New Chef on the Block

And, like a good instructor, Lin-Liu knew how to listen and inquire: "Do you use a vegetable wash in America? We do, or at least the foreigners do. We're pretty afraid of the pesticides."

She was pleased to see that the broadbean paste purchased at Kam Sam in Rockville was the same brand she uses in Beijing, but the tall bottle of black vinegar did not pass muster when she sampled it before using it in a salad dressing. "It doesn't taste sour enough," she said, and so would not be a worthy foil for the sweetness of roasted peanuts and pinch of sugar.

Lin-Liu tasted and adjusted, then scraped up minced garlic and tossed it into the dressed salad. That did the trick. "It needed a little kick," she said, acknowledging the Chinese tendency to cook without following the exact amounts of a recipe.

The two stir-fries she made showcased different treatments for tofu. One of them had earned a special nod from the owner of a Shanghai restaurant named Yin, known for its take on Shanghainese food. When she interned there, the chef challenged her to make the owner's favorite lunch, Home-Style Tofu. The effort was so successful, she said, that the owner was incredulous: "You -- you made it?"

Once the stir-fries were finished and quickly devoured, Lin-Liu helped clean up, repacked her cleaver and made a gift of pickled vegetables and true Sichuan peppercorns she had brought from China. In those small acts, she was gracious and culturally astute. Smart cookie, good fortune, bright future.

To see photos and learn more about Lin-Liu's cooking school, go tohttp://www.blacksesamekitchen.com.