I was visiting family in Arizona for Thanksgiving weekend. I spent the Friday after Thanksgiving with my mom, aunt, and uncle making zongzi or Taiwanese tamales, a fitting description that reflects my Pacific Islander/Southwestern identity. The zongzi are based on my Taiwanese grandmother’s recipe, and includes sticky rice, peanuts, pork, fried shallots, dried shrimp, dried [...]

I improvised this sweet potato gnocchi gratin for a night in with Elizabeth and Catherine. Ingredients 2 tablespoons of butter 2 tablespoons of flour 2 cups of milk 1 teaspoon of herbes de Provence 1/4 teaspoon of pimentón (smoked Spanish paprika) 1 heaping tablespoon of white miso 1 half package of Neufchatel or cream cheese [...]

My friend Sophia IM’ed me the other night while I was at school. She asked me for some cooking advice based on the ingredients she had in her kitchen.  It turned into a game of IM Iron Chef or Stump the Cook from The Splendid Table.   Here is a log of our chat (edited [...]

Normandy meets the Pondicherry of my post-post-colonial imagination in this improvised dish I made last night. Ingredients 2 tablespoons of butter 1 small onion, chopped 1 shallot, chopped 4 cloves of garlic, minced 2 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced 1 teaspoon of minced jalapeño 1 teaspoon of turmeric 1 pinch of saffron (optional, I [...]

Ingredients 1 pound of hake, filleted and cut into 4 inch chunks (or substitute cod, pollack or similar flaky white fish) 1 onion, thinly sliced 4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced 1 roasted red bell pepper, sliced 1 handful of green olives 1/2 teaspoon of pimentón (Spanish smoked paprika) 1 cup of dry white wine [...]