Food

Pot Stickers

I remember the first time I ate a dumpling. I was visiting New York City on a school trip and our chaperone took us to the iconic Joe’s Shanghai in midtown Manhattan for dim sum. We were ...

First Bites

A few months ago, our farmer neighbor told us how her grandmother would give her babies a picked-clean chicken bone to help with teething; I laughed, thinking how odd and even dangerous that ...

Navigating the Tofusion

Ah, tofu—ridiculed by some, loved by others, scoffed at by many and scarfed down by hungry vegans and vegetarians, worldwide. It’s viewed both as a wholesome choice and an unappetizing foodstuff. ...

This is the taste of my childhood: sitting on the bed of a truck in South Texas eating this ice cream with Hill Country peaches on top. As you can tell, my Grammy passed along her love of turquoise ...

Food for the Soul

When my grandfather died on Christmas Day in 1993, he was in the home where my extended family traditionally celebrates the holiday. My grandmother, though distraught, quickly decided what to do ...

Healthy Heat

Spice, heat, fire—some of us can’t handle even a touch of it in our food; others can’t get enough. Regardless of personal thresholds, many people, including some Central Texan foodies, believe ...

Top That

Last year, my uncle made roasted chicken tacos doused with a piquant, bright-green chimichurri sauce. That simple condiment completely transformed an otherwise one-note dish and was nothing short of ...

Breakfast in Texas

Texans love the morning meal, whether it’s bacon and eggs (often eaten in a breakfast taco) or something as distinctively nontraditional as saag paneer omelets, pon haus or goat curry. A Lone Star ...

The Great Tartine

The word “tartine” stems from the French word tarte, which is a baked pastry that’s usually sweet and often involves apples. But most know a tartine as basically an open-faced sandwich that can ...

Let's Get Dressed

The topic of getting dressed takes me back to my days at Harper’s Bazaar, when wearing a bad outfit to work was the surest way to ruin a good day. When you spend your waking hours in a fishbowl of ...