The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

The end is nigh - and so is a new beginning. I've had a good time blogging for Secrets of the City, and its predecessor, The Rake, but the time has come for me to move on. Starting sometime next week - check back here for details - I'm going to start blogging for the Twin Cities Daily Planet, and  also re-launch my website/social network for foodies, TCFoodies.com.

I hope you will join me at TCFoodies.com. The website is still a work in progress, (and it seems to be down at the moment) but it's going to have some cool features, like a food blog, a discussion forum and a calendar that everybody can contribute to, plus videos, photos, etc. I'm planning to use the site to send out impromptu dinner invitations, like the one below, and I hope some of you will do the same. (One request - please don't post press releases directly to the site - either rewrite them, or send them to me.)

Also, I hope the scope of TCFoodies will be more than just restaurants and dining: it's also a place to share information about everything from food policy to ethnic groceries.

Here's the invitation: Carol and I are going to stop off at Merlin's Rest , 3601 E. Lake St., Minneapolis around 5:15 for a quick pint, and then head over around 6 p.m. to the  award-winning Fish Fry at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church. (St. Albert's Fish Fry has its own Facebook page -how cool is that?) I don't think we can reserve a table, but if you see us there, stop by and say hi. Then, if we can get tickets  we're zooming off to Mixed Blood's new play, Sweet 15, at 7:30 at the History Theater in Saint Paul.

Meanwhile, I got a hot tip from a reader about a new Brazilian café in Minnetonka - the Delicious Cafe & Grill. I haven't had a chance to get out there yet, but if you make it there before I do, please drop me a line ([email protected]) and let me know how you liked it. And while you are there, please lobby the owners to add some Bahian seafood dishes to the menu.

If I hadn't gone last month to Kim Ode's Edesia Cookbook Review group I would never have found out about Nina Wong's upcoming Hot Pot dinner at the ChinDian Cafe.

Kim, a former colleague of mine at the Star Tribune (she's still there) hosts a cookbook club - named Edesia after the Roman goddess of cooking - on the fourth Monday of every month at Barnes and Noble in the Galleria in Edina. Last month she invited me and Nina, chef-owner of the ChinDian Café, to talk about our favorite Chinese cookbooks. I haven't actually opened a Chinese cookbook in years, but that didn't stop me - I recommended the work of Fuchsia Dunlop. Nina brought along a couple of books by Ken Hom, some curry rice noodles, and a big urn of hot ginger tea, made with her homemade ginger syrup. (Available for sale at the ChinDian Café.) If you are a foodie, it's a fun way to spend an hour - the conversation was lively and relaxed, and there was time at the end for questions. The next Edesia gathering will be Monday, March 23 from 7-8 p.m., and will feature Mary Ellen Evans, author of: "Bistro Chicken" and "The One Dish Chicken Cookbook", along with General Mills food scientist Kevin Ryan.

At any rate, Kim and Nina have organized a special hotpot dinner, to be held 6 p.m.  Saturday, March 14 at the ChinDian Café, 1500 E. Hennepin. It's a do-it-yourself dining experience, served family style. Each table gets a Chinese hot pot, and each diner gets to choose which ingredients to dip into the boiling broth -shrimp, squid, fish fillets, fish balls, beef, and a variety of Chinese veggies. You cook them to the desired degree of  doneness, and then scoop out and eat. Cost is $20 per person - contact Kim Ode at

[email protected]., or call Nina at .612-676-1818. Seating is limited, so make your reservations soon. You can also watch a video of Nina's Chinese New Years Hot Pot dinner on YouTube, here .

I did stop in yesterday for lunch at the Chindian, and discovered a favorite Malaysian dish on the menu - Nasi Lemak, a traditional dish of coconut rice, fried chicken, fried egg sunny-side up, anchovy sambal, peanuts and cucumber ($7.95). Nina, who was born in Vietnam, is ethnically Chinese, while her husband Thomas is ethnically Indian but grew up in Malaysia, so the ChinDian Café is a melting pot of flavors, ranging from Chinese Chicken and Chive dumplings, steamed or fried ($5.95), Vietnamese spring rolls, and Singapore chow mai fun to Malaysian Kwa Tieu Goreng (rice noodles with shrimp, tofu, bean sprouts and garlic chili sauce.