In Asian cuisine, the bowl is ubiquitous as a receptacle for food. In Japanese tradition, donburi refers to both the dish and the oversized bowl that contains the rice topped with various ingredients. Korean bibimbap comprises a bowl of rice topped with an assortment of kimchi, seasoned...
Taiwanese cuisine has languished under the culinary radar in the U.S. for far too long. To be honest, even I was unsure how Taiwanese food distinguishes from mainstream Chinese. Fortunately, I came across The Food of Taiwan—Recipes from the Beautiful Island (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015) by...
Ann Mah’s debut novel, Kitchen Chinese: A Novel About Food, Family and Finding Yourself, has all the ingredients for a successful chick lit novel. It’s an easy, breezy read. It has a lovable heroine--Isabelle Lee--who has her flaws yet emerges victorious. And it offers so...
Two weeks ago, I attended an event to celebrate Singapore’s 47th birthday that fell on August 9th. By some strange turn of events, I was roped in to lead a few songs in the requisite sing-a-long sessions. We sang popular folk songs like "Burung Kakak Tua,"...
