The Social Table

I grew up with the boisterous cacophony of a large Chinese family squeezed around a dinner table stretched to its limits. When my maternal grandparents and aunt were still alive, we gathered together for these feasts at least a dozen times a year–sometimes at one of our homes, other times in a Chinese restaurant where…

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The Bare Essentials…or one baker’s survival kit

I hadn’t intended to write a two-part series on home baking for the “hungry intermittent enthusiast” (friend Stephanie’s words), but my last post extolling the virtues of foundational recipes prompted requests from both Stephanie and my niece Caroline to provide a list of the bare essential ingredients they should have on hand to satisfy those…

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Do you know the muffin (wo)man?

My friend Stephanie is what I’d call an enthusiastic intermittent baker–that is to say inspired intermittently to fire up her oven…usually immediately after she’s watched a cooking and/or food competition show…or seen one of my IG food pics…or merely hungry for a particular baked good. Regardless of the impetus, Stephanie likes to just dive in,…

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What the Keebler Elves didn’t know…

Okay, I’m not knocking those cute Keebler Elves. They make some fine cookies. I’m just saying that the range of flavors and textures in their products seem a bit…unadventurous. Ditto for most of the other major brands. Whether the cookies are crumbly crisp or soft-baked, with or without chocolate, layered with caramel, peanut butter and/or…

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Love in a bowl of soup

Long before the foodie world’s love affair with soup dumplings dominated the restaurant scene, there was wonton soup–the OG of Chinese fast casual fare. It was the standard quick lunch for many a worker, along with the assorted meat and rice plate–roast duck, bbq pork, soy sauce chicken, crackling skin roast pork, take your pick….

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The Escape Artist

It’s a rare thing when I come across a cookbook I not only want to read, but actually want to plunk down cold hard cash to buy in hardcover–happens maybe at the most once a year. That’s not to say I don’t buy cookbooks for others, especially when it’s something I know they’ll really enjoy,…

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Shopping List…or life in a snapshot

Recently I came across an article in Delicious UK–one of a handful of online food publications I subscribed to–which posed the intriguing question “Would you judge someone by their shopping list?” During lockdown, many people offered to shop for those who couldn’t, which in turn opened up a window into their private lives through their…

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