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Tucked in an inconspicuous corner off the Quebec Street and County Line intersection lies China Taipei, one of the few restaurants that’s making a name for itself by serving authentic Chinese and Taiwanese food. First opened in 1992, China Taipei started with a simple menu of Chinese-American cuisine. Two years later, owner Danny and Amy Chou decided to embrace their roots by adding authentic Taiwanese cooking to their menu. Now China Taipei has two separate menus: one containing many well-known Chinese-American offerings, and the other filled with all authentic dishes (and written in Chinese). China Taipei’s online reviews suggest the restaurant to be one of Denver’s very best in authentic Chinese, and as a result, more and more non-Chinese foodies visit the restaurant to taste the unique items on its authentic menu. One popular dish from the authentic menu is the pork belly and pickled cabbage. The pork belly, which has a high fat content, is carefully prepared to ensure that the essence of the fat flavor is served to its advantage. Pieces of sliced pork are first deep fried, flavored, then sautéed, and finally steamed. Danny Chou spoke proudly of his pickled cabbage and the fact that he buys them directly from trusted Chinese vendors to ensure he gets the freshest vegetables possible. The result of all of this preparation and careful choice of ingredients was truly delightful. The pork was perfectly prepared, combining succulent, melt-in-your-mouth pork taste with crunchy and salty cabbages.
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8100 S. Quebec St., Ste B-14| “I like you. I want to marry you.” After a two-hour flight into Los Angeles, 13 hours into Seoul, South Korea, and a final three hours to Manila, Philippines, I was exhausted but somehow managed to attract a courter. Jon was a native of the Philippines in his late-20s about to hop on a flight home to Davao City. Waiting for my sister’s flight to land at the MNL airport, he spotted me in a coffee shop where I had eagerly discovered free wi-fi. First things first, I updated my Facebook status: “Finally made it into Manila safe and sound. 84 degrees! Love it!” Although, I would soon find that along with warm weather came the sweltering humidity, even in November during typhoon season. Jon was also an avid Facebook user and we became friends. Almost all young people I met in the Philippines also had Facebook accounts. Like many of the other Filipino people I came across, Jon was curious about my ethnicity, Chinese American. The concept seemed unfathomable. I am from the States. No, but what are you? Well, Chinese. Oh, ni hao ma! The Filipino people were always excited to share the one Chinese phrase they knew all too well. On the streets, merchants had no shame in shouting out any ‘Asian’ greeting at us, “Konichiwa”, “Ahn-nyung-ha-se-yo.” I did not look American.
After three hours of random chatter with my newfound friend Jon, he asked me to marry him and come with him to Davao. Luckily, my sister and her friend landed and we left for the hostel. Five amorous Facebook messages later, I unfriended Jon. Thus begins my two-week trip.
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Established in 1970, the Colorado Chinese Language School (CCLS) is offering a Chinese language computer teaching class using a proprietary software system starting January 2011. Students will be able to master listening, speaking, reading, writing and typing in various topics with a target number of 400 to 500 Chinese characters in each course year for a two-year program. The class provides measurable learning goals with a competitive tuition and unique teaching tools. “CCLS is starting the program in order to introduce the Chinese language to a broad audience whom needs an expeditious and efficient way of Chinese language learning,” board member Tai-Dan Hsu said. The course may assist professionals who are interested in doing business with Chinese speaking countries, missionaries to Asia, parents with adoptive Chinese children, and scholars interested in Chinese culture, politics, literature and arts. Teachers are specially trained and experienced, speaking both English and Mandarin, with knowledge in traditional and simplified Chinese characters and Hanyu Pinyin. There are currently no comparable courses available in Colorado. The Colorado Chinese Language School is an organization under the Colorado American Council of Colorado (CACC) which was established in 1997 to promote cooperation and communication among all Asian Pacific American organizations in Colorado. For more information, contact Tai-Dan Hsu at
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Children’s Hope Fund The nonprofit Children’s Hope Fund (CHF) hosted its monthly free meal program, serving hot lunches that included fried chicken, rice and juice, to more than 300 children on Nov. 21 in Tramo, a village in Bacoor, Cavite. The children in this area frequently skip meals or eat too little due to poverty. Born and raised in the Philippines, CHF Founder and President Rhezy Davis said growing up in a family with two brothers and four sisters was hard. “We didn’t have plumbing, electricity, or running water,” Davis said. “When it rained our roof, made of pawid (palm leaves), leaked and we had to put cardboard on our roof. “I remember going to school equipped with only one sheet of paper and a pencil. My parents couldn’t afford to send us to school with complete supplies or textbooks.”
