img src=”http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvg7rcFwG01qbowo3o1_500.jpg”/br/br/pp class=”MsoNormal”spani am going to let you all in on one of my favorite little cafes that is tucked away on a quiet side street in the west village.  the cozy a href=”http://www.bosienyc.com/”Bosie Tea Parlor/a has been open for around eight months now, and their 20 something seats are almost always taken up by [...]

img src=”http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lv14wzj2e71qbowo3o1_500.jpg”/br/br/pp class=”MsoNormal”growing up, my family’s seasoning tray consisted of three things – pepper, sugar, and salt.  like in most other chinese (or asian) pantry, these three elements formed the basis of each dish that came out of the kitchen.   there was a constant struggle to produce an equality of the sweet and the savory, [...]

img src=”http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lushxgZk2Z1qbowo3o1_500.jpg”/br/br/pp class=”MsoNormal”when I look back upon my first culinary adventure, i realize that it all began with my many attempts at creating the perfect omelet.  though it may appear to be one of the most basic of ingredients, cooking eggs is a true art form.  in fact, a fried, sunny side-up version happens to [...]

img src=”http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_loemx3G50h1qbowo3o1_500.jpg”/br/br/pwhen someone asks me where i’m eating at the moment, i tell them 456 at 69 mott street in chinatown nyc.  it’s not just for when i crave chinese food or when i’m hungry. as everyone else in nyc are eating hamburgers, pizza, and pasta with tomato sauce, i get a certain sense of [...]

a pie to swoon over – sweet, herbed, blistered, salted crust. airy with a chew. soft but not watery.  and certainly not limp.

a harder category to list – so why not a couple more than 10 – that make up my 2010 soundtrack.  
- leave house/ caribou – “the thing that makes us lonely will bring us back together.”
- cooler than me/ mike posner – “mrs. pre-madonna this is your reminder.  that i think you [...]

here are 10 albums that predominate my iPod in 2010.  not listed in any particular order, but all encouraged a listen or two.
- high violet/ the national
- the age of adz/ sufjan stevens
- all we grow/ sean carey
- wild hunt/ the tallest man on earth
- swim/ caribou (pictured)
- the suburbs/ arcade fire
- congratulations/ [...]

there are things i love to do purely for nostalgic reasons – walking on former school grounds, listening to melancholic pop music from a decade or two ago, re-visiting restaurants i remember fondly from my childhood travels.  this time, tu hsiao yueh, from tainan to taipei – from being sold on a yoke [...]

I was born an adventurous eater.  While the lunchboxes of my elementary school mates were filled with aluminum wrapped peanut butter and jelly, ham and cheese and egg salad sandwiches, mine often had well seasoned leftovers from our previous night’s family dinner – duck liver and minced quail stir fry, bitter melon soup, [...]