June 14, 2015 In All recipes, Soup, Vegatables

THAI SPICY TOM-YUM-GOONG TOMATO GAZPACHO

[ezcol_1half] I FELT LIKE MY MOUTH HAS TAKEN A BEACH VACATION DOWN IN  THE SOUTHEAST, THAT I COULD HEAR THE SOUND OF TURQUOISE WATER MASSAGING MY TASTE-BUDS [/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end] Something is happening here, and if you had any loved ones residing in Beijing, you may have felt this.  Perhaps from the shaken jitters that come through their voices, perhaps even traceable within their text messages

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June 10, 2015 In All recipes, Dairy, Sweets

APPLE FUNNEL CAKE W/ APPLE YOGURT SORBET

The yellow bowl, my recent favourite for everything, is from Dishes Only. [ezcol_1half] I STARED HATEFULLY INTO THE FUNNEL CAKE LADEN IN CINNAMON SUGAR AND MELTED CREAM, THEN REACHED OUT MY TENTACLES AND TOOK ANOTHER "ONE LAST BITE" [/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end] I think we've all been there.  There, every year in the first week of June, when the temperature abruptly severs from the safe briskness that was Spring, and ready or not, takes a sudden dive into the skin-binding, armpit-greasing humidity and heat that lays the red carpet for the bikini-season to come.  When we realize that it's already too hot to cuddle with the safety of our long-sleeves and sweatpants, but when we look down upon the masses that used to hanged so discreetly underneath the winter-coats around our waists, thighs and oh-fuck-everywhere, we see the rings of humiliations, as if in an awkward smile, still hanging.  And for the epic beach vacation forever in planning and the sleeveless dress that's been waiting since 2005, that it is once again, all too late. That moment came, or shall I say, ambushed me last weekend while I was spending an otherwise lovely afternoon on the patio of our favourite hang-out, The Taco Bar.  As usual, after an epic feast, we sat there rounding

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June 5, 2015 In All recipes, Vegatables

CLOUD-9 CHIPS-LIKE POTATO HASH, AND THANK YOU

[ezcol_1fifth]  [/ezcol_1fifth] [ezcol_3fifth] CLOUD 9, LIKE HOW YOU MADE MY DAY, AND YOU'LL NEVER WANT TO EAT POTATOES ANY OTHER WAYS AGAIN Today, I woke up, and as I spent the next 1:30 hours removing microscopic dead leaves off of my succulent-babies with an eyebrow tweezer, I was utterly oblivious of the surprise that was waiting, patiently, in my email-box.  A tweet from Molly telling me of the enormous gift, from you, for name Lady and Pups as the winner for Best Photography for Saveur's Food Blog Award. I am speechless.  Looking at the other candidates whose photography make me want to lower my head into a bucket of sour cream, I am, absolutely, without words.  At times like these, to show gratitude, I guess people make grand gestures.  But grand-ness doesn't reflect how I feel.  How I feel, as I'm typing, is humility.  For the past 3 years, including times when I didn't exactly deserve it, humbled by your support, tolerance, for giving me the benefit of the doubt, and above all

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June 2, 2015 In All recipes, Dairy, Noodle/Pasta/Rice, Quick Meals, The Shits I Eat When By Myself

THE SHIT I EAT WHEN BY MYSELF: K-TOWN RICE’N CHEESE

[ezcol_1third] THE RICE AND SAUCE QUICKLY COOKED INTO SOMETHING LIKE A DOPPELGANGER OF RISOTTO, BOUND BY THE STRINGENT GOOEYNESS OF MELTED CHEESE, OF WHICH HE THEN GOBBLED DOWN BY EACH OVERSIZED WOODEN-SPOONFUL [/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_2third_end] I hardly think that it's unreasonable, sometimes even understandable, for people to bundle their perceptions for different cultures around a region, as a whole.  As one of the Asians, Taiwanese to be exact, I am certainly far more accustomed to many of the familiarly bizarre lifestyles or values from our neighboring cultures, than say someone who are born and raised in the Midwest of America.  Regardless of agreements, I can generally find an answer for much of the "Asian weirdness" that are otherwise lost in translation, even just by association.  But a few days ago, prompted by a segment from Tony's Parts Unknown, I sank into a recent uprise of Korean phenomenon so baffling, that the regional cultural gap

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May 19, 2015 In All recipes, Meat, Snacks, updated recipe

M(Y) SHANGHAI’S COLD WONTONS IN SPICY PEANUT SAUCE

[ezcol_1third] YOUR ULTIMATE REVENGE TOWARDS THE COMING ASS-BINDING HEATWAVES A REFRESHINGLY PLEASURABLE PAIN, BEST SERVED COLD [/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_2third_end] It might say something about me, perhaps not in the most positive light, whenever I fell for a Chinese dish-inspiration from half way around the world while living right inside the epicenter of it all, where the "real things" are or so they say.  What kind of a food-blogger, who eats and breathes right off of the ground-zero of a very old, very diverse and rapidly morphing food-culture often generalized as "Chinese foods", would cook you a Chinese dish that comes from an Instagram of a New Yorker who took it at a restaurant that are, out of all places, in Brooklyn. Lazy?  Perhaps.  Utter dumb luck?  That's for sure.  Because you see, without this inconvenient loop around the globe it has traveled, the inspiration for this down-home Shanghainese summer snack, in one form or another, would have otherwise never found its way to melt in my warm embrace.  And this is, I guess especially for those who have experienced living abroad, a perfectly explainable social phenomenon. Thing is, I believe across all cultures, that the restaurants indigenous to where they are located, often times with great effort, focus on serving what they perceive as "restaurant-style/worthy" dishes only.

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