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Nearly 16 percent of U.S.-born Asian-American women have contemplated suicide in their lifetime, while 6.3 percent have attempted to take their own lives, according to a 2009 study from the University of Washington. These numbers, taken from a sample of nearly 2,100 participants, are above the 13.5- and 4.6-percent estimates for all Americans. There are many factors that contribute to the high percentage of depression among AAPI women, said DJ Ida, executive director of the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association. The need to live up to the model minority myth, which says Asians achieve a higher degree of success than the general populous, is one such stressor. “When they talk about the myth of the model minority, they see Asian Americans as being perfect,” Ida said. “ … It’s not only your family that’s putting pressure, but society as a whole that has great expectations on you not to fail in any way.” The pressure to achieve perfection weighs down on many individuals, she said. “You have to be in a career that’s making lots of money, you have to have status,” Ida said.
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Depression is a ailment that afflicts many Asian-American women, but it is often ignored.|
But many who work within Colorado’s political realm are noticing that Asian Americans are no longer a silent minority. Instead, they are… Across the country, Asian Americans have been becoming more visible when it comes to politics. President Barack Obama’s cabinet includes Gary Locke, Steven Chu and Eric Shinseki. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, became president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate this past June and Nikki Haley won South Carolina’s governor’s race last month to become the country’s first female Indian American to hold that position. For many who have been around and involved in Colorado’s political landscape, there has also been an emerging voice coming from Asian Americans. From groups being formed to identify issues and concerns within the local AAPI communities to individuals working on campaigns or running for public office, Asian Americans have been taking steps to become more pronounced. “I think they’re becoming more aware that they do have a voice and what that voice can accomplish,” said Karen Nakandakare, former executive director for the state’s Democratic Party. “That’s huge for people to recognize that they can be at the table and how to go about doing it.” According to Fran Campbell, chair of the Denver Asian Pacific American Commission, part of the rising interest is due to the state’s growing AAPI population. Asians make up 2.7 percent of Colorado’s population, according to a 2009 estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau. While that’s still far below the 4.4-percent national average, it’s a half-percent increase from the 2000 census data and a substantial change from the 1 percent documented in the 1980 census. That growth, she said, has added for more need for the communities to speak out on their issues.
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Asian Americans have long been stereotyped with the trait of not speaking out. Not rocking the boat and making waves, and instead being a “model minority.” A group that goes about their business, works hard and stays quiet.| A homemade blue and black striped chair and black coffee table, both sporting old spray paint cans as legs, reside at the center of 2Kool Productions’ one-room studio in Denver. A mural dressed with every color imaginable covers an entire wall with the theme of a negative journey turned positive, much representative of Ratha Sok and his team’s experience in founding 2Kool. Simple passions for graffiti blossomed into a company run by young adults who hope to create lasting change in their community through their art and apparel. “It started in the streets,” said Sok, the company’s co-founder and business director. “We found that graffiti is truly our passion and wanted to pursue it in a more positive way.” After Sok spent two months in juvenile detention and was almost ordered by a judge to leave his family for a foster home at age 16 for vandalism, he decided to do something different with his life and talent. “I wanted to quit doing it because all it did was get me into trouble, but at the end of the night, I always found myself doing graffiti,” he said. In addition to independently creating his own designs, Sok would accept candy as payment from friends in exchange for his talents in designing their names in graffiti. Now the artist sits in 2Kool’s new space; they’ve inhabited it for less than a month and warmly welcome every visitor to sign their door for paying a visit to their new studio. “We started with nothing, custom hats, and now we’re finally out of our mom’s basement with our own office,” said Bimmer Torres, 2Kool co-founder and art director.
