chinese take out: I love chinese food! I lost my wife last year, so I am trying to learn how to cook. I don't want to keep going to the chinese take out place, can I learn how to do it myself? What do I need, and where can I go for instructions?|||There are some virtual cooking classes, information and recipes in below links for beginners. http://home.lkk.com/kitchen/tips_beginne鈥?/a> http://home.lkk.com/kitchen/tips_interme鈥?/a> http://home.lkk.com/kitchen/kitchen_virt鈥?/a> lkk = Lee Kum Kee is a famous brand and they invented oyster sauce a century ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Kum_Kee|||get martin yan's "yan can cook" very basic and easy to understand. written for beginners and gwailas (round eyes) if you just want to experiment with the flavors, go to the store and purchase some oyster sauce, some black bean paste with garlic and some ginger. you will notice the flavors are there.|||http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking/cs/w鈥?/a> hope above help.|||First im sorry about your wife, but if you have any chinese friends ask them if you dont go to Chapters and buy a chinese cooking book. Im thinking your cooking will be PERFECTO!|||i taught myself how to cook chinese when i had to move to NC and realized all their chinese food sucked (i'm from CA). chinese food is actually really easy to cook. it's the prep that is time consuming. lots of cutting, but very quick cooking. i bought a wok and just started trying out recipes of my favorite dishes. if i didn't like a recipe, i tried a different one the next time. i bought a few books, but you don't have to. there is so much free information and recipes on the internet. i do agree with the above, if you are going to buy a book, go with martin yan (yan can cook). also i just bought the ingredients as the recipes called for them. soon i had a "chinese pantry". you'll find a lot of recipes use the same stuff. light and dark soy sauce, hoisin sauce, cornstarch, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, green/spring onions, etc. good luck, and i'm sorry about your loss.|||Ugh, screw Martin Yan- he's a hack and a half. If you want to learn good Chinese cooking, get a cookbook by Joyce Chen, which is very easy to follow: http://www.amazon.com/Joyce-Chen-Cook-Bo鈥?/a> And then practice and practice. It'll be fun, and you'll get to eat your mistakes and successes! Good luck!|||I am so very sorry to hear about your wife. This is a great website: lots of recipes, tips & tricks and step by step instructions with photos. http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chinesec鈥?/a>|||Try these websites Ingredients: 1 lb pumpkin 4 tbsp oil 陆 stalk leek, chopped 陆 tsp salt 录 tsp sugar 陆 cup water Directions: Peel pumpkin and remove seeds. Cut into 2 inch squares. Heat 4 tbsp oil and fry pumpkin. Add leek, sugar, and water. Simmer for 15 minutes and serve hot.