We can all agree that avocado, with its smooth, buttery flesh, is a very tasty fruit. The fact that it’s packed with vitamins (especially E) and minerals, dietary fiber, and monounsaturated fats that can reduce cholesterol levels is even more of a bonus! Now, if you...
When one of the moms in my son’s pre-K class inivited me to her cookie exchange party, I was at a loss. Number 1: I’ve never been to a cookie exchange and had to ask how it worked (how embarrassing!). Number 2: My family doesn’t bake cookies, at...
I recently read a poem that highlighted all the foods (mostly orange-colored fruits and vegetables) the author would enjoy on a dull, grey day. In delightful rhyming verse, she lists everything from cantaloupe for breakfast to apricots for dinner and a bite of orange sherbet...
My friend Ivy is allergic to eggs. But she so loves her husband that I’ve witnessed her suffering through itchy eyes and swollen skin to make her husband’s favorite dessert, cheesecake. Bless her heart! Ivy’s now a mother of two. Her kids probably don’t even realize...
Before I moved to the U.S. as a college student some 20 years ago, my only knowledge of the ubiquitous fall fruit (or is it a vegetable?), the orange, ribbed pumpkin (cucurbita pepo), was from Disney’s “Cinderella.” Yes, as a little girl, I thought all pumpkins turned...
Sort of randomly, I came across an article extolling the wonders of pastéis de nata, or Portuguese egg tarts, in a British magazine of all places! Now I’ve not had true Portuguese egg tarts, but many a dan taht (romanized for 蛋挞, ‘egg’ in Chinese, and...
It's summer--it's hot, it's humid. Let's cool down with an iced dessert or drink. Here are some favorites: 1. Ice Kachang (Singapore, Malaysia) Beneath a mountain of shaved ice drizzled with red, green, and yellow syrups--plus condensed milk!--you might find agar-agar strips, red adzuki beans (kachang means...
When we lived in Central California, we often weekend-tripped to San Francisco to visit friends. We had a standard list of must-do’s: cable car rides, City Lights Books, dim sum, Burma Superstar restaurant, the California Academy of Sciences, etc...
For this month’s Let’s Lunch challenge, we were tasked with making three-ingredient recipes. Now I've seen and attempted five-ingredient recipes but three ingredients? That's a tough one. As often happens in life, things organically fell into place. Last month, I wrote a story on building a gluten-free...
You might think me crazy for craving rice pudding in the middle of summer. But this past week or two, we’ve had a deluge of thunderstorms here in northern Virginia. And we all know there’s nothing more comforting than curling up on the couch with a...
