For breakfast I usually eat nothing.
So maybe once a week Ill try a new place for a breakfast sandwich.
So far its beenThe SentinelandSuper Duper Burgerand a place calledLous Sandwichesthats actually pretty damn good.
When you say the perfect breakfast sandwich what are you looking for?
If thats in the sandwich?
Like a McDonalds kind of style hash brown?
Do you like an Egg McMuffin at all?
No, not really.
Its kind of the same texture all throughout and I just dont care for that.
If you dont eat breakfast, do you drink coffee or tea?
Im supposed to not drink coffee but I do anyway.
Im drinking coffee right now.
My psychiatrist says that it is bad for people with anxiety to put more caffeine in their bodies.
But you know,Impayingher.
And its coffee!
Youre not doing cocaine or anything.
But I guess like Im already at coffee levels of anxiety.
So if I drink coffee then its basically like I just did cocaine.
How do you usually fix your coffee?
Blackthats probably also part of the problemusually hot.
If Im feeling very fancy I will drink yerba mate, which I have at home.
People dont usually have yerba mate at cafes which is really sad.
That is too bad.
Do you get to cook at home a lot for yourself?
No, I dont.
Because you know fried rice is the great equalizer.
Do you have a usual day food-wise, or is it just all over the place?
Its usually all over the place, although there is a sense of routine despite that.
What do you usually do for lunch if youre not at a restaurant?
I will probably go to a food truck.
Do you have any favorites?
Im always trying stuff thats new.
Ive never actually brought lunch from home.
Ive never been in that habit because Ive always worked in restaurants.
Why would you do that?
And Ive never worked in an office.
And so that habit has never been inscribed on me.
Are you in an office now?
Are there office snacks or anything?
There arekind ofoffice snacksPR people will send me random shit all the time.
Do you work with other food writers or is it pretty much just you?
So were pretty robust for a newspaper food section.
Whats the whats the craziest thing youve ever been sent by a PR person?
A framed Photoshopped image based on the first cover that we did for the reviews that I wrote.
It was like a side profile of my head.
It was illustrated and then had thought bubbles with the themes that were in the reviews.
But the PR company Photoshopped their brand into the thought bubbles.
But it was big.
It was maybe like 20 by 30 inches.
So actually the weirdest thing wasnt food, it was that.
It felt like such a weirdly intimate kind of serial killer-ish thing to send.
Do you ever pack any snacks in your bag?
Eating has taken on a very interesting curve since getting this job.
Do you ever crave something simple and home-cooked like steamed vegetables?
Yeah, I mean thats generally what I do at home anyway.
But there are also ways you’ve got the option to order that, especially in California.
You lived in Portland for a while.
How would you compare the Portland food scene with the Bay Area food scene?
The Bay Area food scene is a lot more about fine dining.
I find that theres a lot more stratification, whereas Portland has a pretty robust middle ground.
As far as restaurants go you might get pretty great foodyou wont have to break the bank.
If you do get the chance to cook at home what do you usually make for dinner?
Usually I would make Asian food of some kind, generally Chinese or Japanese.
So Ill make dashi and rice and vegetables or a stir fry or noodles or currylike Japanese curry.
Thats just easiest thing to whip together.
What condiments usually keep stocked in your fridge or pantry?
So I have chili oil generallythe standby isLao Gan Ma.
And then I have theFly By Jingchili oil which is a super fancy version of that.
Its really delicious and toasty.
And then sriracha, of course.
Im trying to think of what else we have in there.
A ton of pickles.
Could you estimate how many different types of pickles you have?
Six if you count kimchi as like an extra fermented vegetable thing.
For hot sauces is it pretty much sriracha?
Its pretty much sriracha.
I do have one fairly old bottle ofSecret Aardvarkin the fridge too.
Every time I pass through PDX I grab one.
How is the pizza in the Bay Area?
Neapolitan and woodfired pizza is the easiest to find.
But theres some really interesting other pizzas here.
There are some places that do sourdough pizza, which makes sense.
And then there are a couple of spots that have cropped upa few Detroit-stylelike the pan pizza.
Theres a good variety.
Is there any New York style pizza?
Theres a little bit, yes.
but I dont need that.
Its not your favorite?
You know what I mean?
Im not going to pretend that its the same.
You probably dont ever do a Taco Bell run or anything like that?
I was never really into fast food, honestly.
How was that?
I think its a really picturesque location.
and they have chicken?
I was just thrown.
I think the last time I had Taco Bell was in high school.
Oh wow.
There has been so much innovation.
I had a Doritos Locos Taco and I was like Ah.
But I was never really into fast food, honestly.
Do you enjoy a good burger?
I do sometimes when Im on my period, for sure.
For the iron?
Im anemic and so I get these monster cravings for meat when Im on my period.
And burgers have all kinds of shit in them so it feels really good to eat.
Are you a thin patty person or a thicker burger person?
I love a good smash burger.
Like I said before with breakfast sandwiches, I love texture, especially within a sandwich.
I like crunchy things between bread.
What are your favorite ways to add texture to a sandwich youre making at home?
So my favorite potato chip is theSweet Maui Onion chipyou know the Hawaiian ones?
Ill throw those into a sandwich.
Of course pickles add a really delicious sort of texture.
That was just amazing to me.
