I've been meaning to make some form of sticky toffee pudding for at least a few years, ever since a friend of mine first waxed lyrical about one she'd had at a pub near our offices called the Shakespeare. At that point, I'd never had sticky toffee pudding or, possibly, even heard of it, but her description alone had me sold--of a sticky, soft, ...
Recipes
chai masala bundt cakes
If you'd told me a few years ago that I'd enjoy anything about fall other than, say, eating pumpkin-y things and, nominally, wearing fluffy slippers, there's not a chance I would have believed you. (This is how deep my fear of the cold runs.) But then we moved to a quixotic land where my Michelin Man puffer jackets are happily useless, so I no ...
braised beef and orzo
Do you ever, once you've made it through a pile of scary deadlines and come out the other side, just kind of melt into a blob for a week or two, one that can sit semi-upright in an office chair and guzzle coffee and maybe make ill-advised purchases of overpriced throw blankets but otherwise accomplish none of the tasks that are still remaining but ...
crab fried sticky rice with jalapeño aioli
My commute here in LA is almost the same as it was in New York, 40 minutes give or take. The only difference is that I sit my butt in a little Corolla instead of the blue-benched 4/5, and so I can no longer do either of the two things I used to do on my commutes in New York -- sleep, or read, but mostly sleep -- because I would die. For exactly 3 ...
crispy goat cheese rounds with shallot vinaigrette
With work picking up again after a slow start coming back from maternity leave, this project, and our ever-growing obsession, I haven't had nearly as much time as I would like to make or share recipes from the wealth of stellar cookbooks that have come out this spring. There are so many! But I'll get there. For now, I'm starting with an impossibly ...
potatoes with sugar snaps, pickled shallots, & dill
Judging from the calendar, we are in the thick of picnic season, or for me, toss-everything-with-mayonnaise-and-maybe-eat-it-at-a-picnic-but-probably-just-straight-from-the-fridge season. My last post notwithstanding, I almost didn't realize it; after years in New York, where I spent the first third-to-half of each year in an intense and unceasing ...
creamy broccoli salad with almonds & raisins
Last weekend we took our first big trip with B3 in tow, up to Berkeley for my brother's graduation. It wasn't until we were on our way back, winding our way through the mountains on the last stretch of the I-5, that I realized how much Los Angeles has started to feel like home. This little ham can probably take most of the credit for that (isn't ...
spring pea pasta with lemon & shiso
As of a couple of weeks ago, I'm officially back at work. Unlike his mama, B3 thought the transition was a total breeze -- he sees me off to work every morning with such blasé cheerfulness that I'm wondering whether I shouldn't be at least a teensy offended. (He is, however, in a war of attrition with his Public Enemy No. 1, The Bottle, so there is ...
buttered eggs on toast with radish & parsley
Ever since I found their story a few years ago, I've been awed by Sonja and Alex's journey to parenthood. Sonja's poignant, thoughtful words and their constant light throughout their experience have been humbling and inspiring; it gives a whole new perspective to this stage of life that B2 and I have been figuring out our way around lately, and ...
chocolate babkas and recipe testers
I blinked and it's been five months of this adventure called "writing a cookbook." How! Before all this began I wasn't sure how shooting and writing a book with a new babe would go. The answer is, as it turns out, a lot of running around during morning naptime, a lot of truly spectacular messes, and a lot of trudging around during afternoon ...
![The incomparable @hettymckinnon first sent me a jar of her homemade chili oat crisp nearly a year ago, at the start of the pandemic, and it was so life-alteringly delicious that I have been itching to share it with you here and on my blog ever since. Well, it has been a long wait, but the book that it is in, “To Asia, With Love,” is finally coming out stateside in a few weeks, and so I wrote up Hetty’s recipe earlier this week in anticipation. I did not know at that time what would happen in Atlanta this week, but have felt in my heart how necessary a book like Hetty’s, and voices like Hetty’s, were already—and even more so now.
Hetty writes poignantly in “To Asia, With Love” about a “third culture”–a struggle for her identity growing up as a Chinese immigrant in Australia, and the eventual “cross-pollination of ideas and techniques that are grounded in [her] Chinese heritage, yet greatly influenced by growing up in the Western world.” As immigrants, our cultural identities, and the fabric of society into which we weave, are so complicated. It can be beautiful, but it can also be messy, and events like these show how devastatingly far we still have to go. I don’t have anything more insightful to add than has already been said by so many, but I am glad more than ever for the brilliant, thoughtful voices around me to whom I can look for guidance and inspiration. Some resources posted to my profile, and if you’re looking for a spicy balm to take your mind off things, recipe for Hetty’s chili crisp (which is, all else aside, truly one of the best things I’ve ever made) is on my blog. ❤️ #stopasianhate #stopaapihate](https://tworedbowls.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)