As a brand new mom, I've given up on trying to create some elaborate concoction like Durian French Toast with Elderflower Syrup to kick-start my return to this blog (maybe I'll try creating that when my kid goes off to college?). Instead, I've had to start cooking and eating in a way that a newborn [...]
January is a great time for citrus, but the My Berkeley Bowl challenge means you won't find any navel oranges on this blog. Nope, this blog necessitates something extraordinary. And I assure you, you won't find a citrus fruit more extraordinary than Buddha's Hand.It's not hard to guess how this fruit got its name. The [...]
This week's recipe is one that I developed for an article I wrote for Bay Area News Group, just released this morning. Given the "mainstreamedness" of the readership, I had to keep things a bit more tame to be accessible to a wider audience, while still giving the recipes an "exotic" spin to stay true to [...]
There's a satisfying logic to why I named this salad after the legendary music producer, Quincy Jones. (Well, it's satisfying if you love puns and music trivia as much as my family does.) Here's the logic: The exotic fruit I feature in this recipe is quince, Mr. Jones' fruit namesake. I'll talk more about quince in a [...]
For some, the plantain might be the exotic part of this dish. But to me, the milpero were the little nuggets of exotic, tangy perfection that inspired this concoction. If you're debating whether to read on, let me just say that my trusty taste-tester Mike threw his hat on the floor and cried out "this might be [...]
Gazpacho is my absolute favorite summertime food. But because the cornerstone of the dish is ripe, juicy tomatoes, I only get to make it a few months out of the year. When it's that time, I go buy tomatoes by the flat at the farmers market (negotiating like a crazy pirate woman) and keep a couple gallons [...]
Nothing screams summer like frozen treats. So in honor of the first week of summer, I am introducing you to my life-changing sorbet. Yeah, that's right, LIFE-CHANGING. This sorbet is so lusciously and luxuriously magenta, you won't be able to stop staring at it. And when you take your first bite, you won't be able to stop [...]
I'm a complete sucker for anything almond. Almond croissants, almond-scented lotion, marzipan, almond paste straight from the tube... yeah, I have been that desperate before. The word "almond" on a dessert menu can magically create a vacancy in my stomach that just a second earlier seemed stuffed to the brim. If you are like me, [...]
Blast some Ladysmith Black Mambazo on the stereo, grab your cocktail shaker, and get ready for a party--- in your mouth. This is one crazy fruit. As if the florescent orange color weren't enough, the spikes shooting off of it really make it look like a tropical puffer fish or some sort of martian weapon [...]
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of attending a Thai cooking class with my aunt at Hipcooks during a visit to Portland. As someone who has been on the demonstrator side of the cooking demo cart countless times at work, it was really fun being on the other side of the cart for the first time [...]