It’s my birthday, too, yeah… I’m not having a party — it’s just my 61st. Nothing to get all excited about, but I’m still here! … Read More ›
The key to Pakistani cooking is thoroughly frying the onions. There: I’ve given the world yet another of my culinary secrets. Not “softened”, not “transparent”. … Read More ›
British restaurateur Sally Butcher, despite her surname, wrote a wonderful vegetarian cookbook called “Veggiestan“. She and her Iranian husband have a Persian deli in southeast … Read More ›
This carrot bread recipe I found in the mid 1970s in Seventeen magazine. I don’t know if carrot bread was invented then or if it … Read More ›
Back when we started the Teahouse Kuan Yin, I objected to soup. My partner in the business was a strong believer in the power of … Read More ›
When offerings on Netflix and Prime don’t appeal, or the eternal-infernal roundy-roundy of low bandwidth buffering frustrates, there are always DVDs from the public library. … Read More ›
About a year ago, we ran out of people to impose Kebab our Corgi upon while we travel. Family and friends had all done their … Read More ›
It’s the Chinese Year of the Pig this year, which reminded me of a pig surprise we had on the Stanley side of Hong Kong … Read More ›
“Are the mushrooms white?”, asked Bill, logically. Well, no, they’re brown, I explained, but it is a “white” lasagna in that it has a white … Read More ›
I have come to the conclusion that there just is no ethical way to eat shrimp. (Calling them prawns won’t change that either.) Harvested by … Read More ›
I had just been reading about the French custom of celebrating Epiphany (January 6) with a special pastry called a Galette des Rois, or Pastry … Read More ›
We had planned on visiting Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park on Christmas Eve this year, as we have done in the past. However, … Read More ›
This is another handy sauce from Amy Wong’s Savoury Sauces: Favourite Cooking Hacks, which I bought in Penang a few years ago. But there are … Read More ›
We’ve all heard about how the French won’t talk to you if your French is not perfect. Yet French people have always been very patient … Read More ›
While tootling along in our rental car in rural France, the most surprising things can happen. It was getting towards dusk and it was time … Read More ›
There’s a golden beach with a massif looming to the west, at the end of a dirt road in Sonabia, halfway between Bilbao and Santander. … Read More ›
While scouting about for things to do in the Spanish Basque country, I read about this amazing collection of mint condition antique cars, comprising the … Read More ›
We just returned from a trip to the French and Spanish Basque Country. I’m still digesting the trip, which was delicious. Until I come up … Read More ›
Badminton is a great sport. You can play it as gently or as fast as you like. Sometimes the volleying gets so wickedly manic, you … Read More ›
One of the inadvertent joys of jetlag in Taipei is watching cooking shows in Chinese at 3am. Taiwan is a great country for foodies, and … Read More ›