The Fortune Cookie Chronicles


  • #26 on the New York Times Best Seller List
    and featured on The Colbert Report, Martha Stewart, TED.com, CNN, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Charlie Rose Tomorrow, Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, and NPR stations coast to coast. Also selected for Borders Original Voices and Book Sense. Follow me on Twitter! Fan me on Facebook.

  • Archive for March, 2008

    « Previous Entries Next Entries »

    Fortune Cookie Chronicles in Hawaii

    Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

    A friend sent me a photo of her 90-year-old dad reading The Fortune Cookie Chronicles galley while on vacation in Hawaii.

    Fortune Cookie Chronicles’ Amazon rating is back up to five star

    Monday, March 24th, 2008

    I woke up today to discover that my Amazon rating is back up to five stars because two new contributors pulled the average up. I thought I should take a screenshot of it while it lasts.

    Random people actually read the book…which still continues to surprise me

    Monday, March 24th, 2008

    So I was at R&G Lounge in San Francisco Chinatown for a low-key alumni event when these people from another table actually recognized me because they had read my book. They weren’t even Chinese American or my age. It was a father and teenage son pair, genetically Indian, from Brownsville, Texas. (That’s like essentially Mexico). […]

    Third printing!

    Monday, March 24th, 2008

    Due to strong re-orders from bookstores and (hopefully) continued media attention, the publishers just ordered a third printing. Yay. Whew.

    Thank you for whoever fixed my Chinese name on the Wikipedia page

    Sunday, March 23rd, 2008

    Someone fixed my Chinese name on my Wikipedia entry so it is traditional rather than simplified. Thank you.

    Cashew chicken, also Chinese American

    Sunday, March 23rd, 2008

    A reader sent me the Wikipedia post on cashew chicken (腰果鸡丁), which I had not realized, originated in one of its forms in Springfield, Missouri when Chinese restaurateur David Leong was looking for something to appeal to the local palate, so made this dish with fried chicken-type bits in the 1960s. (again the secret in […]

    14k Fortune Cookie Jewelry (why?)

    Sunday, March 23rd, 2008

    Sent to me by a coworker. A Rachel Leigh fortune cookie necklace, which is made of 14k gold, so this is not the cheap costume stuff. (Who is Rachel Leigh, I don’t know, but it’s these kinds of Web sites that make me feel like I should). Just goes to prove how iconic fortune cookies […]

    Facialisation and racialisation…Fortune Cookie Chronicles’s Academic Cousins

    Sunday, March 23rd, 2008

    A reader just sent me a blog summary of an academic paper on Chinese takeaways in Great Britian. The title of the paper, by David Parker, is ‘The Chinese Takeaway and The Diasporic Habitus- Space, Time and Power Geometries” — which is just a fancier way of saying “The Fortune Cookie Chronicles” (kidding). It is  […]

    #26 on 3/30/08

    Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

    Yay. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles hits the New York Times extended bestseller list at #26 on the March 30 issue (which is up today). Because of the way the list operates, that represents the second week of sales, or the week closing on March 15 (my birthday). As my friend pointed out, 2 + 6 […]

    General (Tso’s?) Sushi? A reader responds

    Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

    Getting reader emails like these is in part why authors write — to know they have changed how someone looks at the world. The line about whether the General of the sushi is the one of chicken fame or not made me burst out laughing. After reading your book, I have to say; I’ll never […]

    Cary Goldstein is on vacation, so Carolyn Mimran is publicity woman for the week

    Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

    Twelve’s publicist, Cary Goldstein, is on a (much needed) vacation — and totally unreachable (yay). Working on 12 books a year on an unrelenting pace is incredible task, and he has done an admirable job. Anyway, so people needing to reach a publicist this week can reach Carolyn Mimran, his assistant, at carolyn dot mimran […]

    Zoe’s in Somerville, where the Chinese go to eat

    Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

    I did my WBUR interview with Here and Now at Zoe’s in Somerville, which is ote cited asone of the most authentic Chinese restaurant in the Cambridge/Somerville area. (See Yelp reviews, which have mixed opinion on the authenticity). It’s a place where the dominant language spoken over tables is Chinese — especially last night since […]

    May 7, Wednesday at The Lighthouse

    Friday, March 21st, 2008

    Just got booked at The Lighthouse, an incredible institution, for May 7th, Wednesday as part of their Dorothy Strelsin Author Series, a program So the program will (likely?) run from 6 to 8 p.m with a reception 6 – 6:30, then discussion/presentation at 6:30, followed by reception, book selling and signing. It will take place […]

    Washingtonian Chat Transcript from March 20

    Friday, March 21st, 2008

    On Thursday I did an online chat with the Washingtonian, which was really fun. (good questions) Sara Levine coordinated. Washington has been a surprisingly strong market for the book. (Great events at both the Library of Congress and Politics and Prose, who exercised their marketing muscle. Standing room only with ~150 people each.)

