My friends Richard and Sam are my only local friends whose apartment has an actual yard with grass, a pretty spacious one, too. So naturally, they host barbecues all summer long. The last one I went to I was so busy preparing not one but two trays of homemade dumplings–veggie ones and pork–that I ended up getting there late, tired, and in the middle of a hot July, not even hungry. This weekend, I brought to their place the least … Read More
The name of the dish implies a little heat, so it might be a fun experiment to add some chopped, jarred jalepenos in the stuffing. But for now, here’s the recipe that I stick to wholeheartedly, one that never fails.
I suspect that the title is long enough for readers to come to their own conclusions about this recipe, but even so, I’m going to blab. Chilled red potatoes are my new croutons. They have this ever-so-subtly satisfying pop when your teeth break into their skins, and taste even more earthy and mildly creamy when cold. Remember how much you liked the cold potato salad at all those barbecues in the summer that you filled yourself up with it before you got to … Read More
I almost winced when reading an “Asian” (fusion, I guess) recipe in a major glossy magazine that called for a Noah’s Ark full of ingredients from all across the world. It was a pork recipe, and just the notion of using fish sauce and Chinese black bean sauce in combination was enough to make my stomach turn, let alone calling for more than three tablespoons of fish sauce period. But the fact that the recipe also included hoisin sauce, sesame … Read More
Cooking for one is something that I struggle with on a daily basis, and the impracticality of it is a major reason why single people around my age eat out all of the time. I’m not going to lie and say that it isn’t a big load of work to make something elaborate for just one night, for one person, and then get creative with the leftovers and ingredients not used. Or the time-consuming aspect of it. Think of all … Read More
I’m in love with my jelly silicon muffin pan. Muffins pop out of them with barely a tap, and muffin varieties are a territory that seems endless in scope.
Desserts have never been my close kin in the kitchen. I don’t think my mother ever prepared a dessert, and she also wasn’t the kind to keep the freezer stocked with them unless it was summer, and my brother and I begged and squealed for popsicles. Then, we got this nifty popsicle mold that we poured 100% orange juice into and froze. Its handles even had this basin to catch the melting juice, with a straw attached to slurp it up. So … Read More
On Sunday, the lampposts were decorated with green balloons along Orchard Street in the Lower East Side. Down a few narrow blocks to Guss’ corner deli, a neighborhood landmark pickle maker, and the garlicky brines of some dozen pickle makers’ tents filled the air of the dank, congested streets. It was a beautiful day in the city.
It’s now been almost two months since I began this blog and hence, not eating out in New York. My first taste of restaurant food when I landed in Los Angeles last week during vacation was an awkward reintroduction, to say the least. We went to a less-than-great Shanghai-style restaurant, and for the rest of the evening I had a battle with stomach cramps. Mind you, I never get sick from eating out. I’ve eaten plenty of street meat, any … Read More
I really wasn’t sure what to do with all that cheddar I hoarded back from Tillamook. When the nice lady working at the factory’s store told me that the cheese was indeed transportable as long as it was unopened, I went apeshit and got a few blocks, forgetting that the only thing I really do with cheddar – and I only eat the sharpest of the sharp white – is slice it up and munch on it with wine, or … Read More