Tag Archives: Food

May 9, 2012 · 9:17 am

Simple Asian Meals: Irresistibly Satisfying and Healthy Dishes for the Busy Cook by Nina Simonds

At 19, Nina Simonds more or less became Asian. The New Englander dropped out of college in the 1970s and headed far east to Taiwan “to study food, language, and culture.” She was taken in by a surrogate Chinese family, in which the mother happened to be a famous cook with a cooking school staffed by some of China’s best chefs. Such serendipitous experiences would inspire Simonds to write 10 cookbooks through the decades, and make her one of the leading authorities on Asian cooking.

Her latest how-to is as much a feast for the eyes as the palate: the photography alone is mouth-watering. And yet Simonds promises to “dispel the myth that Asian cooking is too time-consuming and difficult to prepare on a daily basis.” Her pan-Asian recipes here have been updated and adapted to fit the 21st-century lifestyle, taking advantage of short-cuts (my term, not Simonds!) like organic chicken broth and ready-made sauces in order to create fast, healthy, delicious meals. With most supermarkets going global, Simonds makes stocking your pantry with Asian essentials efficient and easy.

Simonds enhances many of her recipes with the ‘food as medicine’-philosophy by adding yin-yang boxes which highlight specific ingredients for “their health-giving properties according to Chinese medicine and scientific research.” The shrimp in her “Fiery Vietnamese Hot and Sour Shrimp Soup” warms the body which increases qi. The spinach in “Wilted Spinach and Scallop Salad with Toasted Sesame Seeds” helps hydrate the body and quenches thirst. The miso that flavors “Grilled Miso Tuna” lowers the risk of heart disease, reduces menopausal symptoms, prevents cancer, and aids digestion. Even dessert can be good for you: the peaches in “Roasted Peaches with Cardamom Whipped Cream” will help replenish body fluids and help dry coughs.

Whatever ails you (or someone in your family), you just might find an antidote between these pages. Although even without miraculous cures, everyone at your dining table is sure to benefit from some delectable fare indeed.

Readers: Adult

Published: 2012

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Filed under ..Adult Readers, .Nonfiction, Pan-Asian

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May 3, 2012 · 10:40 am

Peiling and the Chicken-Fried Christmas by Pauline Chen

Don’t let the seasonal title fool you … this is one those sweet timeless stories about the adolescent need to belong. Peiling is American. Her parents, in spite of what their passports say, consider themselves Taiwanese. Like most 11-year-olds, Peiling wants to be just like everyone else. With the impending winter holidays, all the other kids are talking about Christmas. But that’s not a holiday that the Wang family ever celebrates.

This year, Peiling wants more than anything to experience the whole Christmas shebang. Somehow she manages to convince her reluctant parents to agree to the mistletoe, tree, stockings, and even hosting a traditional (American) holiday meal for the whole extended Wang clan … plus a surprise guest. But the celebration is not what Peiling expected: who marinates their turkey in ginger and soy sauce, puts longyan in their salads, sings karaoke instead of “Jingle Bells,” and plays mahjong on Christmas anyway?

Of course, Peiling will need a little help getting over her disappointments and frustrations. Good friends and caring teachers are always important, but so is one’s own sense of accomplishment, which Peiling gets to test in herself when she’s promoted from understudy to starring role in the upcoming school play.

In a little over a hundred pages, Chen manages to weave in multiple multicultural lessons, generational conflicts, issues with assimilation, challenging relationships in school, and even a budding romance. And while she might offend just a few conservative Christians over the complete secularization of a holy day, they can merely be reminded that such judgment might not be in the proper spirit.

Tidbit: I picked up Peiling last week because I was assigned Chen’s upcoming adult novel (sneak peek: WOW!) to review for one of my regular publications [I always try to read previous titles before writing reviews.]. For the adult market, Chen includes a middle initial – Pauline A. Chen – perhaps to distinguish herself from Pauline W. Chen who wrote the lauded Final Exam: A Surgeon’s Reflections on Mortality. Amazingly enough, both share Harvard and Yale credentials, as well as the Dr. title – PhD for A., medical for W. So many accomplished Pauline Chens out there indeed!

