More about the beautiful old Peranakan houses in Singapore.  My grandfather lived in Joo Chiat in one of these terrace houses, in the later part of his life.  My brother-in-law was born in one of these candy-colored houses on Koon Seng Road. 

Claudia Roden is an inspiration to someone like me who wants to preserve memories and good food that came out of our families. 

This is my New York neighborhood and many restaurants featured here resonate with me.  I go to Hide-Chan when I crave my Red Dragon Ramen bursting with garlic bits in the fiery red soup. It always conjures Game of Thrones for me. I have been to almost all of the restaurants listed here.  Those I have not, I will be trying out for sure.    

This writer articulates so beautifully how I too feel about the use and history of mortar and pestle in my own family.  

Close to my kids’ old schools, I would often pop into this cookbook store and inevitably have to cab home because I got carried away with more books. Titles I didn’t even plan to get.

Mr. Waxman once explained to me that he saw his selections from an anthropologist’s standpoint.  I studied Anthropology too and took inspiration from him.

I have always had an insatiable love for cookbooks, stemming from the time I bought one for my mother every birthday, Christmas and Mother’s Day….I now have a burgeoning and addictive collection about almost every culture and subject related to food, and I always think of Mr. Waxman’s words.

Several of my friends and I would have grown up celebrating a birthday or two with a chocolate cake from Lana.  That is how iconic the cake was during our time in the 80s and 90s. 

 “This young Singapore chef serves unique four-course meals in humble tingkats” : An upscale chef during Singapore's latest Covid restrictions. In this article, Desmond Shen who had worked at Odette (one of my favorite restaurants in Singapore), swiftly modified his business from a supper club to a four-course takeout. His enterprise uses tiffin carriers. The tingkat was a mainstay in my mother's kitchen. She had multiple carriers in her storeroom and they came in handy for my sisters to take home leftovers after a big family meal. In the old days, my father, like many other men, carried tiffin carriers packed with lunch as they set off to work. Perhaps I too should invest in these tiffin carriers so that I can send friends home with leftovers in a more elegant fashion, not in Ziploc bags or tin foil!

 “The Lure of H Mart, Where the Shelves Can Seem as Wide as Asia” – During the strictest lockdown, I made grocery runs for two friends in addition to my own food shopping. I had stumbled on H Mart on 110th and Broadway which was along the way to my tennis court. Every Saturday, armed with lists of food requests, I loaded up on Asian vegetables, fresh fish, frozen dumplings and Asian condiments, while at the same time, found the "healthy wholegrain bread" that the second couple asked for.  

H Mart has definitely made my recipe testing of Asian food easier because I can source fresh galangal, turmeric, lemongrass and yams without having to trek further downtown. To lure my son to help me with the shopping bags, I let him loose in the snack aisle. It was such an incentive. 

"One Year of Cooking with My Mother" is an article written by Eric Kim.  It was featured in the New York Times Food section just before Mother's Day so I am a bit late in sharing this.  But a story about mother-son relationships is always special, regardless.  Eric spent a year with his mother during the Covid lockdown, and learnt to cook, not always by verbal instructions, often by observations and picking up subtle nuances.