Yangsze Choo

  • What is a Bound Proof Anyway?

    What is a Bound Proof Anyway?

    Ever since Christmas and the arrival of the Lego version of Chancellor Palpatine’s Arrest, my 5 and 7 year olds have been convinced that all mail left at our house is potentially from Santa Claus. Laboring under this delusion, they race to the door whenever they hear the thump of…

  • Raw Fish = Good Luck

    Raw Fish = Good Luck

    I was talking to some friends from Hong Kong about Chinese New Year specialties when I happened to mention raw fish. They looked at me blankly.

  • Cheongsam – the Chinese Diet Aid

    Cheongsam – the Chinese Diet Aid

    Chinese New Year is when a kind of collective madness descends on Chinese people all over the world. No other holiday even comes close.

  • City of Djinns

    City of Djinns

    One of the most petrifying driving experiences I had was on a highway in India, when a rapidly approaching dust cloud turned out to be a truck hurtling towards us on the wrong side of the highway. Dumbstruck, I gripped the seat in front of me, but our driver merely swerved…

  • The Secret of Japanese Mayonnaise

    The Secret of Japanese Mayonnaise

    I spent part of my childhood in Japan, which left me with an enduring love for manga and mayonnaise. Specifically, the absolutely delicious Japanese brand of mayonnaise known as Kewpie. Now I know plenty of people make their own homemade mayo, which I’m sure is also extremely tasty, but for…

  • The Charms of Liverwurst and Crickets

    The Charms of Liverwurst and Crickets

    When I first arrived in America, I was so pleased that I could read all the signs that were in English that it never occurred to me that the average American would not have heard of Enid Blyton. I was thunderstruck. One of the bastions of literature for small children in…

  • Asian Beer – An Unofficial Taste Test

    Asian Beer – An Unofficial Taste Test

    Lots of people complain that light Asian lagers lack individuality compared to Western beers. However, most Asian beers are designed to be drunk with food and one could argue that their clean profile fits this role admirably. Picture yourself at a roadside stall on a sweltering night, eating spicy seafood…

  • What Do You Eat When You’re Reading?

    What Do You Eat When You’re Reading?

    Reading and eating are two of my favourite activities. In combination they can be sublime–or deadly. As a child, I almost choked to death while gnawing on a salted apricot. I was lying on the floor, reading a book, when I rolled over to turn the page. At that moment,…

  • Chinese Chicken Soup Recipe

    Chinese Chicken Soup Recipe

    There are many varieties of Chinese soup, some delicious and others quite horrifying. I once ate something with gelatinous globules which later turned out to be rehydrated frogs’ eggs. We were suspicious when my mother refused to drink it herself, despite her insistence that it was “good for children”.

  • Paper Offerings (1)

    Paper Offerings (1)

    A few months ago, I was in Singapore around the time of the Hungry Ghost Festival. This is when paper offerings are burned for the dead to use, the nearest approximation being a Chinese version of the Egyptian afterlife.