It’s the season of hats and gloves, boots and leggings, sweaters and turtlenecks to combat the chilly weather. It’s the season of ice skating and witnessing proposals on the ice. What better beverage for people watching in winter than hot chocolate?
My love affair with empanadas started a few years ago. I can remember the day we first met. I was at the Colombian bakery by my apartment (well one of the many Colombian bakeries) buying a Pan de bono (Colombian cheese bread) when the gleam of a sparkling, corn wrapped, beef and potato filled empanada fresh from the fryer, caught my eye. I wasn’t sure that it was actually an empanada, but I went for it and asked the lady behind the counter for one anyways. She asked me, “Beef or cheese?” “Ooh, beef,” I answered. And I haven’t looked back since.
There is some notion out there that Labor Day is the cutoff date for wearing white and that it is supposed to usher in Fall. It is not unusual, however, to see people who are not fashion minded wearing white all year round and for Labor Day to be hot and muggy. As much as I like a good scoop of trendy gelato on the Lower East Side, ice cream from the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, overpriced frozen novelty treats at Central Park, or good old fashioned shaved ice from a cart on the beach, the best thing to eat in hot weather is actually spicy food.
You Have to Czech It Out!
This sentence was printed on the back of the Czech Airline seats. As it turns out, my friends and I are finding more and more uses for Czech puns. Let me Czech for you: Just Czech it in; We should ask for the Czech; You'd better Czech yourself before you wreck yourself...
It had struck me that I hadn’t had soul food in a really long time, and by really long time, I’m estimating that it has probably been at least six years since I went for soul food in New York. Los Angeles however, is a different story. I spent a few summers teaching at a summer enrichment program in Northwest Pasadena with a team of college students in my undergraduate days. During this time I was introduced to the combination of chicken and waffles.
I recently saw a headline that Nia Vardalos is getting ready to make the sequel to the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The very thought of this sequel instantly took me back to the numerous memorable lines from that movie. Each line was full of humor and wit, and eased the tensions of growing up as a child of immigrant parents in America. It easily tops my short list of favorite movies. I could relate so well to her cultural struggles but in the end, she came to realize what a treasure her family was to her.
I will not get to see my mother for Mother’s Day this year because I’m in New York and she’s in California, but if I did, I would take her out for a Mother’s Day Tea. When I was packing my bags to return to New York from San Jose, I told her that I wanted to start drinking more tea instead of so much coffee. So she reached into her cupboard and brought out the best quality tea that she had and packed it in my bag. One was a “high mountain” tea from Taiwan and the other was a green tea that she ordered from Equator Coffees and Teas. She had me sample four different teas that night, just so that I could taste and appreciate the difference between good tea and really great tea.
"What's the difference between a Macaroon and a Macaron?"
An "O," I said, as my coworker raised his eyebrows at my less than satisfying answer. So I asked another coworker to Google Macaron vs. Macaroon and it turns out that a lot of people don't know what the difference is. My favorite illustration was the one with the macaron dressed in a black beret and mustache juxtaposed with a coconut macaroon. In short, macaron (long O) is a delicate French cookie sandwich.
This year I will have the good fortune of being with my family around Chinese New Year, which is celebrated for up to two weeks after the lunar New Year. Naturally, a whole lot of food is involved with this. Traditionally, the big New Year’s dinner has to happen on the eve of the New Year. I will miss this part with my family, but my mother will send me pictures of the family dinner, I’m sure. There will be plentiful dishes of dumplings, rice, noodles, meats, seafood, tofu, and vegetables, making sure to have food left over to signify abundance in the coming year. With a small circle of friends that represent family to me in New York, I have come up with a way to maximize the food, friends, and family.
