July Book Club: See You Again in Pyongyang by Travis Jeppesen with Maridon Museum, July 30.

Butler County's Maridon Museum will read and discuss See You Again in Pyongyang by Travis Jeppesen in its July Book Club meeting on July 30. From a 2018 Los Angeles Times review:

What makes “See You Again in Pyongyang” worth reading is the tension between the bold explorer and the impenetrable country, the feeling of frustration in the face of lies and exclusion and petrified resistance. Jeppesen may get as deep as Pyongyang will allow, at least to an American. That might not make him an expert, but it gives him more cred than most of us: he went, and chances are, we never will.

The meetings will be held in person from 3:00 to 4:00 pm but will also have a Zoom component for people not comfortable gathering at this time. Those interested in registering should call 724-282-0123 or email info@maridon.org. The Maridon Museum is an Asian art museum in Butler County that holds frequent movie screenings, classes, and book club meetings, in addition to the art exhibitions that take place when there isn't a pandemic.

Applications for APALA Pittsburgh COVID-19 cash assistance available in English and Chinese (so far).

The Asian Pacific American Labor Association Pittsburgh branchhas opened applications for a COVID-19 cash assistance program for those unable to receive stimulus funds earlier in the year. Application information is available in English and Chinese.

Are you in financial stress because of COVID? Were you ineligible to receive the federal stimulus money? APALA Pittsburgh is taking applications for COVID-19 cash relief! Anyone in Southwestern PA who did not qualify for a federal COVID-19 Economic Impact Payment earlier this year is eligible to apply.

Apply online: http://bit.ly/3ib891K

The application form is currently available in English and Simplified Chinese. We may be adding Vietnamese and Korea. Let us know if you need other language support.

If you have any questions, please DM us, text or leave a voicemail at 412-532-8517, or email apalapgh@gmail.com.

New Hot Pot place to occupy Mr. Egg's Kitchen spot in Squirrel Hill.

Mr. Egg's Kitchen was a noodle place under construction on Murray Ave. from March 2017 until May or June of this year, and though it was permitted to open last month by the county health department it never officially did (I did notice diners there for a lunch in mid-June). Work, however, progresses on a hot pot and juice place that will occupy both Mr. Egg's Kitchen at 2103 Murray Ave. (map) and also the neighboring 2101. The former storefront was most recently Sree's Foods.

Bubble tea chain 朝茶 TSAOCAA to soft open its first Pittsburgh location July 3.

Taiwanese bubble tea chain 朝茶 TSAOCAA will be opening its first Pittsburgh location in Squirrel Hill on July 3rd, a few days later than originally announced. It will be located at 5871 Forbes Ave. (map), most recently home to Kidz and Company. According to building permits the future occupants also run the New China House in Monroeville.

Consumer alert for Oriental Market.

Oriental Market, an Asian grocery on McKnight Road (map), was hit with a consumer alert by the Allegheny County Health Department on the 25th. The full report is available online; an excerpt on Food Source / Condition:

*HIGH RISK*** -Eight crates of sliced fish sitting directly outdoors under no protection in parking lot next to hillside in parking lot. Flies observed on the fish carcasses. Fish was set out to be dried. Finished fish product was observed in the second to left reach-in cooler. All were discarded and denatured on site. When inspector requested all fish be discarded, operator was hesitant and placed only a portion of fish in the dumpster and concealed rest of the fish from inspectors in the walk-in cooler. Eventually discarded. REPEAT VIOLATION REPEAT VIOLATION

-Drying or curing of meats without a HACCP plan or standard operating procedures. REPEAT VIOLATION.

An-My Lê: On Contested Terrain extended through January 18, 2021, at Carnegie Museum of Art.

Untitled, Sapa, 1995, via anmyle.com

An exhibition by Vietnamese-American photographer An-My Lê at the Carnegie Museum of Art has been extended through January 18, 2021. It opened on March 14 and was originally scheduled to run through July 26 but was interrupted by COVID-19. A summary of On Contested Terrain from the museum:

An-My Lê: On Contested Terrain is the first comprehensive survey of the politically charged work of photographer An-My Lê (American, born Vietnam, 1960). Featuring over 100 photographs, this exhibition presents seven of Lê’s series, providing insight into her evocative images that draw on a landscape tradition to address the complexity of war.

Intimate and timely, this expansive exhibition explores the intricacies of armed combat through the work of a photographer who lived through the Vietnam War. Through Lê’s lens, viewers are exposed to military training, maneuvers, and reenactments, and are invited to question their own relationship to, and complicity in, conflict.

Bubble tea chain 朝茶 TSAOCAA to open its first Pittsburgh location on June 28.

Taiwanese bubble tea chain 朝茶 TSAOCAA will be opening its first Pittsburgh location in Squirrel Hill on June 28. It will be located at 5871 Forbes Ave. (map), most recently home to Kidz and Company. According to building permits the future occupants also run the New China House in Monroeville.

Squirrel Hill's Panda Supermarket to move to bigger location on Forbes Ave.

Panda Supermarket, an Asian grocery store in Squirrel Hill, is planning to move to a bigger location on Forbes Ave. later this year, according to property records and building permits. It purchased the Squirrel Hill Professional Suites building at 5818 Forbes Ave. in August 2019 and will open a multi-story grocery there by the end of 2020. It will occupy the ground floor and basement, and will continue to lease out the second floor to other busineses. The move was originally scheduled for July but has been delayed due to COVID-19.

Panda opened in 2017 and is currently located on the ground floor beneath KIIN Lao & Thai Eatery in what was formerly a Levin Mattress store.

Cambodian-French documentary The Missing Picture online at Pitt, June 24.

The Asian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh will present the 2013 Cambodian-French documentary The Missing Picture online on June 24, the first installment of the three-part "Hot Nights And Cold War" series. From a Variety review:

Following “S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine” and “Duch, Master of the Forges of Hell,” Rithy Panh grapples with the horrors of the Cambodian genocide on more intimately unsettling terms in “The Missing Picture.” A sobering chronicle of Panh’s teenage years under the Pol Pot dictatorship, the film is a brave act of witness complicated by the documaker’s decision to re-create his experiences using clay figurines, a tricky aesthetic device that raises fascinating and problematic questions of representation. Sufficiently distinguished from Panh’s other fine work on the subject, and bolstered by strong black-and-white archival footage, “Picture” would be assured of further fest play and strong broadcast interest even if it hadn’t won the top Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes.

The movie starts at 4:00 pm and those interested should register online.

"Cooking Series: Stir Fry Basics & a Discussion on the Racialization of Chinese Cuisine" (online) with The Hungry Cao, June 22.

Pittsburgh Passport presents Itha Cao of The Hungry Cao and her online presentation "Cooking Series: Stir Fry Basics & a Discussion on the Racialization of Chinese Cuisine" on June 22.

The Hungry Cao (“Cow”) has a mission to open minds to new flavors, and start conversations about culture, diversity and information exchange in our global world. Join chef Itha Cao for an introduction to Chinese cuisine and how it came to the US, the racialization of Chinese food, and a stir fry basics lesson, including knife skills, ingredients, tools, and technique. All proceeds from classes and pop-ups go toward social justice causes.

It runs from 6:00 to 7:00 pm and advance registration is required.