Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
For this month’s prize, I’ve teamed up with New Video, the distributor of the Scholastic Storybook Treasures series, to give away two copies of the children’s DVD BINK & GOLLIE… AND MORE STORIES ABOUT FRIENDSHIP. #WinWithJae
Spinach and kale quiche for dinner. Fresh pineapples for dessert. It’s what was for dinner tonight. Everything was really good, if I do say so myself.
For this month’s prize, I’m giving away a copy of Fabio Viviani’s new cook book, Fabio’s Italian Kitchen ($24.99, Hyperion, 288 pages). Wanna win it? #WinWithJae
It has been almost three decades since Long Duk Dong made his appearance in “16 Candles,” and it doesn’t look like Hollywood’s perception of Asian men has changed all that much. Actor John Wusah turned down a chance to audition for a film, where the Asian character was there just to be made fun of. I can’t imagine that it’d be easy for an actor of any race to turn down an opportunity to work. So Kudos, Mr. Wusah.
Have you ever waited an hour to eat at a half-empty restaurant, when you had a reservation? We did. We were repeatedly asked to wait for a table, while the hostess seated dozens of people before us, including those without reservations. Were they incompetent? Yes. Were they racist? Possibly. Have we gone back? Nope.
OK, so for the second year in a row, I’ve made goodie bags for my son’s birthday parties using brown paper lunch bags. They didn’t turn out nearly as cute as I fancied them to be when I was making them. But, I still like them.
There was a little boy sitting nervously on his bicycle as my dad talked to him. The boy had called my father a chink, and my father was calmly explaining that it wasn’t a nice thing to say, and that his parents would be disappointed to hear him say that to an adult. (Who’re we kidding? We all know that this kid probably learned to be a racist at home. But my father was giving him the benefit of the doubt.)
There’s not much I can add to this that hasn’t already been said. But, the “Beavis and Butt-head” part of me couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw that the doctor’s last name was “Ablow.” The fact that two old men who know next to nothing about music are critiquing and dismissing an “unintelligible” song because they can’t understand it. Wow. Just wow.
Too bad they didn’t quote me correctly. The sentiment is there, but this isn’t exactly what I said. How do I know? They asked for my answers via e-mail. And I saved that e-mail.
Famed Spago chef Wolfgang Puck is the latest judge on the “Top Chef: Seattle.” Puck says he’s excited to be a part of the 10th season of the Emmy and James Beard Award-winning series. “The show is a lot of fun for me and I enjoy watching what the chefs come up with each week,” says the 63-year-old author and TV personality. “When I was starting out, I knew I found cooking to be interesting. But I never imagined that people would enjoy watching chefs on television competing in the kitchen. It’s wonderful.”
South Korean rapper PSY’s “Gangnam Style” video has more than 200 million YouTube views and counting, and it’s easy to see why. No Korean language skills are needed to enjoy the chubby, massively entertaining performer’s crazy horse-riding dance, the song’s addictive chorus and the video’s exquisitely odd series of misadventures.
“People are surprised — bewildered, really — at PSY’s popularity abroad,” says Susan Kang, chief evangelist for Soompi.com, the mammoth online site dedicated to Korean pop music. “You have people saying, ‘We have all these beautiful guys and girls that have tried to break through to the U.S. market with little success. So why PSY?’ But of course they are embracing it to the fullest, and it’s causing a renewed interest in and respect for his music.”
“People who say Lin is an opportunist expected him to be a meek, quiet Asian man who wouldn’t cause waves,” says Jae-Ha Kim, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune. “This discussion about what he’s worth is insulting. Clearly these teams aren’t offering him this money out of the goodness of their hearts. And for what it’s worth, I’m a Bulls fan — I’ll just miss seeing Spike Lee go nuts over Lin.”
Born in Hiroshima, Japan, Masaharu Morimoto is recognizable to “Iron Chef” fans as the serious chef who consistently creates artistic and delicious Asian fusion dishes. A star of the Japanese cooking competition that spawned “Iron Chef America,” Morimoto has been a dominant presence on both shows. The 56-year-old chef and restaurateur opened his first restaurant in Japan in 1980, before moving to the United States five years later. He owns restaurants in New York, Tokyo and Mumbai, has a line of sake and beer and is the author of “Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking.”
I made these goodie bags for my son’s 4th birthday party. I filled brown paper lunchbags with Lightening McQueen notebads, pencils, a few small toys and packets of Korean cookie sticks. I folded the top part of the bag over, punched two holes into it and then tied crazy straws to the top with colorful ribbons. To make it easier for each child to find his or her own treat bag, I attached each guest’s photo on the front.
As a kid, Sara Moulton didn’t know she wanted to be a chef, but she says her mother did. “When my parents took me on a trip to Europe, I not only loved all the food we ate but I took notes about it,” says the New Yorker, who may be the only chef whose work has been name-checked by the Beastie Boys. “I even wrote about what I ate on the airplane. I was a typical teenager, but I guess I always was really interested in how food was made.”
When my Op-Ed piece on Jeremy Lin ran in the Chicago Tribune, a lot of people wrote in to comment about their own experiences growing up. More than a few questioned the veracity of my experiences. Here are just some of the comments that the Tribune published.
Jeremy Lin is riding a well-deserved wave of goodwill and adulation. After being undrafted and waived by not one, but two, NBA teams last year–the 23-year-old point guard for the New York Knicks has become the sport’s latest sensation. And Asian Americans are loving it. Each time Lin shows off his skills on the basketball court or does an on-air interview where—surprise!–he has no accent, he helps Asian Americans get one step closer to being accepted as “real” Americans.
To television viewers, Andrew Zimmern of “Bizarre Foods” fame is known as that guy who’ll eat anything. And he’d like Americans to give it a shot, too. “Open up and expand your horizons, people!” says the James Beard Award-winning chef and author. “My favorite mixed metaphor is, ‘Put on your big girl pants and man up!’ I am unable to comprehend a place on the planet where the food is ‘too different.’”
