I really enjoyed The Red Mandarin Dress (again, available cheap on Amazon and in kindle), though irreconcilable confusion and contradictions seem to be a deliberate theme. The title, and most of the book, insists on using term “mandarin dress” though …
Inspector Chen Cao: Qiu Xiaolong’s Mystery Series
The Inspector Chen mysteries by Qiu Xiaolong came highly recommended by retired JCCC librarian Andrea Kempf. I approached the first novel, Death of a Read Heroine, skeptically and read resistently for for the first 30 or 40 pages, but have…
Beef tendon soup
Common in Chinese cooking, and a frequent ingredient in Vietnamese Pho soups, Beef Tendon is surprisingly tasty and a texture not found in western food. My son refers to it as “beef gummy,” and it’s one of my “go to”…