Readers: Middle Grade

Published: 2007

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Filed under ..Middle Grade Readers, .Fiction, Chinese American, Taiwanese American

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January 17, 2012 · 10:11 am

Stir It Up by Ramin Ganeshram

Food writer Ramin Ganeshram shares her Indo-Caribbean culinary prowess in her debut title for younger readers about eighth-grader Anjali Krishnan who really knows how to stir things up … and make it all taste great. Working part-time in her family’s busy roti shop – which specializes in Trinidadian comfort cooking – in Richmond Hill, Queens with her father and grandmother, Anjali has delicious dreams: “I want to have my own show about Caribbean food. No one has done that yet. I’ll be the first.”

At 13, she’s well on her way to chef-dom, learning all the family recipes from her grandmother, testing and sharing her own unique creations with some of the shop’s appreciative regulars, and taking serious classes at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan. Then Anjali gets a chance to compete in a reality show featuring kiddie chefs: making the finals turns out to be the easy part, but convincing her parents to let her go to the auditions proves to be a much tougher challenge, especially since tryouts are the exact same date and time as the admissions test for a coveted spot to  Stuyvesant High School.

Regardless of her parents’ old-world immigrant insistence on education first, Anjali is not about to give up her dream, especially when she’s can practically smell the curry: “‘… we curry just about everything.’” As talented as she is, however, Anjali’s still got a thing or two to learn about cooking up true success.

With all her cooking and writing experience, Ganeshram gets the blend just right in this toothsome tale about food, family, and feeding not just the belly, but nourishing the mind and soul, as well. The recipes read deliciously, too … as I’m an utter disaster in the kitchen, maybe I can rally my teenagers to give me a helping hand!

Readers: Middle Grade

Published: 2011

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Filed under ..Young Adult Readers, .Fiction, Carribbean American, Indian American

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November 20, 2011 · 5:17 pm

The Princess and the Peanut: A Royally Allergic Fairytale by Sue Ganz-Schmitt, illustrated by Micah Chambers-Goldberg

Quick: Growing up, how many kids did you know who carried epi-pens? I can’t think of a single child (I’m dating myself, I’m sure), except for silly me, but mine were for bee stings. That certainly is not the case now! Our daughter was always one of the many students with epi-pens stored with the school nurse for years (luckily, miraculously, she outgrew her peanut allergy in middle school).

As unique as I think our daughter is, she’s one of millions of kids in the U.S. with food allergies … exact numbers vary, but all agree that the prevalence of food allergies is definitely growing. Peanuts, of course, are at the top of the list for being the most common food allergy.

Thanks to author Sue Ganz-Schmitt, allergies get a royal makeover in one of the most cleverly entertaining re-inventions of a classic fairytale ever. Gorgeous, richly detailed illustrations from Micah Chambers-Goldberg imbue the story with utter charm and delightful humor.

A sweet, goofy prince is searching for the perfect princess. He has no luck until a lost stranger arrives at the castle on a late rainy night. She turns out to be allergic to the peanut hidden under many mattresses (because the castle is just plain out of peas), and a doctor is rushed in with a dose of epinephrine. The princess quickly recovers, the prince recognizes his soulmate (and vice-versa) and gives up even his favorite snack– peanut butter – to remain close by her side. He makes sure to wash his hands when he asks for hers (in marriage). The castle goes all peanut- and tree nut-free and everyone is sure to live happily ever after.

Younger readers will definitely enjoy the adventure, but adults just might have even more fun: the creators both have a subversive, multi-layered sense of humor and really know how get you to giggle and guffaw right along (no spoilers here; you deserve to discover the glee all on your own). The final two pages of the book are helpfully filled with useful information for parents, teachers, caregivers as a necessary reminder that food allergies are never a laughing matter.

Readers: Children

Published: 2011

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Filed under ..Children/Picture Books, .Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

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November 7, 2011 · 11:04 am

Tongue by Kyung Ran Jo, translated by Chi-Young Kim

Here’s what stands out most about this slim Korean novel for me: it’s surprisingly not Korean. Except for the few Korean names, virtually no other Korean markers exist within these pages, which I found rather strange in a novel set in Seoul featuring the lives of contemporary Korean young professionals. Maybe it’s just me … but in a story so infused with the tastes and textures of – and even historical tidbits about – food, I might have expected at least one tiny whiff of kimchi, but that’s definitely not the case here.

