I love Vietnamese dishes, the mounds of fresh herbs, the sweet-sour-spicy mix of nuoc cham and that slightly charred, burnt caramel taste of fried shallots. If you’ve made a batch of meatballs from the albondigas recipe and have a bunch of them stored in the
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When I was a child, one of my favorite requests when I went to visit my Abuelita Zubiri was "albondigas". I loved its savory flavor and soft texture, covered in her signature orange red spanish tomato sauce. The sweet slivers of fondant onions intermingling with
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Some years ago, at the height of my catering career I woke up one morning, after a particularly grueling event the night before, in absolute pain. Every small movement caused a sharp pain to shoot down from my lower back right into my legs. I
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I grew up with my mother drilling into my brain that leather furniture was not meant for tropical climates, that it would eventually crack and peel off in bits; that it would warm your behind and leave you a sweaty mess. For the longest time
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Whenever I throw a party you can almost be certain that there will be a few bottles of cold and crisp rosé. I find that it's an instant crowd pleaser and perfect for starting the night on a upbeat note. It's refreshing, easy to drink,
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A few months ago while interviewing designer and friend TC Alvarez of Two Chic for Modern Living TV, something went "click" in my brain. We were talking about balancing work and motherhood and how she expertly manages to do it all. She said something that
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If there is one guy who I owe quite a bit to it's Philip Cu-unjieng, just Philip to most of you but Tito Philip to me. When I was 16 and expressed my interest in writing he gave me my first ever real assignment for
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There's nothing I love more than planning a party. I love coming up with a theme or an idea, creating the menus, thinking of the decor… It doesn't stress me out at all, in fact I can't think of anything more exciting or enjoyable. I
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My abuelita Zubiri was a formidable woman. She never remarried after my lolo passed away and dedicated her life to charity and living it to it's fullest. Helping people, traveling, running her business (children's clothes with the traditional smocking and bordado) and playing in the
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I will admit to a very bad past of being a cigarette smoker. I had just moved to Paris and it seemed that those moody, picturesque cafés, sipping espressos while mulling over my insignificant existence was the perfect setting smoking cigarettes. Ugh terrible habit and
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