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’ve consumed my fair share of herbal/curative/restorative soups and drinks. My mom is an occasional believer of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and as a child I was subjected to hocus pocus potions sporadically. Many were bitter, even revolting, concoctions prescribed for persistent coughs, colds, and other ailments...
A few months ago, I was given a complimentary one month supply of Red Bean Box, a monthly service that delivers gourmet Asian snacks to your doorstep every month. I was impressed with the tasty, high-quality selection: almond cookies, ginger chews, sesame rolls, and to my delight,...
As immigrants, our Thanksgiving tables are likely to be vastly different from the garden variety spread of roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Two months ago, I was talking to people about their melting-pot Thanksgiving food traditions for an article that just came...
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...
A couple of years ago, my friends Philip and June Lee invited me to a kimchi-making party. (An aside: Philip and June helm Readers to Eaters, a cool organization that’s part indie publisher, part pop-up bookstore and part food literacy educator.) Traditionally, kimchi is made during...
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...
Hamburger patties sans buns are now very popular with the low-carb/gluten-free set but the Japanese may have been the geniuses who thought of it first. The wafu hamburger can be described as a cross between a teriyaki burger patty and meatloaf. My dear friend Yuki who...
