The following is a guest post from my sister at MidoriLei. Take it away sis!

Can I be honest? I’ve killed quite a few indoor herbs and plants. Many an innocent plant has met their doomsday because of me. There was the dill plant, the thyme, the sage, and a family of basil (3 or 4?) Almost completely bald, my English ivy managed to escape my curse because my husband insisted we bring her out back, away from harms way (aka, me).

My parsley is trying so hard to hang on. I don’t think she’s going to make it:

Every knowledgeable plant vendor I’ve come across, honestly tells me “none,” when I’ve asked the same question, “What are good indoor herbs?” But, call me stubborn, hopeful, or just simply too lazy and cold to go outside to snip off my herbs, I decided I’m going to find herbs and plants that want to live inside, even if it means having to (shhh) send a couple more to their grave. Here’s what I’ve discovered:

Read the rest of this entry »

My sister once told me a joke about why we Asians have such squinted eyes: During dinnertime as kids, we would disdainfully say, “Rice again!?” while plopping our eyes on our heads in disgust. This, in turn, would stretch out our eyes over the years until they were long and thin.

It really is half-true … the rice everyday part. Generation upon generation of Asians ate rice as staple food. Because of this, we are connoisseurs on the subject of cooking rice. It runs in our blood. If you need to know anything about rice – how to make a perfect batch, what equipment you need, how to save a bad batch, etc – ask an Asian.

Sad Reality

When I lived in boarding school, I was appalled at how they cooked rice. It was incredulous! Wet rice? Hard rice? Minute rice? Disgusting! Once, during the school year, I cooked for a couple of my friends and someone said, “I never knew rice could be this fluffy!” How painfully sad! My heart went out to these people! From then on, I decided to publicize the secrets of rice. How does one make perfect, fluffy white rice?

Read the rest of this entry »

Taking a break from our Latin American tour of beans and rice, tamales, and menudo, we are visiting the other side of the world. Part of being a perfect housewife is familiarizing yourself with a variety of World cuisines.

One thing I notice about popular TV shows is that the parent network tries to mold the cast into a more politically correct group of actors. They compel the writers to add minorities in the script so that they can appease affirmative action activists or simply just increase their Nielson Ratings Demographic. Take for instance the Applewhites. Mark Cherry wanted to portray this family as Caucasians but the producers did not agree. They wanted to add some “ethnicity.” Practically, every major ethnic group has been portrayed on Desperate Housewives. You have the Hispanic Solis’ and the African American Applewhites. But I ask you. Where are the Asians!? They can live in nice houses too!

Read the rest of this entry »