    USA Today: “Fortune Cookie is a sweet treat, told in a lively, engaging fashion by a writer who clearly knows, and loves, Chinese cuisine.”

    Thursday, March 20th, 2008

    Leslie Cauley reviews The Fortune Cookie Chronicles for USA Today.  Overall positive, with some interesting criticisms that I hand’t heard yet, basically TMI. Too many details on Chinese food. Things you wanted to know and didn’t. (Shrug)

    Derek Shimoda’s The Killing of a Chinese Cookie

    Thursday, March 20th, 2008

    Derek Shimoda’s documentary, The Killing of the Chinese Cookie, is playing in the International Asian American Film Festival. I convinced Derek to come with me to Japan to document the Japaneseness of the cookies when I heard he was working on a documentary. I have a funny story about when we first talked on the […]

    Details on the Seattle Underground Dinner

    Thursday, March 20th, 2008

    So I just got sent the info for the details of the very cool undergroundish Seattle dinner on March 30 hosted by Michael Hebberoy and Onepot.org. (here is a piece on his roving restaurateuring) Here’s a summary: Books and dinner for $80, coordinated in large part by Kim Ricketts (yay) one pot + the fortune […]

    Crossing paths with Obama in Philly

    Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

    Totally randomly, I was scheduled to stop in Philadelphia for two NPR interviews at WHYY at the same time that Obama was giving his eagerly anticipated (historic?) speech on race right across the street at the National Constitution Center. (Here is the text). Here are all the satellite trucks lined out front from WHYY’s second-floor […]

    Smith Magazine Q&A

    Monday, March 17th, 2008

    Elaine Chen writes up our Q&A for Smith Magazine INTERVIEW: Jennifer 8. Lee, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles Monday, March 17th, 2008 By Elaine Chen New York Times reporter Jennifer 8. Lee started tracking down a suspiciously high number of lottery winners, and ended up following a trail that led through hundreds of Chinese restaurants on […]

    The Library of Congress Flyer

    Monday, March 17th, 2008

    I know, if I had my act together, I would have posted this before the event at the Library of Congress. But notice the iconic use of fortune cookies (which are more recognized in America than anywhere else)

    Christian Science Monitor: “Where Lee shines most is in the narration of the stories of the real-life people she meets on her worldwide discovery tour.”

    Monday, March 17th, 2008

    Terry Hong reviews my book favorably in the Christian Science Monitor: ‘Fortune Cookie Chronicles’: 40,000 egg rolls… to go A New York Times reporter goes global, tracing the origins of America’s Chinese food. By Terry Hong Luddite me made a surprisingly funny joke to two techies after reading Jennifer 8. Lee’s delightful The Fortune Cookie […]

    Someone added my Chinese name to my Wikipedia entry in simplified :( form

    Monday, March 17th, 2008

    So someone added my Chinese name to my Wikipedia entry (gleaned, I suppose, from the coverage of the book in Chinese language media). I actually find it a bit grating because they used the simplified character of my name instead of traditional character which is 2x the simplified character (which is what I grew up […]

    Politics and Prose, Kosher Chinese Food and Standing Room Only

    Monday, March 17th, 2008

    This is one half of the audience at my Politics & Prose event at Sixth and I Synagogue which is in Chinatown. (It was like the perfect convergence of my book: literary, Jews, Chinatown). The other half of the audience is at the right, past the laptop. It was about 150+ people, standing room only. […]

    New York City Asia Society, April 16, with Fucshia Dunlop!

    Monday, March 17th, 2008

    I’m very excited that I’m doing an event with Fucshia Dunlop, who is the other woman on this planet who is as obsessed with General Tso’s chicken as I am. She tracked down Chef Peng to Taipei as well! Fucshia’s book Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China, is often […]

    Harvard Advocate poster with Chinese Take-out Carton

    Monday, March 17th, 2008

    I think the posters for my events are quite adorable and amusing. This one from The Harvard Advocate (and another one I will show from the Library of Congress) uses symbols of Chinese-ness (fortune cookies and takeout boxes) that are actually things largely indigenous to America. The takeout boxes are so American they are not […]

    « Previous Entries Next Entries »