May 2026
This has been a bit of a light month for cooking. I’ve been busier than usual, and haven’t had as many opportunities to cook, or the time to cook when I wasn’t eating out.

April 2026
The last month began in a bit of a whirlwind, and I found myself eating out or getting takeout out of necessity more than anything. On a whirlwind trip to New York, I stopped by a few favorites, including Balthazar.
RecipeCá Hấp (Vietnamese-style Steamed Fish)
This is my North American adaptation of an Australian take on a traditional Vietnamese technique for doing steamed fish, cá hấp. It’s great, though I won’t even begin to pretend this is authentic, or that I know anything about the cultural context.
RecipeMochi
The procedure for doing the mochi itself is somewhat specific to the Tiger SMJ-B18U machine. The water and rice amounts, or the timings might work in other machines. From experience, however, each machine tends to require a bit of finesse to get right.
RecipeRisotto al cavolo nero
This is great to do in the depths of winter when everything else is incredibly beige. The kale is in season even in the depths of winter, and this makes for a wonderfully verdant dish to cut through the gray skies.