Easy noodle soup with Tai O style clam sauce
Frozen dumplings and hotpot-style seafood balls, chicken broth straight out of a carton, instant noodles and fresh spinach. It would have been just another noodle soup were …
Archives for November 2026
Holiday paper crafts
The girls and I used to make holiday paper projects together. Gift tags, Christmas tree ornaments, wreaths… It was something we’d do once Christmas vacation …
A story about a fish, a volcano and a book
This is a story about a fish that can be found in only one lake, and that lake is in the caldera of a volcano. But to tell that story, I first have to write about a book I …
Gravy boat. Sauce boat. Saucière.
It’s that tableware that looks like a squat pitcher. A shallow oblong bowl with a spout on one end and a handle on the other. It’s been in use long before Marie Antoinette sat …
Christmas fruit salad debate: canned or fresh?
It’s nearing that time of the year when Filipinos will be stocking up on canned fruit cocktail for their Noche Buena and Christmas Day fruit salad. Not me. But I’m …
How to use a teapot
I have a collection of teapots. Glass, ceramic and even cast iron. Some came with strainers; others didn’t. But we use them all. When we brew loose tea leaves (or even …
A Hong Kong story
The British demand for tea. A shortage in silver bullion to pay for it. A “barren rock” and a harbor with sheltered deep waters. How Hong Kong became a British …
The next 007
I felt sad when, in early 2025, I read the news announcing that the rights to the James Bond movie franchise had been acquired by Amazon. It will be the end of James Bond, I …
Pork, eggs and vegetables with Vietnamese mixed fish sauce
Thin slices of pork belly, egg curds, julienned carrot and green beans. Sweet, salty and tangy with bit of punch from sliced bird’s eye chilies. Easy. Inexpensive. Cooks …