Hello, friends, welcome back to Taiwanese Table. It’s the end of the year once again, I’m grateful to have you with me thus far. Like many, I’m taking stock of the past year and planning for the next.
And what a year it’s been. Our cats, Ellie and Kiki, turned 2. We hosted Thanksgiving and finally hung up our paintings. Hong and I celebrated our 10th anniversary by holding hands and jumping off a 25-foot cliff in Milos, Greece and survived to tell the tale (don’t try this anywhere). Oh, we also made such lovely friends and had the best buche tacos in Mexico City (Thank you Felipe, Jenni, and Luis!)
It is dear to my heart that my Taiwanese food journey started to take shape this year. I started Taiwanese Table. I taught in my second year at TANG’s 2023 conference. Clarissa Wei and Ivy Chen’s book came out with great anticipation: Made in Taiwan (my recipe is in there!) I want to take the time to pay tribute to the people who worked with me on these projects.
Taiwanese American Next Generation is a bonding experience that takes place in West Chester, Pennsylvania that brings different generations of Taiwanese Americans together in one place. For this year’s cooking class, I demonstrated how to make taro balls and taro dumplings, and did so wearing a long-sleeve shirt and jeans (the mic didn’t like my t-shirt), in a room with NO WORKING AC, on a sweltering day in July. The whole experience reminded me of the hot and humid Taiwanese South I grew up in.
More importantly, I want to extend my thanks. Thank you to each of my students for sticking around in the unbearable heat for almost 2 hours. Also, I could not have gone through the class without the gracious and capable help of Tim and Val, long-time staffers of the conference, who were absolute troupers.
From transporting equipment to boiling water for the taro balls, from setting up the livestream on Instagram to passing out samples, I relied heavily on their help every single step of the way. Gam-Shia! Thank you for introducing me to the TANG family.
In January, I met up with Clarissa for lunch at Lu-Sang (呂桑), a Yilan restaurant in the Yong-kang neighborhood of Taipei. I am so glad she said yes to my invitation because it was an absolute pleasure to get to know her.
She showed me sneak peeks from the book with excitement, warmth, and sincerity. I find her so easy to talk to, full of passion, and equipped with journalistic expertise for bringing Taiwanese food to the world stage. She did it big time with the release of Made in Taiwan, which deserves its own post in the new year.
I loved working with Clarissa on this book, and I can’t stop telling people about it. Congratulations on the good work to everyone on the team! You can find my name on page 178, with a delightful pork and daikon soup that will warm your body and soul.
Taiwanese Table exists because of your support. In 2021, friends on Facebook suggested I publish my recipes. My family in Taiwan were the first subscribers. My husband took me out on boba work dates and held my hand when I hit publish. My college friend messaged me and told me how interesting they find the stories to be and how they love the pictures I take. My friend from elementary school reached out to me, and I’ve recently learned I have subscribers from Japan. I can’t express enough gratitude for all of your readership and encouragement.
I have many, many recipes and stories lined up, so 2024, let’s go!
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