Shibori combines two of my craft loves: origami and fabric dyeing. You fold and press fabric like origami, create resist patterns with boards, clamps, string and/or rubber bands, and then dye the package. When you unfold and release the fabric, you get interesting patterns unique to each dye job. Shibori (しぼり) is the Japanese term …
Shibori: awesome and easy home dyeing techniques Read More »
This is the front of a preserved pre-war Straits Peranakan/Malay-Chinese family home on Jalan Muntri in George Town, Penang, Malaysia. Many of these old abandoned homes are now being turned into boutique hotels and hipster cafes. It’s a little sad to see them become so commercialized but at least they are being rehabilitated and used …
George Town, Penang’s eclectic pre-war architecture Read More »
I’m so ready to leave the concrete high-rise urban jungle behind and immerse myself in this! And this! Those UNESCO World Heritage folks sure know how to pick ’em.
Does this vegetarian/pescatarian make a special trip to eat chicken from the world’s first hawker stall to get a Michelin star? Yes lah. Hawker Chan has come a long way from his dingy stall at People’s Park in Singapore since he earned a Michelin star in 2016. Apparently an investor helped him open a fast-food …
Nothing like starting the day after a 16-hour flight with roti paratha and scrambled eggs! I had an early morning arrival on the United 1 Boeing 787 Dreamliner direct to Singapore from SFO (exit row economy seats 27A and 27L are pretty sweet if you like leg room, freedom to use the bathroom and a …
Here are my favorite pescaterian-vegetarian food picks on this trip to Vietnam… Top left: Chã cá, or table charcoal-grilled hake fillets with tons of fresh dill, turmeric, galangal, ginger, fish sauce and shrimp paste, at Cha Ca Thanh Long in Hanoi Top right: bánh khúc, mung bean dumplings with cassava and rice flour skins, my …
No visit to Taiwan is complete without a visit to a night market. Despite my exhaustion from jet lag and walking around Taipei in sweltering summer heat, last night I made it to the Raohe night market (饒河夜市) next to the Songshan MRT and local train station and was pumped enough by all the activity …
Owls are a good luck symbol in Taiwan. I had the amazing good fortune that my Auntie knows Teacher Zhang of the Saisiyat aboriginal tribe, and she happened to be at her shop the afternoon we stopped by Nanzhuang town in the mountains of Miaoli, my mother’s ancestral home. I saw her handmade owls at …
Making Saisiyat 賽夏 aboriginal good luck owls in Nanzhuang, Miaoli, Taiwan Read More »
I’m off to Taiwan (to see family), Vietnam (to vacation with friends) and Hong Kong (for a quickie dim sum layover blitz). I met my goal to fit 2 weeks’ worth of stuff into my Osprey Farpoint 40 liter pack with the total pack weighing less than 15 pounds (not including food/water, I squeaked in …
**Spain rocks purple spirals,smiley faces, hearts pierced with arrows**
