During my trip to San Francisco, it was a priority for me to visit the Wok Shop on Grant St. in Chinatown. I read about this shop on one of my food blogs almost a year ago now. (Tried to find the original post, but can’t remember where it was from!) And, as luck would have it, the Wok Shop does have a virtual store on Amazon. But I put off purchasing online b/c of the cost of shipping. Did I really need an authentic wok that bad? mmm … No, I guess not. Etc., etc.
All that nonsense changed as soon as I decided to go to San Francisco with Sassymonkey for the BlogHer Food ’09 conference. Getting a wok was the ONLY priority I had. I didn’t care about doing anything else but. And, wouldn’t you know, Chinatown was only 4 blocks or so from our hotel. Wok Shop, here I come!
The owner of the store, while super busy with end-of-the-day store business, stopped what she was doing to help me choose my wok. I told her I’m using electric heat now, but eventually will switch to gas. So she pointed to the not-so-pretty iron wok. And, then I fell in love. Sigh.
I am now the proud owner of a wok set from the Wok Shop. I’ve the 16″ iron wok, with cover, steaming rack, wok chuan, cleaning whisk, and traditional cooking chopsticks. I think I’ve gone to heaven! The owner also through in a curly cue cleaning brush and a bamboo back scratcher. Can’t go wrong with freebies!
As soon as I publish this post, I’m going to season my wok, and crack open The Key to Chinese Cooking and see what trouble I can get myself in to. I’ll keep you posted… (wow, I just did a blog pun!).
ALL DONE!
Love the Wok Shop! I went there two years ago with Lydia from The Perfect Pantry and went back again this year with Caron from San Diego Foodstuffs. Perfect store for food bloggers!
Your wok set is beautiful and remember, it’s not just for Chinese cooking. My parents only used their wok for as long as I can remember to cook almost everything on the stovetop – to make soup, for steaming and stir frying.
[...] yes? Its so easy to be excited when you have the proper cooking utensils and I must say, the new wok is fast becoming a treasured piece in my collection. On Monday night, I tried a new dish that I [...]