The best way to greet the cold winter rains is with hot pot. Lamb is by far my favorite meat to enjoy with hot pot. But I only enjoy it super thin, the way it is served at “steamboat” (hot pot) restaurants, shabu-shabu, and Korean BBQ. Since Alex and I are not willing to add another kitchen appliance to…
Techniques & Tutorials
Cooking for yourself, despite your busy schedule, requires having the right techniques and systems to save you time and energy.
We're here to share ideas and inspiration for setting up your kitchen, organizing your meal plan, and batch cooking all without panicking.
Learn how to make cooking easy, fun, and relaxing with an ingredients-first approach so you'll be looking forward to eating in instead of ordering out.
New Year’s Day Excitement: Cleaning, Stacking, Purging
What’s the most exciting thing to be doing on New Year’s Day? Cleaning up our kitchen and garage to prepare for 2018. You see, it has been a headache to find the right pots and pans while cooking. We’ve also got so much clutter that our best stuff is hidden under junk. What did I rediscover today…
Lattice Pie Success: 3 Tips
Yesterday, I made a cherry pie for my friend’s dinner party. This is the first time that I made a lattice cover for a pie. It worked beautifully, and it was surprisingly easy. I have to thank Stella Parks for her article, Decorative Crust 101, on Serious Eats that walked through step-by-step how to construct a…
Why We Joined A Meat CSA
On our trips to Los Angeles to visit Alex’s parents, we drive down the I-5 corridor. There’s always a stench near Coalinga. The smell used to not bother me much. When the smell approached from afar, I would quickly push the circulate air button and wrinkle my nose for 5 minutes. In the past year,…
How to Plant Garlic In Pots
Three weeks ago, a brown paper bag sat on my desk, quietly waiting for me to open it. I was both excited and dreaded opening the bag. You see, I knew that opening that bag meant I would be opening Pandora’s box. “What if it’s a lot of work?” “What if I ruin it?” “What…
Why Start A Community Garden
Alex and I spent more than $300 dollars on broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, and other vegetables in the last 6 months, and we’ve yet to taste a bite. No, we didn’t throw the food out. Instead, this food is baby food. Not the mushy food you feed to a baby. I mean baby plants, seedlings, waiting…
Which CSA Boxes Do I Choose And Why?
Arugula. I hate it. The bitter, peppery taste in salads offends me, and I detest the aftertaste. I feel like a cow chewing on grass every time I eat it. I’ll only tolerate it on very thin-crust pizzas with plenty of prosciutto to cover up the arugula. But even then, I prefer my pizzas and salads…
What to do with your CSA box when you go on vacation?
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas Everywhere you go I’ve been blasting Christmas carols all week. November might seem too early. Yet, with retailers already selling Christmas decorations, I think Christmas carols are fair game. My rain-drenched shoes are another reminder that fall is coming to an end. Which means holiday seasons are…
How to choose and sign up for a CSA box
I remember taking my graduate student, ChoEun, to Ralph’s, my closest grocery store in downtown Los Angeles. It was one of our “culture” lessons. I tutored international graduate students who needed a bit of help with English and integrating into American life. (Ironic, isn’t it? Considering I am not American but was teaching others the…
How to pick up your CSA box
The first time I asked Alex to pick up my CSA box with me, I planned it all wrong. It was exactly two years ago, on a cold, misty Friday night. We drove deep into the suburbia where street names are vaguely related and yet juxtaposed with other references that make no sense. We drove…
How to avoid eating the same dull veggies every week (and try new fruits you’ve never heard of)
First thing every Thursday morning, Alex bounces downstairs and out the garage door, even before a bite of breakfast. He’s looking for a treasure chest in the form of a waxy cardboard box, with some leafy greens poking out, more often than not. Once Alex brings home the bounty, and we pick apart each item,…