That was very much my vibe in middle school system.
Yeah I think about it sometimes.
I wouldnt do it again because I dont know how far Ill fall from that point.
I like that its a bagel too.
I absolutely love it.
Speaking of cheap food hacksdo you have any instant ramen hacks?
I dont know if this is a hack.
I dont think that this fits the Lifehacker brand.
I think yall have higher standards than I do for what constitutes a hack.
But in my family we lovemie gorengthe noodles from Indonesia.
We just cook them with all kinds of shit in them.
Do you have a favorite movie theater snack?
Popcorn truly is the rice of the West
Actually yes.
And they were super skeptical the whole time because they were like what the fuck?
And we didnt have powdered ranch or cheddar because we were just, you know, really stuck-up people.
So I brought in Ethiopian spice mix, and nutritional yeast, and zaatar, and things like that.
Popcorn is such a great just blank canvas for experimenting.
Popcorn truly is the rice of the West.
Do you cook it at home?
No, we dont have a microwave.
So if I have it at home, its by the bag.
Trader Joes has a pickle popcorn now.
Do you go to Trader Joes at all?
I was actually there last night because its by our gym.
We dont usually buy premade stuff.
Do you like any of their condiments or any of their weird specific-to-Trader Joes products?
Trader Joes condiments are kind of terrible actually.
Thats a lot of wasabi mayo.
Is there anything that you just refuse to make or dont like cooking?
Thats a good question.
If Im going to do something Im going to do it the fuck up.
No, I love that and I completely support it.
Why would you spend your time making lentils?
If Im going to do something Im going to do it the fuck up.
So you like baking as well as cooking?
I really like making biscuits in particular.
What kind of biscuits do you makea drop biscuit or a cut biscuit?
I use my own recipe.
Do you use a lot of other peoples recipes?
Im not really a recipe user in general.
Going back to the grocery stores in your neighborhood.
You said there is a Chinese a Polish and a Korean one?
Do have a favorite item to get from each that you cant get anywhere else?
So for the Korean, definitelymanduthe frozen dumplingsand kimchi, of course.
Like mackrel, or likefried daceis really good too.
And what about the Polish store?
Do you have any regular items you purchase from there?
Oh yeah, pickles.
I also have a bunch of Hunters sausage in my freezer.
What kind of sausage?
Theres a bunch of animals in there and they smoke it and its just really damn good.
Do you know which animals or is it a surprise each time?
You know, I dont remember.
Whatever they are theyre really good with eggs.
The details of which animals they arent important!
Can we see inside your fridge?
In addition bread and biscuits, do you like to bake any sweets?
No, not really.
My husband doesnt really love desserts and I dont either.
If I want something sweet Ill just eat a fruit.
Well thats good.
[Laughs] Yeah.
I guess Im really Southeast Asian in that way.
Usually what we would do for dessert growing up was just eat an orange.
Are you more of a cocktail person, a beer person, or a wine person?
I just understand that there are differences between the wines.
[Laughs] Im working on it.
But usually, and this is probably from my line cook daysI was just really into beer.
High ABV-punch in stuff.
That just works really well for my palate.
Do you have a favorite spirit?
I dont have a favorite, actually.
What is that?
Its kind of like a moonshine-ish variation on an agave liquor.
But a lot of the ones I had werent name brand or anything.
They were just made by local people, and it was good as hell.
Its just from a label-less bottles from this guy down the road and youre just like fuck yeah.
So its an agave spirit thats not aged?
Yeah, its definitely rougher.
Do you like a martini?
I keep trying them and recalibrating, and Im like nah, still hate it.
Im really ashamed that I cant get into durian.
Its also one of those things where I just try it once a year to see to it.
I havent tried it yet because I dont want to prepare it myself.
Well, you’re able to try the ice cream and it comes in popsicle form too.
Are there any other frozen convenience foods that you stock up on besides the dumplings and sausage?
Frozen spinach is a really big part of my diet.
Because you’re free to just stir it into anything.
And then I usually just throwsliced bread into the freezerbecause I dont eat it that much.
Are there any other canned foods besides canned fish you keep around?
Canned tomato, just to have, is always nice.
Because, you know, thats good for a couple days.
What other food is in your earthquake bag?
I think its freeze dried so you just add hot water and then it becomes that thing.
You havent tried it yet?
I did try their clam chowderactually it was corn chowder.
It was very…high in nutrients.
It was really intense.
Im glad that it was corn chowder and not clam chowder.
That would be difficult.
Salt would be fish sauce.
Thats a hard one but I think…pickled or fermented greens.
I find that kimchi juice, for instance, is just a really delicious flavor booster.
Historically when Ive made Bloody Marys, I would throw a bunch of kimchi juice in them too.
Lets talk about non-alcoholic drinks.
Do you do you drink a lot of water?
Are you a soda person?
Do you drink juice?
I drink mostly water.
I maybe have one soda every couple months.
Im pretty occasional on the soda front.
I dont need a lot, but actually the thing that we always have at home is kombucha.
Do you make your own?
I used to but he was drinking it too fast.
And so I was like fuck this.
Its not worth it.
Thats frustrating.
The man who loves kombucha too much.
Thats one thing about having a male partner around.
Its funny that he does it with kombucha.
Yeah, hes a special boy.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