The basic story, however, is definitely (sadly) universal: a love affair gone very wrong. A young chef loses her live-in architect boyfriend of seven years to another woman. He abandons her, also leaving behind his aging dog Paulie (yet another non-Korean detail). She wallows for seven months (the chapters are named for the first seven months of the year, so no difficult math necessary here). She closes the cooking school she ran in the perfect kitchen the boyfriend created for her, and goes back to work at the celebrated Italian restaurant where she got her exceptional training. As she recovers her senses, she sets in motion plans for the ultimate meal for her cheating lover that she hopes will finally set her free.

The word ‘wallow’ is probably all the clue you need as to my reactions about the book. As slim as it is, so much self-pity makes for a longer-than-necessary read. I also couldn’t understand the chef’s blindingly pathetic devotion to the architect; some of that endless wallowing might have been replaced with a few more pages developing his flat character beyond representing him as just another schmuck in a handsome package. Thankfully, the cleverly inserted tidbits about food – cabbage broth helps with insomnia (!), something I must try! – were definitely welcome morsels.

The writer Kyung Ran Jo is apparently “a rising international literary star,” and Tongue was an instant bestseller when it debuted in Korea in 2007. The shock value at book’s end, plus allegations of plagiarism, just might have helped up sales. Currently, Tongue remains Jo’s first and only novel available in English. I admit that I picked up the title because of its translator, Chi-Young Kim; given her linguistically transformative prowess, Kim has certainly rendered Jo’s tale into a smooth, seamless volume. Hopefully an equally exacting editor will make Jo’s next title that much more satisfying.

Readers: Adult

Published: 2009 (United States)

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Filed under .Fiction, .Translation, Korean

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November 1, 2011 · 9:19 am

Chocolate Chocolate: The True Story of Two Sisters, Tons of Treats, and the Little Shop That Could by Frances Park and Ginger Park

On a long flight to Korea, I took the Park Sisters along to sweeten the tedious ride. I was barreling my way toward an international children’s literature festival where I was scheduled to talk about Korean American literature and, of course, the sisters and their many titles were included in my intended presentation. Talk about synchronicity – Yangsook Choi, who illustrated the sisters’ kiddie title, Goodbye, 382 Shin Dang Dong, was also presenting at the festival! Clearly, I was long overdue to read the sisters’ May memoir!

More than an addiction, chocolate proved to be salvation for Big Sis Francie and Little Sis Ginger. When their beloved father died suddenly while only in his 50s, the sisters – always close – “grew Siamese.” Untethered and unsure of their futures, both daughters relied on each other, softening their intense loss with endless nibbles of chocolate. Still young women in their 20s – and enabled by a small inheritance from their father and the buoying support of their mother – they decided to invest in a new life together: Chocolate Chocolate opened for business on January 11, 1984.

Over the decades that followed, Big Sis and Little Sis really grew up. When things got tough, the sisters ate chocolate. When business improved, they celebrated with chocolate. They suffered through love affairs, difficult decisions, evil landlords, and the fickle economy. They wrote books and stories, together and separately, and fed their literary souls. They gathered an extended family among their customers, including the General, the Kahlua Lady, Our Girl Friday, Dr. Zhivago, and the Bulldog – all of whom helped to turn Chocolate Chocolate into quite a sweet haven.

Interwoven into the story of a ‘little shop that could,’ is a family saga that ensures that the book is something far more than just empty calories. As a de facto companion title to the sisters’ To Swim Across the World, a novel based on their parents’ lives in war-torn Korea and their eventual immigration to the U.S., the sisters’ imbue the family history here with greater depth and details, from the Milk Boy who was their father to the their stalwart mother who never gave up hoping to be reunited someday with her own missing mother.

