To main content To menu

One topic, all years Everything filed under Life & Leisure

44 posts filed here so far.
A man seen from behind on a red plastic stool on a high Sài Gòn balcony at dusk, phone to his ear, a bowl of rice with chopsticks and a plate of greens on a folding table beside a blooming frangipani, the river and city fading into haze below

Notes From A Traineer New post Have you eaten rice yet?

Learning Vietnamese in Sài Gòn - greetings that aren't questions, pronouns that are relationships, and tones that turn chicken into girl meat.
EN· ·Life & Leisure
A baking sheet full of golden cinnamon rolls on a wooden table in front of a floor-to-ceiling glass front, one roll on a small plate beside a glass of Vietnamese iced coffee, with Saigon rooftops and distant towers in an early sunset glow

Baking Against the Season Cinnamon snails at 37 degrees

Cinnamon rolls with cardamom, baked in a 37-degree Sài Gòn and devoured by an entire office in minutes - full recipe included.
EN· ·Life & Leisure
Illustration of a small Saigon apartment kitchen at dusk: one man stirs a pot at a gas stove next to a propped-up phone, another slices ginger at a cutting board, a potted ginger plant on the balcony behind them

Jayden's Kitchen, Batch One Too salty? Add sugar

Four Vietnamese home-cooking recipes from Jayden's kitchen - ginger chicken, bitter melon with egg, pumpkin coconut soup, and fish in tomato sauce.
EN· ·Life & Leisure
A narrow Sài Gòn residential alley at night, seen down its length, with a lone figure walking away between pools of orange lamplight, tangled power cables overhead and roller gates closed on both sides

Six Years Of Alleys Somebody always opened the gate

Safety in Sài Gòn is not ambient - it is made of people. Six years of hẻm life across four districts, and what Phú Mỹ Hưng costs.
EN· ·Life & Leisure
A wooden serving board held out toward the viewer with a round golden carrot cake on it, one wedge cut out showing the orange-flecked crumb, an open-plan office with concrete ceiling and ducts behind

Public Alpha, Edible The carrot cake I shipped to production untested

Carrot cake with no butter and no oil, baked at 11pm from memory alone and served to an entire office before anyone had tasted it.
EN· ·Life & Leisure
A golden, craggy apple rice casserole baked in a black rectangular pan on a sunlit wooden table, yellow branches and pink petals nearby, drawn in a Mœbius-style ligne claire illustration

Mom's Reisauflauf, Remixed The rice casserole my sister kept stealing from the fridge

Reisauflauf, remixed lighter and fluffier - a baked rice casserole with apples that even the pickiest eaters keep sneaking cold from the fridge.
EN· ·Life & Leisure
Thôi nôi, and the paint on the wall

A Prophecy In Paint Thôi nôi, and the paint on the wall

Thôi nôi is Vietnam's first-birthday rite - a baby grabs a tray to read her future. One grab in 2000 came true, in paint, on a wall.
EN· ·Life & Leisure
Singapore – empty corners of a crowded island

Empty Corners Singapore – empty corners of a crowded island

Singapore for a week without a single photo of the Merlion - wetlands, hornbills, empty rain-soaked parks, and the small human encounters most tourists miss.
EN· ·Life & Leisure
Bitter orange cake – a recipe in three attempts

Baking Through the Heatwave Bitter orange cake – a recipe in three attempts

A Seville orange loaf cake that took three versions, one feral oven, and an entire office of Monday-morning guinea pigs to get right. (148 chars)
EN· ·Life & Leisure
Lemon meringue tart: A French recipe that traveled through Australia to land in Sài Gòn

Sister, Citrus, Continents Lemon meringue tart: A French recipe that traveled through Australia to land in Sài Gòn

Lemon meringue tart with a supply chain spanning three continents - a French recipe, an Australian sister, and a Vietnamese kitchen.
EN· ·Life & Leisure