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What we savor

Groundhog Day: The dinner edition

May 13th, 2019  |  by  |  published in Uncategorized, What we savor | Leave A Comment »

Groundhog Day: The dinner edition

I ate chicken parmesan every night for almost nine years.

The end of my favorite childhood dish, and of my childhood

May 13th, 2019  |  by  |  published in Uncategorized, What we savor | Leave A Comment »

Before getting into the intense boarding high school that's two hours' away from my city, Zhuhai, my parents used to take me to these road trips on weekends and holidays.

Over seven years ago, when my dad last cooked my childhood favorite dish, kung pao chicken, it was a almost-perfect night.

My grandmother’s eternal chicken stew

May 13th, 2019  |  by  |  published in Uncategorized, What we savor | Leave A Comment »

My grandmother’s eternal chicken stew

My grandmother killing her chickens for dinner became one of the last treasured memories I have of her.

Resolutions and junk food on New Year’s Eve

May 14th, 2018  |  by  |  published in What we savor | Leave A Comment »

Resolutions and junk food on New Year’s Eve

A family tradition of celebrating New Years Eve with a “junk food dinner” lives on through generations.

How a jar of jam became my passport to Iran

May 13th, 2018  |  by  |  published in Uncategorized, What we savor | Leave A Comment »

The author and her grandmother, taken at the family country home in Karaj, Iran. Photo: Roya Dehghani.

Grandma’s jam has just two ingredients: fruit and sugar, not unlike a jar of farmer’s market preserves. But that is where the similarities end.

Childhood memories of a family meal, half asleep

May 13th, 2018  |  by  |  published in Uncategorized, What we savor | Leave A Comment »

Childhood memories of a family meal, half asleep

How a meal before dawn brought my family together.

Split pea family

May 13th, 2018  |  by  |  published in Uncategorized, What we savor | 1 Comment »

A rare photograph without the author's father behind the camera. Photo: Margaret Moline.

We thought split pea soup was the worst thing our mother could make. We were wrong.

The secret to the best clam sauce, in words and pictures

May 13th, 2018  |  by  |  published in Uncategorized, What we savor | Leave A Comment »

The secret to the best clam sauce, in words and pictures

This vacation I intended to solve a mystery. I was on Mount Desert Island in Maine for two weeks. Having fled New York City—the meetings and traffic and humidity—I didn’t want anything to do with fancy restaurants or charity cocktail parties. I was looking for old-fashioned fun, maybe even a little adventure. On one of […]

Dad’s thinly-sliced braised beef shank

May 13th, 2018  |  by  |  published in Uncategorized, What we savor | Leave A Comment »

My father never thought about taking a picture of his braised beef shank even though he cooked it hundreds of times. This one is taken in April, after I told him about this story.

When braised beef shank tastes good enough, it an be both the appetizer and the main course.

A bad cook, and her bean and cheese burritos

May 13th, 2018  |  by  |  published in Uncategorized, What we savor | Leave A Comment »

Four of the eight members of the Hamby family. From left to right: Kim, Tobin (1 years old), Joe, and Bo (2 years old). Photo courtesy: Kim Hamby.

My mom is not a great cook. And she didn’t enjoy it when I was growing up. But I can’t get her bean and cheese burritos out of my head.