Chinese Cooking At Home... It's Easy, Video 1

Remember the good old days when you and your significant other chowed down on Moo Goo Gai Pan and Kung Pao Chicken while your kids were next door at McDonalds wolfing down Big Macs and curly fries? Remember the shock you felt when you found out--thanks to a heavily publicized study on fat and cholesterol in Chinese food--that your kids (whose primary nutritional requirement seemed to be grease) were eating low-fat and low-cholesterol meals compared to your artery-clogging cuisine? Chinese food has taken it on the chin recently and, to be honest, the dishes prepared on Chinese Cooking at Home are not necessarily the most health-conscious choices in the area of Chinese fare. But that's not the problem with the video. Featuring good, but not great, video quality and voice-over narration (with some audio hum), the program provides recipes and instructions for making lemon chicken, honey spareribs, sesame steak, shrimp with pineapple, shredded pork with hot sauce, fried rice with shrimp, and more, some 8 dishes in all. Viewers will learn how to make a few Chinese entrees, but the program is devoid of personality. No onscreen chef, no clever narration, no sparkling footage of great Chinese spreads, etc. The tape ends abruptly without credits, referring viewers to "Video 2." In a crowded field, Chinese Cooking at Home is fair, at best. Not a necessary purchase. (R. Pitman)