The Archives

• Christmas, holidays, less food-related, students, teaching

  ******mas

  12.30.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

  Chinese people like to compare Christmas to Spring Festival, the Lunar New Year, the Chinese Holiday of holidays. Over Spring Festival, big cities are abandoned as people go home to see their families. Even in Beijing, which is renowned for its abysmal traffic, the streets are empty. All over the country businesses close, train [...]

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• Christmas, baking, butter, home cooking, huzhou, mysterious ingredients, recipes

  The Bun Also Rises

  12.27.09 | Permalink | 3 Comments

  Every year for Thanksgiving, my family and I headed out to the desert for a potluck lunch with my grandparents’ friends and their families. Though the location changed a few times, we were always out in the desert, eating turkey and hiking and playing volleyball.
  Every year one of my grandmother’s good friends, Susan, would [...]

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• cooking, holidays, home cooking, huzhou, recipes

  The Huzhou Food Jew is a Lonely Eater

  12.13.09 | Permalink | 4 Comments

  If anyone in my life has influenced my cooking, it would be my paternal grandmother, Nana. Both my mother and father are good cooks, but with the triple whammy of an ultra-picky daughter, working, and, you know, raising two kids, they didn’t have a lot of time to devote to culinary endeavors until I was [...]

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• Thanksgiving, dessert, entrees, holidays, housecleaning, huzhou

  Martha on the Scrounge

  12.04.09 | Permalink | 3 Comments

  Though it’s been a week since the Thanksgiving party, the remainders were around for days afterward. The dishes sat in the sink, unwashed, til Wednesday night. Something sticky that spilled on the floor didn’t get cleaned until my ayi came on Thursday. A week later, my apartment still smells like booze. And, of course, the [...]

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• Thanksgiving, baking, butter, cake, chocolate, cooking, dessert, holidays, home cooking, huzhou, recipes

  Pre-Pear-ed

  12.02.09 | Permalink | 5 Comments

  Western/American holidays in China have a totally different meaning than they do at ‘home.’ Having a Christmas party or a Thanksgiving dinner is, at least for me, more about nostalgia and comfort than about the actual holiday. I didn’t have a big party at my house so that we could all think about the Pilgrims. [...]

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• Thanksgiving, baking, butter, dessert, holidays, home cooking, huzhou, recipes, unruly chefs

  Butter + Booze

  11.27.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

  Bourbon Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel:

  Absolutely totally butter-less.

  Unfortunately, not mess-less. Every silver lining has a cloud.

  I know Thanksgiving is over for everyone, but mine is on Saturday, so drool over all this and keep it in mind for next year.

  Bourbon Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel
  From Food and Wine
  ½ recipe pie crust, enough for [...]

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• Thanksgiving, baking, butter, chocolate, dessert, holidays, home cooking, huzhou, mysterious ingredients, recipes, unruly chefs

  Bitter Batter, Butter Biscuits

  11.26.09 | Permalink | 3 Comments

  A long time ago in a galaxy far far away before my mother and father married (or perhaps it was just after), my mother roasted a chicken for dinner. Maybe she was trying to impress my dad, maybe they had guests over for dinner; the details of this have always been a bit muddy to [...]

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• Shanghai, Thanksgiving, animals, entrees, holidays, out and about, restaurants

  Generous George and the Eight Chinchilla Souls

  11.22.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

  Most holidays that last longer than a day require some sort of fasting or deprivation. Passover: no leavened bread. Lent: Give something up. Ramadan: Fast all day. Off the top of my head, I can think of two exceptions: Hanukkah, in its eight latke-filled days and nights, and Thanksgiving.
  At the moment you may be [...]

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• Parks, animals, chicken, entrees, headaches, holidays, out and about, restaurants, travel

  Hangzhou: The City of Cibola

  04.08.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

  “We’re getting close now,” said Joe for the eighth time as we entered the dark, restaurant-bereft residential area where Jennifer and I had been a mere two hours before.

  It was eight o’clock on Sunday night in Hangzhou and Joe, who has lived in the neighborhood for eight months, claimed to know where he was. Yet [...]

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• Charlie, Gerald, Parks, animals, entrees, holidays, out and about, travel

  To Get to the Other Side

  03.09.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

  “Ever since he was young, he’s been a night owl.”

  My mom has made this remark so frequently about my brother, Isaac, that it’s turned into a family platitude. If she says anything to Isaac that is remotely related to bedtime or getting up in the morning, he will jump in with, “Well, I’ve been a [...]

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Plate of Wander

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