Pick this up for the sweetness – could that cover not be more chic-ly inviting? Read and appreciate it for the resonating, inspiring, delicious family story. And I can guarantee you’ll never look at chocolate – especially the Hershey Bar (and not for any reason you think you can guess!) – quite the same way again …

Readers: Adult

Published: 2011

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Filed under ..Adult Readers, .Memoir, .Nonfiction, Korean American

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October 16, 2011 · 2:03 pm

Gente: The People of Ristorante Paradiso (vols. 2-3) by Natsume Ono, translated by Joe Yamazaki

Oh, those complicated but charming men who wander in and out of the kitchen, creating and serving the most toothsome fare at the Casetta dell’Orso … wouldn’t you love to know what their lives are like outside the restaurant? First introduced in the single volume Ristorante Paradiso, the gentlemen of this alluring establishment quickly earned their very own series, which debuted last year in English translation. With so many fascinating characters (and the glasses they can so easily hide behind), the stories can only continue …

In volume 2, gentle headwaiter Claudio and wunderkind chef Furio share their hotel past, Chef Teo and Chef Vanna work out their multilayered love/hate relationship thousands of miles apart, and Claudio’s estranged wife helps an American stranger with heartbreak. And who should arrive on the doorstep of the Casetta, asking for the owner …?

An important politician thinks he’s taking a break from his decision-making when he discovers the delightful restaurant in volume 3. Olga’s daughter Nicoletta finds herself completely enthralled and entangled working (and watching and learning) at the famed restaurant. A wealthy couple who live separate lives play out their challenging marriage a bit too publicly. Lorenzo has a thing or two to share about family with Nicoletta … about how bonds grow when you least expect them. Gigi the sommelier (who is also Lorenzo’s half-brother) goes on his annual trek to visit his father’s grave … and gets totally taken by (with?) a precocious little girl full of stories and surprises.

Beguiling company, delectable fare, neverending drama … what more can you ask for in a couple-hundred-page installments filled with such expressive, inviting faces? Buon appetito indeed!

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2010-2011 (United States)
GENTE © 2007 Natsume Ono/Ohta Publishing Co.
Original Japanese edition published by Ohta Publishing Co.

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Filed under ..Adult Readers, ..Young Adult Readers, .Fiction, .Graphic Novel/Manga/Manwha, .Translation, Japanese

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September 17, 2011 · 9:08 am

Señora Honeycomb by Fanny Buitrago, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden

Little orphan Teodora promises her dying godmother to look after her worthless bed-hopping son. Raised Cinderella-style in a small village in Colombia, Teodora willingly enslaves herself to ensure handsome but immoral Galaor’s every comfort, and not surprisingly falls madly in love with him. ‘Love is blind,’ is no understatement here!

Teodora – and the rest of the town – soon enough learn that she is actually the wealthy heir, but Galaor’s uncontrollable appetites have already drastically diminished her fortune. Fearing the loss of the hand that feeds him, Galaor quickly marries his pot of gold. But with coffers depleting so quickly, Teodora’s only choice is to finally agree to work for the amorous Dr. Amiel, who has set up a wildly successful catering business in Madrid that creates anatomically correct, highly edible, even aphrodisiacal fare.

After three years under Dr. Amiel’s titillating tutelage, Teodora decides the time is right to return home and surprise her beloved husband. Will she finally find true love …?

In my ongoing search for a contemporary, savvy, strong Colombian woman writer (all suggestions encouraged and welcome!), Fanny Buitrago is definitely not it. Nor is her naive (stupid?), innocent (myopic?), devoted (slavish?) protagonist even vaguely a feminist hero. Buitrago’s only novel available in English translation thus far is, at best, campy erotica disguised as a misguided literary treatise of sexual awakening. Truly, Kate Chopin this ain’t!

Readers: Adult

Published: 1996 (United States)

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August 18, 2011 · 9:09 am

The Kimchi Chronicles: Korean Cooking for an American Kitchen by Marja Vongerichten with Julia Turshen, photography by Andrew Baranowski, foreword by Jean-Georges Vongerichten

Confession: in spite of every good intention, I haven’t yet seen the eponymous show for which this book is billed as a “Companion to the Public Television Series.” That said, this gorgeous volume clearly stands alone … and most deliciously so.

