This is what happens when a girl's doctor discovers what she sort of does for a living (eat) and starts worrying about her cholesterol and blood pressure: She comes upon a recipe for maple-bacon ice-cream calling for 12 large egg yolks. And gosh darn it, she makes it. One might speculate that there are many reasons for this occurrence -- a deep-seated stubbornness, a misguided rebellion, a determination to cling to the belief of invincibility, the attempt to give the specter of death the big, well, you know. But perhaps the reason is far, far simpler. (This is what she... Continue reading

On the fourth day of its official existence, this is not always what a New York restaurant looks like late on a weeknight: the bar and tables are jammed shoulder to shoulder with the hungry. The place is so overbooked with reservations that the only shot at a bite to eat is a more than hour-long wait for a seat at a woefully small counter in the back of the room. What a difference a favorable pre-opening feature in the New York Times dining section weeks before a restaurant opens makes. Well, and the fact that the owner's beloved other... Continue reading

You could say my mother is a rather predictable person. As soon as she hears a sniffle, a cough or simply looks you in the eye and surmises (usually correctly) that you've been up far too late the night before, mugs and bowls of liquids start appearing around the house. Like many Chinese, she's a big believer in the healing powers of soup, that ingredients such as goji berries, preserved dates, lotus seeds and more have the ability to restore heaty (yang) or cooling (yin) energy to the body when tossed into a pot with pork or chicken and boiled... Continue reading

There are far too many mornings in New York when I wake up with a pressing question: Where is my pork chop bun? Flaky croissants, fluffy pancakes and hearty breakfast casseroles are perfectly delightful but one of my absolute favorite breakfasts is something far more basic -- a soft white roll filled with a hot pan-fried pork chop. It's a classic Hong Kong breakfast -- one you'll find in coffeeshops all over the country. There are variations on the dish -- the pork chop is sometimes breaded, the bun is sometimes sweet. During a recent trip to Hong Kong, however,... Continue reading

Something peculiar starts to happen whenever I go more than a few days without eating anything spicy. Spirits start flagging; an irritability obliterates the charming and pleasant person I choose to believe I am. You see, in Singapore, where I grew up, almost everything is spicy -- dinner, lunch, breakfast, even high tea, an occasion that's often marked with curries and fiery noodles (and chased with clotted cream-slathered scones). Nothing is subtle; everything is jacked up with curry powder, peppers, tiny bird's eye chilis. At home in New York, where I am master of my own meals, these cravings aren't... Continue reading

I've had the great fortune of not having to worry about making my own lunch recently. Up in the woods of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., I wake up every day to breakfast and a prepared lunchbox, courtesy of a precious place that graciously gives artists (and misfits like me) space, time and food to create. (You can donate to the cause here. No, really. DO IT.) I haven't forgotten my Let's Lunch friends, though -- so, just for a day, I'm coming out of seclusion to share a recipe for a holiday side that's a true knockout: Spicy pickled beets ...... Continue reading

When a nationally respected critic declares in only the most revered food magazine in American history that a restaurant is the "single best Thai restaurant in the country," it's hard not to sit up and pay attention. Now, ten years after the Pulitzer Prize-winning Jonathan Gold penned those words about Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas in Gourmet magazine, the restaurant has opened a branch in New York. The excitement and the buzz has been palpable since its early November opening, naturally. So the first chance we got, the lovely and insatiable Gael Greene and I were making plans to... Continue reading

The dinner gathering has been impromptu and Chef Simpson of Cafe Asean is feeling a little guilty that he hasn't had time to plan what to cook. Calmly but quickly, he zips about his spacious Manhattan kitchen, pulling out bags, inspecting his fridge. "This is a good time to eat razor clams, you know," he stops to say, showing us the big bag he acquired from the farmers' market that very morning. "They taste really good right now." Now, while I've eaten razor clams -- or bamboo clams as they're called in some parts of Asia -- I've never even... Continue reading

As hotel restaurants go, the shop at Andaz Fifth Avenue tries pretty hard. Determined to cast itself as a New York restaurant, it likes to broadcast just how local it is. Its Web site rattles off a litany of New York purveyors -- eggs hail from Feather Ridge Farm in the Hudson Valley; lox comes from Russ & Daughters on Manhattan's Lower East Side, which has been providing New Yorkers with smoked fish since 1914. And there's even a self-conscious little area that sells snacks made by small, lesser-known brands in New York. This is all in line with the... Continue reading

Because we are in Hong Kong, dim sum is a must. My dear friend Jeanette and I -- two women who have been driven by our stomachs in the 20 years that we have been the best of friends -- we wake up in the cool grayness of Hong Kong bleary-eyed and starving. Even in the fog of sleepiness, our mission is clear -- we stumble out into the dusty bustle of mid-morning Hong Kong and make our way toward Central. On a corner of narrow Wellington Street lies our destination: Lin Heung Tea House, a dim sum place that... Continue reading

The idea had been to have dinner, plain and simple. No thinking about writing about the dishes as we're eating. No scribbling of notes. No blogging. This was a celebration, after all. There should be no room at the table for work of any sort. But the moment our food started arriving, the game plan changed. Ciano, the much-anticipated new restaurant by Shea Gallante (who greatly impressed critics and diners at the now-shuttered Cru, where he earned three stars from The New York Times' Frank Bruni), pretty much had me at shrimp balls. From my first nibble of rock shrimp... Continue reading

Singapore can feel so densely packed and swathed in concrete that it's hard to find a place that's truly tranquil. The moment we stepped out into Lantern, the rooftop bar at the newish Fullerton Bay Hotel, however, we knew we'd found one. The 360-degree view of the city -- with the Marina Bay waterfront on one side and Singapore's towering skyline on the other -- was breathtaking. The blue glow emanating from the hotel pool was immediately calming. I could almost feel my heartrate slowing as I heard the sound of the live band's strumming guitars drifting over. Just minutes... Continue reading