Evening Star Newspaper, August 8, 1937, Page 82

‘14 olRITG ER first taste of hospitality in the land of her ancestors was a banquet of forty-three courses in Shanghai. For = Anna May Wong, the beautiful Chinese-American star of the screen, found that fame had preceded her and that an ova- ticn was waiting for her, when she made her first trip to the Orient some fifteen months ago. Everybody was eager to entertain her, including the delightful Chinese Ambassador to France and his wife, Dr. and Mrs. Welling- ton Koo, who had tiffin in her honor. Or in plain American, they gave a luncheon for her. Anna May Wong, whose Chinese name, Wong Lu Taong, means Frosted Yellow Wil- lows, spent her childhood on Flower Street in the Chinatown of Los Angeles. When she was twelve she stole away from school and got herself accepted as one of a large crowd in a movie scene. It was a disappointment for, . When the picture was released, the child could not distinguish herself in the throng, let alone be distinguished by others to whom she had been boasting. Since then, however, the tall Chinese girl has made an international reputation for herself as a motion picture star. Unforgettable in the American pictures, ‘‘Limehouse Blues,” “Daughter of the Dragon,” “Mr. Wu,” “Shanghai Express,” Anna May Wong has also made splendid pictures in Germany and England. “Tsong” was a German film, while her favorite motion picture parts came to her in the English productions, “The Pavement Butterfly’’ and “Piccadilly.” Anna May Wong loves China. ‘“And to me,” she says, “Peiping is China.” Here you find the gardens that have been lovely for asenturies, and all the splendor and beauty of ancient China, which so entrance her. But she finds pleasure also in the China- towns of our -American cities. “As soon as I arrive in a city,” she will tell you, *‘I am eager to find Chinatown. Ten years ago when I was in New York for the first time, I said: ‘I want to see Chinatown.” And when we came there, 1 caught at once the fragrance of musk which I love to smell. “As for Chinese food I like it so much that 1 am almost intoxicated with the pleasure of it. I always try to reciprocate hospitality by giving a Chinese dinner once a fortnight. When I am stopping at a hotel I take my friends to a top restaurant in Chinatown. “The Chinese, you know, can take almost &nything and fix it up into a marvelous meal. Chop suey, which Americans usually think of as a particular dish, is really unknown in China, at least in the sense in which foreigners speak of it. The words chop suey merely mean Almond Cakes These make g, delightful accompani- ment for tea— and you might serve kumquats and conserved fruits with them. 1 teaspoon almond extract 2 cups butter 4 cups sifted cake flour 14 cups sugar . 14 teaspoon salt " Blanched almond halves Blend almond extract into butter, creaming until soft. Gradually work in flour, then sugar and salt. Knead to a paste. Form into a thick roll, then cut in 14 inch slices. Arrange on greased cookie sheet, press an almond half into center of each and bake about 30 minutes in a moderate oven (350° F). Approximate yield: 114 dozen. . Chinese Recipes Chinese dishes can be o great treat. And we offer particukarly good ones in addition fo recipes for dishes named on this page. To get them send a three-cent stomp with this coupon or with a letter to This Week Magazine, in care of this news- - paper. : Cityland State TR e THIS WEEK (A1 BRIQUL Anna May Wong, the beautiful American-born Chinese actress of stage and screen, finds exhilaration in the foods of her ancestors by GRACE TURNER ABOVE — ANNA MAY WONG, WEARING A CHINESE DRESS, HAS TEA IN LEONEBEL JACOBS' STUDIO. THE CHINESE REFRESHMENTS ARE SHOWN BELOW Magazine Section ‘small bits,’ and hash or Irish stew are really a chop suey as a Chinese looks at it. Probably that is why I am so fond of hash and stew and , all dishes prepared by a method similar to the Chinese.” i One of the most delightful meals Anna May Wong can remember in America was served in the house of a guest professor from Prince- ton. The chicken had been almost powdered to make the soup for the first course and there were mustard greens to give it an indescrib- ably wonderful flavor. Then came a lobster dish, with the lobster cut in small pieces and served with a creamy garlic sauce. " The “gold coined chicken” which was served next is really barbecued ham cut into round pieces, the shape and size of coins, and put, sandwich-fashion, into tiny, delicate biscuits. The next or main course was stuffed chicken. Each piece is stuffed with a dressing made of rice, lotus berries, mushrocms, bamboo sprouts and water chestnuts. Then the chicken is fried; and finally the pieces are cleverly put together, so that it comes to the table looking like a whole chicken. i There were three other courses, one con- sisting of steamed fish with a pickled soy bean sauce; another being prepared, in the chop-suey manner, of virgin peas in the pod, bamboo sprouts, water chestnuts and mush- rooms; and the last consisting of a light cheese. Sweets, according to Anna May Wong, are not to be expected in a Chinese dinner. In China itself rice or chow mein appears as the last course and its advent announces that dinner is over, just as dessert does to us. Sweets, on the other hand, are served separ- ately, perhaps with tea as a between-meals course. There are almond cakes, for instance, and conserved fruits, and a favorite of Miss Wong’s which goes by the enticing name of Eight Precious Sweets. It is like a pudding and is served with a sugar sauce. Of all dishes that Anna May Wong has ever tasted, the one that stands out is Peiping duck which she had in the city of that name at a three-hundred-year-old restaurant, called Tung Shin Low. One of the last emperors of China, growing weary sometimes of the royal food, is said to have gone there incognito to feast on the duck specialty which delighted Anna May Wong. Practically every part of the duck is used for a separate course. From the carcass comes your soup. The skin you will eat in a form very like tortillas, with a chutney sauce and an accompaniment of spring onions. But it is the meat of the duck that will make you think you have never before known what it means to enjoy food. It is kept dripping with oil while it is barbecued over a fire made of palm leaves. There will also be a custard made of duck eggs. And all these things together are what a Chinese means when he speaks to you reverently of Peiping duck. t 3 f ) i