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| 10431 Town Center Drive 101C Never mind that the Pacific Ocean is more than a thousand miles east of the Mile High City, Denver serves solid seafood and do not let anyone tell you otherwise. As one of the local leaders in fusion cuisine, the East Moon Bistro & Sushi in Broomfield sets high dining standards. Displaying an elegant décor, where modernism meets Zen spiritualism, East Moon provides the ideal ambiance for a sophisticated experience. It is posh and sexy. And because one cannot simply judge a book by its cover, this bistro turn heads by serving amazingly flavorful and inspiring food. For starters, I recommend the yellowtail and and fireroll. The sashimi is served with cherry tomatoes, cilantro, capers, jalapeños and a special sauce. Every element in this dish works extremely well. The sweetness of the tomatoes pairs up with the cilantro and builds an interesting contrast with the slight bitterness of the capers. Meanwhile, the sauce – a mixture of ponzu and sesame oil – adds a certain tanginess that enhances the flavor of the fish and brings all the ingredients together. The fireroll is served with cuts of salmon and white tuna, and a mixture of spicy tuna and jalapenos topped with wasabi caviar. The caviar adds a distinctive texture with a hint of bitterness. The tuna mixture is not particularly spicy – which in this case comes from the thin jalapeño cuts. This is a nice unique touch because it does not add enough sriracha sauce to overpower the flavor nuances of the roll.
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| 10431 Town Center Drive 101C Never mind that the Pacific Ocean is more than a thousand miles east of the Mile High City, Denver serves solid seafood and do not let anyone tell you otherwise. As one of the local leaders in fusion cuisine, the East Moon Bistro & Sushi in Broomfield sets high dining standards. Displaying an elegant décor, where modernism meets Zen spiritualism, East Moon provides the ideal ambiance for a sophisticated experience. It is posh and sexy. And because one cannot simply judge a book by its cover, this bistro turn heads by serving amazingly flavorful and inspiring food. For starters, I recommend the yellowtail and and fireroll. The sashimi is served with cherry tomatoes, cilantro, capers, jalapeños and a special sauce. Every element in this dish works extremely well. The sweetness of the tomatoes pairs up with the cilantro and builds an interesting contrast with the slight bitterness of the capers. Meanwhile, the sauce – a mixture of ponzu and sesame oil – adds a certain tanginess that enhances the flavor of the fish and brings all the ingredients together. The fireroll is served with cuts of salmon and white tuna, and a mixture of spicy tuna and jalapenos topped with wasabi caviar. The caviar adds a distinctive texture with a hint of bitterness. The tuna mixture is not particularly spicy – which in this case comes from the thin jalapeño cuts. This is a nice unique touch because it does not add enough sriracha sauce to overpower the flavor nuances of the roll.
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| Howard Koh shared his experiences and fielded questions about health care during a reception in his honor on Nov. 7 at the Translations Gallery in Denver. Koh, assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services, spoke about being the son of immigrants and acknowledged the struggles and perserverance he saw from his own family. “My parents and my relatives, who came to this country, faced tremendous odds,” he said, “just being considered outsiders, struggling to learn a new language, a new culture.” Koh said he sees Asian Americans having a stronger voice, especially when he stood on stage next to President Barack Obama as he signed a new White House initiative on the life of AAPIs. “We are in a new era for public service,” he said. The event was hosted by the Asian Pacific Development Center and the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association.
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