So I have this problem. Namely, it's a shocking inability to put a salad in my mouth that is not, at the very least, just as unhealthy than a burger or a pizza or any other non-salad-y unhealthy thing that I would otherwise be eating if I weren't eating a "healthy" salad. And then I also have this other problem -- namely, a shocking inability to ...
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dressed-up creamed corn
One of my favorite restaurants back home serves a mean creamed corn. Decadent, syrupy-sweet, almost like a custard. (Whenever my dad orders it and the waitress asks if we'd like dessert, he always says, "Got my dessert right here!" and holds it up with big grin. My father is a faithful subscriber to the school of Jolly Dad Banter.) To me, it's ...
tea eggs
Here’s what not to do when making tea eggs. Do not: 1. Go to law school, and in your first year, get really stressed and sleep-deprived, then decide to destress by making them in your communal kitchen that is down the hallway and through some locked doors from your dorm room. 2. Make them in your faraway communal kitchen, at night, when you are ...
shanghainese lion’s head meatballs
I don't really associate New Year's Eve with champagne or sequins. Instead, I associate New Year’s with food -- maybe even more than Thanksgiving or Christmas, at my house, New Year's Eve meant a family feast. A traditional Chinese New Year (and regular December 31 New Year's Eve, because we totally double-down on our New Year's celebrations) at ...
homemade mak (“easy”) kimchi
It’s December! Which means all I want to do these days is bake Christmas cookies and post about them. But, while that’s definitely coming, I felt like I needed to do a post first on this Korean staple (again, all about the blog staples!) because it’s so essential in some of the recipes I’ve posted, and because I’ve already been talking to so many ...
roasted brussels sprouts and chips, three ways
It's almost Thanksgiving! So this week I thought I'd post on what seems to be the Thanksgiving vegetable of the year. If last week was about bucking trends (or being unable to participate), this week is definitely all about falling in line with them. At this point, I think I may be the last blog on the Internet not to have done a post on these toy ...
myulchi bokkeum (stirfried anchovies with almonds and walnuts)
Coming from a Chinese family means that I ate a lot of weird things indiscriminately when I was growing up. But we never really had a lot of anchovies. Actually, up until recently, I really only knew of anchovies as that one American pizza topping that all the fictional characters hated in the books I read as a kid. (Babysitters' Club, anyone?) ...