The book’s dedication instantly draws you in: “… to my two mothers, one who gave me life and the other who helped me live it.” Marja Vongerichten is a hapa Korean adoptee, who openly, lovingly shares her personal story here.

Born in Korea to a 19-year-old Korean mother and an African American serviceman who abandoned her when she was seven months pregnant, Vongerichten spent the first three years with her birthmother who with “no financial support … faced incredible hardship.” She was “adopted by loving American parents,” who renamed her Marja, “a combination of [their] names Margo and James.” She grew up mostly in northern Virginia, “raised on the typical American diet.”

In college, at age 20, “feeling independent and ready,” she began searching for her birthmother … and miraculously found her living in Brooklyn. Their first reunion, “needless to say, an emotional experience,” was also very much about food: “Although I hadn’t eaten authentic Korean food in almost 2 decades, the meal was strangely familiar; the food I had eaten for the first 3 years of my life had taken root in my subconscious, and reawakening those sensory memories helped me feel connected to my mother.”

For Vongerichten, the culinary reconnection proved magical: “Food was and continues to be a bridge between to my Korean identity and my life in America, especially when I eat and cook with my mother and my extended Korean family, and when I introduce my American family to Korean food.” That American family, of course, includes her renowned chef husband, Jean-Georges Vongerichten who, in the book’s “Foreword,” confesses to “working on putting a hot dog with kimchi relish … on the Menu at the Mercer Kitchen,” and making his own version of “Fast, Hot Kimchi” that gets “tucked underneath a nicely seared piece of fish” at Spice Market. He proudly boasts his chef-son is serving up a dish “with a sauce made of butter and gochujang“ at Perry Street.

Hungry yet? The book is filled with fabulous recipes that run the gamut from the most Korean (kimchi and “Birthday Seaweed Soup”) to inventive fusion (“Grilled Korean Lobster Rolls” and “Korean Baeckoffe” – a Korean spin on a traditional Alsatian dish). Luscious photographs will get you salivating for sure.

As exquisite a cookbook as this certainly is, read it for the delectable, satisfying, heart-warming, belly-filling memoir that it also most definitely is. Vongerichten’s journey is indeed remarkable … one gratifying dish at a time.

Readers: Adult

Published: 2011

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Filed under ..Adult Readers, .Nonfiction, Hapa, Korean, Korean American

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June 13, 2011 · 9:11 am

Hot, Hot Roti for Dada-ji by F. Zia, illustrated by Ken Min

For young Aneel, having his grandparents come live with him is like having built-in playmates, not to mention “… his grandparents’ stories were the best of all. Aneel loved hearing about the faraway village with the green wheat fields and the swaying coconut palms.”

One day, while his grandmother is too busy chanting her Hari Oms, Dada-ji, his grandfather, is happy to tell Aneel about his youthful days of wrestling water buffalo, tying together hissing cobras, and even juggling three elephants! Dada-ji’s strength, of course, came from stacks and stacks of his own mother’s “fluffy-puffy roti” accompanied by her “tongue-burning mango pickle.”

Longing for roti, but unable to convince anyone in the house to make it, Aneel decides he’ll make them himself! Indeed, as his surprised family looks on with encouragement (and hunger), Aneel figures out by roti number 10 how to make the perfect circle for the perfect fluffy puff. And the hot, hot roti for Dada-ji gives both grandfather and grandson all the strength they need to find grand new adventures together.

First time book illustrator Ken Min‘s stylized, angular faces are bursting with expressive energy – check out grinning Dada-ji in his headstand, the startled elephants in mid-air, Aneel’s worried mother as he takes over the kitchen, and Aneel’s own glee as he soars into the blue sky. Zia’s story warmly celebrates the exuberance of imagination, and rewards the tenacity of can-do attitude.

If I had one little, minor, tiny complaint, it might be that a roti recipe would have been much appreciated, especially since Aneel himself makes the process look so possible … and delightfully delicious. Mmm mmmm good indeed!

Tidbit: Talk about internet magic … you can try out Aneel’s roti recipe by clicking here!

Readers: Children

Published: 2011

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Filed under ..Children/Picture Books, .Fiction, Indian American

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