Gimme shelter…and 50 lbs of flour

Anyone who knows me well would not find it the least bit odd that while everyone and their neighbor were out panic-buying seemingly ridiculous amounts of toilet paper in preparation for the coronavirus pandemic (my mother included), I was nervously assessing my pantry staples and baking supplies–specifically flour. After all, even two adults sheltering in…

Twelve Days of (Christmas) Baking

Well, technically it’s more like twelve days of snacking, along with twelve days of guilty pleasure binge-watching Hallmark Channel Christmas movies…which is the intellectual equivalent of ingesting a mountain of empty calorie-laden holiday treats.  Hey, I’m not knocking it.  On the contrary, sometimes it’s just what you need to pull yourself out of the holiday…

Procrastination…and coffeecake

Procrastination, as I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, is a good thing…sort of. Sometimes it’s a way for the brain to process all those seemingly random ideas bouncing around in your head, to connect the dots…or so I’m told.  And other times, like today, procrastination is mostly a way of avoiding unpleasant tasks—like beginning the process…

Weekend Bake…pretzels, cocktails, and pandesal

Fall leaves are piling up on the walkways and lawns all around our apartment complex.  Changing times, changing lives, changing neighborhood.  Every weekend it seems friends and neighbors move out, driven away by rising rents.  I know change is supposed to be good…but frankly I’m devastated.  I cherish this community we’ve formed–bonds forged through our…

A Tale of Two Doughs

I’m not exactly sure what came first, my craving for chicken pot pie or desire for some flaky pastry.  Or maybe the chicken pot pie filling was just an excuse to make my favorite cream cheese dough?  All I know is I was standing at my frig sizing up my options, pleased to discover I…

Just Wing It! (when you’re not sure what to cook for dinner)

For many people chicken wings are the ubiquitous bar food, perfect for noshing with a cold brew–not necessarily the main course.  For me, chicken wings often take center stage at dinnertime, especially when I’m short on time or just feeling lazy.   One package of wings, broken down into drumettes and flaps, is enough for two…

Eat the Street

I’m a food travel show junkie–there, I’ve admitted it.  I constantly troll Netflix, Cooking Channel, YouTube searching for my next hit.  David Chang’s latest Netflix series Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner–yep, already binge-watched it over two nights.  Ditto for the Jon Favreau/Roy Choi buddy foodie road trip The Chef Show.  I’m so obsessed with Samin Nosrat, I’ve…

Failure IS an option…if you want to make something great.

“You need a lot of bad ideas in order to get a few good ones. “ –Adam Grant Or you gotta break a few (dozen) eggs to bake a cake–or in my case a few cases.  I regularly post pics of food I’ve made on Instagram…almost always of the successes, rarely of the failures.  I…

I just called…to say…”have you eaten today?”

“We Asians often only value the first (and sometimes only) time our parents said I love you while disregarding the countless times they asked, “when did you eat?” As if they didn’t all mean the same thing.” — Kimmy Yam @ kimmythepooh on Twitter I’m not sure if my mother has ever actually uttered the…