• Me: you will definitely need to take me to Taiwan one day :)
  • Ityng: Yes!
  • Me: i don't know how one would be able to stop eating at one of the night markets.
  • Ityng: Lol you don't stop. I did 48 hrs in Taiwan. I started with my fave aunt's family place. breakfast at 10 went to a lunch right after. Then they took me to a day market which lead to a night market. I stopped eating at 11pm btw in between getting to the places they made sure I had a beverage like tapioca or soy or whatever. Then I went to my grandmother's she got me this awesome cold noodle dish for breakfast. Then my aunt (from vietnam) cooked. Wow. She is really good. Then I went to the airport.
  • Everytime I go to Taiwan I always miss the feeling of hunger a little. Weird huh?
  • Me: I love this.
  • and you.
  • Ityng: :)
Dispatches from Dinner Club My friends and I are still at our International Dinner Club and tonight I prepared a meal based on the cuisine of Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso, it turns out, falls into the category of good food, bad country. Alas. Let’s talk about the food though, because I’m not about to get into a discussion about poverty and human rights in this space. I made a modified version of the rice and greens dish called Babenda — the recipe found here contained some ingredients I wasn’t too keen on (dried sardines and fermented lotus beans), so I sauteed onions, garlic and the hot pink chard stems with some soy sauce and vinegar for a little added umami before adding the ground peanuts and rice and chard. It was really tasty. I could definitely see myself making this again. This was served with cubes of spiced lamb (I was massaging a lamb leg at 10pm last night and had the cinnamon/garlic perfumed hands to prove it until this morning) that I broiled and pan-cooked. Also delicious. The recipe is also from the awesome Global Taste Adventure. We washed it down with the pictured Hibiscus iced tea (aka Bissap a la Bonne Dame) that I brewed last night. So refreshing and lightly sweet that I’m brewing up another batch as I write. I think tomorrow I might use it as a base in a cocktail of some sort. (Taken with Instagram)
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Dispatches from Dinner Club

My friends and I are still at our International Dinner Club and tonight I prepared a meal based on the cuisine of Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso, it turns out, falls into the category of good food, bad country. Alas. Let’s talk about the food though, because I’m not about to get into a discussion about poverty and human rights in this space.

I made a modified version of the rice and greens dish called Babenda — the recipe found here contained some ingredients I wasn’t too keen on (dried sardines and fermented lotus beans), so I sauteed onions, garlic and the hot pink chard stems with some soy sauce and vinegar for a little added umami before adding the ground peanuts and rice and chard. It was really tasty. I could definitely see myself making this again.

This was served with cubes of spiced lamb (I was massaging a lamb leg at 10pm last night and had the cinnamon/garlic perfumed hands to prove it until this morning) that I broiled and pan-cooked. Also delicious. The recipe is also from the awesome Global Taste Adventure.

We washed it down with the pictured Hibiscus iced tea (aka Bissap a la Bonne Dame) that I brewed last night. So refreshing and lightly sweet that I’m brewing up another batch as I write. I think tomorrow I might use it as a base in a cocktail of some sort. (Taken with Instagram)

A Cake Day Haiku

Today is Cake Day!

According to Cake Day lore, Cake Day is all about good food and good friends. How can I not honor this holiday?

Michelle and I made Samoa cupcakes last night to celebrate with our colleagues. We used this recipe for the cake part and this recipe for chocolate frosting. 

Here’s a picture of the first batch of cupcakes cooling on the floor in Michelle’s apartment. She’s resourceful like that.

One of the traditions of Cake Day is to write haiku, or so I’m told. We will try to get some good poetry in exchange for good cupcakes.

Here’s my contribution:

Samoa cupcake,
Full of sweetest coconut.
Yay for Cake Day! Joy!


May your Cake Day be sweet!