heated pre-made dumplings on the stove top and put them in this soup based meant for pho (from the brand "Savory Choice" that I found at the QFC). it's so easy, you just add water! Now I'm even more curious about good quality pre-made soup bases with Asian flavors... idk if i have the patience to make soup just yet.
This pic below is sort of random, but I got my nails done at the place I had gone to a few times 2 summers ago. The place was run/operated by Southeast Asian folks last I remembered. The ownership has changed since two years ago, but it's still run by Southeast Asian folks :)
Also, I'm wearing a ring that my grandparents had gotten me a while ago. During my previous visits to China, they gave me and my sister expensive jewelry, and although that was nice, I didn't really want/need expensive jewelry. But I guess this reminds me of this post on love languages - this gift giving is their way of expressing, although that’s not how I prefer to receive love.
✨ S P O T L I G H T ✨
Robin Tran
I've been trying to get into more comedy acts for a while (It literally feels like everyone I know loves going to comedy shows and I'm like ???? why???) BUT recently I discovered Robin Tran through an article about AAPI trialblazers.
Funny, sarcastic, and humorous in a dead-pan way that I love, Robin Tran is transgender stand up comedian from California. She grew up with a large Vietnamese family and studied English at UC Irvine. Comedy, however, ran in the family, and she quickly started pursing stand up at open mic nights in 2012. In 2015, she came out as a trans woman and continues to talk about her experience through her acts. (Source)
Since she started, she has been on shows like Roast Battle and Don't Look at Me (a Hulu miniseries comedy special). Check out one of her short performances here and a longer interview with the LA Times! She's also on Twitter and TikTok.
OUR LINKS
🐥 Twitter: @around_thetable
🌶️ Insta: @around_thetable_
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Spotlight Form: https://forms.gle/AD5vGqgNbSYWn5wJ7
AAPI Artists Spotify Playlist (it's collaborative again!) :