Suzanne Hanselman is up and running in the Chinese vegetable department after visiting an Asian market with me and Chef Tim McCoy, who was shopping for a Chinese New Year class he was teaching. In this photo, she and Tim are examining some of the many varieties of bok choy, some of which both ended up purchasing.

The market we visited was Park to Shop in Cleveland's Asia Plaza and E. 30th and Payne. You may have read some of what we learned in The News-Herald's Wednesday Food section (which see).

Like a lot of us, Suzanne is trying to lower her cholesterol with a vegetable based diet. She says her four children, ranging from 5 to 15, are adventurous eaters and like to experiment in the kitchen. Suzanne says she cooks and works out as her stress relief. Her day job is as an attorney and a professor of law, so life is pretty busy.

One of the things she bought during our market visit was Thai curry paste. And she had a disaster in the kitchen while preparing it, but recovered nicely.

I'll let her tell it:

"I used vegetable broth, coconut milk, garlic and some Thai curry paste to make a curry sauce and threw in Thai eggplant, bok choy, and onions. I only used a tablespoon of the paste and it was really spicy. I thought it needed a little salt and when I went to shake it in, the lid came off and the entire canister of salt fell in.

"I had nothing as a backup to eat and the roads were getting really bad, so I threw everything into a colander and rinsed it off well. I threw in the other half of the can of coconut milk, some vegetable broth and about one teaspoon of curry paste, which was plenty for my 5-year-old. I added fresh spinach and Thai basil and it was surprisingly good. We had it brown rice and fried tofu."

On Sunday, Suzanne, who lives in Euclid, wants to make a Chinese New Year dinner with a Valentine twist. "Maybe I'll make fortune cookies with Valentine's Day messages," she said. She's promised to let us know how it goes.