That’s the thought-provoking title of the Asian cuisine event, 6 p.m. July 21, upstairs at the Ferry Building in San Francisco.

Join Chef Kelly Degala of Pres A Vi in San Francisco and Va de Vi in Walnut Creek; Eric Gower, author of “The Breakaway Cook”(William Morrow); Michelle Mah, former executive chef of Ponzu in San Francisco; Kirti Pant, executive chef of Junnoon in Palo Alto; and Chef Charles Phan of the Slanted Door in San Francisco. They will talk about how they developed their signature styles.

Appetizers will be served, along with wines from Filipino-American estate winery, Eden Canyon Vineyards.

Tickets are $35 for general admission; $25 for full-time students and those in the restaurant trade. To register, click here.

The event is a kick-off for the Oct. 10-12 Asian Food Beyond Borders symposium at the Ferry Building. The event is being spearheaded by Bay Areans Andrea Nguyen, author of “Into the Vietnamese Kitchen”(Ten Speed Press), and cooking instructor and Asian foods expert, Thy Tran.

The three-day event will celebrate how Asian communities have created dynamic cuisines around the globe. Among the speakers will be: cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey; Public Television star Martin Yan; Google cafe chef and former San Francisco Chronicle food writer Olivia Wu; and James Oseland, editor in chief of Saveur magazine.

Yours truly also will be overseeing an Oct. 11 wine-pairing seminar hosted by Edwin Soon, oenologist and author of “Asian Food With Wine” (Tide-Mark Press), at Le Colonial restaurant in San Francisco. For more information, click here.

Yes, I’ll be doing my best impersonation of Charlie Rose when I moderate the May 19 Silicon Valley Commonwealth Club’s talk and book-signing event with Charlie Ayers, the former executive chef of Google.

Come join us for a fun evening with Ayers, who also used to cook for the Grateful Dead and Robin Williams. He will be signing copies of his first cookbook, “Food 2.0, Secrets From the Chef Who Fed Google”.

The 7 p.m. event is at Cubberley Community Theatre, 4000 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto. Tickets are $10 for members; $15 for non-members. For reservations, click here or call (800) 847-7730.

The chat also will be taped for airing at a future date on KLIV AM (1590), which generally airs Commonwealth Club events on Thursdays at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.

You’re probably thinking, “It’s about time!” What can I say, except that I’m a bit camera-shy.

Ever since Food Gal came to life a month ago, my friends and fellow bloggers were telling me I had to post a photo of myself so that Food Gal readers could better identify with me. I finally listened. Yes, that’s me at the top of the page. And you’ll find another similar photo on my “About” page.

 I’d like to thank my friend, the talented photographer Joanne Ho-Young Lee for snapping the pics. Like me, Joanne also was laid off a month ago from the San Jose Mercury News. She is now running her own wedding photography business.

I’d also like to give a shout-out at this time to another great gal pal, designer Elizabeth Goodspeed. Fans of the Mercury News Food & Wine section already are familiar with her work, as Elizabeth (”Speedy” to her friends) created some of the most beautiful covers for that section when I worked there. By the way, don’t you adore the Food Gal logo? That’s her handiwork, too. Elizabeth also was laid off from the paper at the same time, and is now looking for the next place to showcase her design talents.

We may be out of the newspaper. But we’re not down by any means.

Call it girl power at its finest.