Writing a cookbook without a dishwasher
Do not recommend + a restaurant that stood out this month
When I was writing my first cookbook, I was living in a sixth-floor walk-up in Taipei with no dishwasher. As I plowed through the daunting task of developing and testing over 100 recipes multiple times, I quickly realized what I was up against. I ended up developing a severe patch of eczema on my right pinky finger from washing all the dishes with my bare hands. Plus, getting the grime off dishes took extra time because there was also no hot water in the kitchen.
The experience became an involuntary exercise in seeing how much of the non-Western world lives. At first, it felt romantic—like I was truly immersing myself in what it meant to be a home cook in Taiwan. But after a while, I started daydreaming about being back in the States, where kitchens have dishwashers and hot water, and where some refrigerators even have ice dispensers. And not only that—in Los Angeles, where I’m from, I can drive to an air-conditioned Asian mega-grocery store like 99 Ranch, get all the ingredients I need, load everything in my car, and bring it all straight back to my kitchen.
In Taiwan, the shopping experience is not as centralized. I have to zig-zag around to many vendors and at least one supermarket on foot to fulfill my weekly shopping list. Supermarkets in Taiwan don’t stock specialized traditional ingredients like long-grain sticky rice or pickled mustard greens. On the flip side, traditional markets don’t have a wide variety of international pantry ingredients to choose from.
I also often found myself caught in the rain with heavy bags of hanging from my arms. By the time I lugged everything up six long flights of stairs, I needed a nap.
So when I got pregnant, enough was enough. The month my son was born, my husband and I moved.
Today, I only have to go up one flight of stairs. I now have a dishwasher. I plan my shopping trips more meticulously so I’m not running around like a madwoman.
In the West, it’s easy to take day-to-day amenities for granted. Many folks who visit Taiwan exclaim at how convenient life is here compared to the Western world. And yes, I agree. Taiwan is awfully convenient. But the States has its perks too (oh, how I miss Amazon next-day delivery!). We're often just blind to what’s right in front of us.
I’ve been in the thick of recipe testing for cookbook #2, so I’m not eating out much. But the other day, I stumbled across this tiny hole-in-the-wall in Taipei that I cannot stop raving about to everyone I meet.
