World Cup of Yum

Spicy Asian Pickles

My mom made these spicy Asian pickles a lot when I was a kid. They are really quick to make, and go great with Asian food. It’s great to have a jar of them in the fridge. My mom says in a pinch, these pickles are good even if they’ve only been marinating for an…

Rosemary Sea Salt Shortbread

I like to think of shortbread as a means to get as much butter as possible into my face. When I was a kid, I loved the buttery shortbread cookies we’d occasionally have. So I was pretty pleased to discover that shortbread is super easy to make yourself. This recipe is especially great because while…

Steamed Pork with Salted Duck Egg

Steamed pork just sounds blah. But it is actually one of my favorite childhood dishes, which I think just needs a more exciting name. Like being named after a general, or maybe a province. As it stands, steamed pork tends to be a dish of Chinese home cooking. It’s rarely found in restaurants (I posit…

Chichen Itza Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #3 Chichen Itza is a Yucatecan restaurant. Well, actually it’s more of a stall, in the Mercado La Paloma. I was glad I went to check out Chichen Itza if for no other reason than discovering the Mercado La Paloma. It’s a cooperative marketplace filled with craft and food stalls that is great to wander around…

Eggplant Caviar

Cookbook Club – Think Like a Chef For May’s Cookbook Club, we did Tom Colicchio’s Think Like a Chef. I chose the Eggplant Caviar. Go to my Cookbook Club site to see all the amazing dishes our home chefs put so much effort into creating for the event. For now – my dish! There is…

Attari Sandwich Shop Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #2 Attari Sandwich Shop is in Westwood, in an area that is now recognized by the city as “Persian Square”, with an official sign and everything! It serves – you guessed it – Persian food of the sandwich variety. It is one of the cheaper places to frequentlly make Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants…

Plan Check Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #1 Plan Check is on Sawtelle, but somewhat past the Little Osaka strip of restaurants. It sits on a corner, and draws your attention because it seems to sit strangely by itself in the neighborhood but is also regularly packed with people, often taking advantage of the LA weather to fill the outdoor patio…

Salted Black Bean Spareribs

Salted Black Bean Spareribs were one of my childhood favorites. The spareribs are cut Chinese-style into bite size pieces, which lets the marrow free to seep into the sauce. My grandma made these often. She stewed the spareribs until the marrow, cartilage, and connective tissue broke down into unctuous saucy goodness and the meat was…

Black Pepper Tofu

Cookbook Club – Plenty For April’s Cookbook Club, we used Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty. I chose the Black Pepper Tofu. Go to my Cookbook Club site to see all the fresh vegetarian fare at our Plenty picnic. For now – my dish! We did this event as a picnic in the park. I was a bit worried…

Creamy Pea Salad

When I was a kid, there was a restaurant my family would go to for occasions like birthday celebrations. The rest of the food was good, but we really went there for the pea salad. Normally a salad would not be the big draw in our restaurant choices, but there was something about this pea…

Mango Lassi

I was introduced to Mango Lassi five years ago by my friend Seena. She throws an Indian Independence Day party every summer – complete with catered Indian food, dancers, henna tattoo artist, photo booth, bindis for all the women, and everyone required to wear Indian dress. Best. Party. Ever. Beer and wine is abundant, but…

Wonton

One of the first cooking memories I have is making Wonton with my family. I think it was the origin of my ongoing search for more opportunities to build community around food. My mom would make a big bowl of the filling, and then we would all sit around the table wrapping up little pockets…