Food and Family

choi

(1) Melody Stein, Deaf, Determined and Sold on Mozzarella. New York Times, Oct 14, 2012.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/1 ... staurant-dream.html

Quote:

"My journey began in Hong Kong, where I was born in 1973. * * * I developed our menu — including a pizza topped with roast duck and hoisin sauce, a gesture to my Chinese roots.

"THE rise of social media and new technology has been an unexpected boon for the deaf, making it much easier to communicate with hearing people — in ways like simple text messaging and video relay services.

My comment:
(a) I did not pay attention to the big photo (photo 1 online) that print version of New York Times places as a teaser in the front page of the Sunday's business section. After finishing it, I had a second look at the photo and discovered the wife is Asian.
(b) hoisin sauce
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoisin_sauce

After coming to US, many a American stranger would approach me and say "hosin" (with accent on the second syllable). Apparently they do not know what the word means; and they are most definitely not hostile, but appear eager to engage. I did not know what to make of it, or where they learn the word. Finally, a couple of years ago when coming across "hoisin sauce" while reading, I realize what the Americans try to convey--the few Chinese words they know.

(2) JuE Wong, Going Far, Without Regret. New York Times, Oct 14, 2012 (in the column The Boss of Sunday's business section)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/1 ... -global-career.html
("I WAS born and raised in Singapore. When I was 12, I told my mother, 'I’m going to work in the Big Apple one day.' She said she wasn’t surprised, because as a young child I had held my chopsticks far away from my food. In the Chinese culture that means you’re going to live far from home")

My comment:
(a) I did not hear such thing back in Taiwan.
(b) There is no need to read the rest.


(3) Elaine Louie, Rolled by Hands Large and Small. New York Times, Oct 10, 2012.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/1 ... arge-and-small.html

Note:  
(a) chef de cuisine
(b) The recipe for Vietnamese summer rolls is to the left of the text.
(c) summer roll
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_roll

looks similar, if not identical, to lumpia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumpia