Locke, California 

A few years ago, our family attended a wedding on the Sacramento River Delta. Although it's less than an hour away from California's state capitol, the whole Delta area is like a trip back in time — or to the Mississippi River– with its wide open farmland,… Read full post »

As part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month every May, San Francisco's Union Square is home to the annual Taiwanese American Cultural Festival. When I heard about this day-long celebration of culture, music and food, I knew there was one person I had to invite: OS blogger Linda Shi/… Read full post »

 Fourteen years after my wedding day, I learned that I am married to an Irishman. The surname Lynch was a clue, as was the paternal grandfather whose auburn hair once earned him the nickname "Red". But my husband's family maintained they were part of the English branch of the clan./… Read full post »

During my teenage years, my mother worked as a real estate agent — a successful one, with a corner office wallpapered with plaques listing her as a member of the "Million Dollar Club" (feel free to say that aloud with Austin Powers intonations). To be successful at selling houses, she foun… Read full post »

Early February has been unseasonably warm in the Silicon Valley, with the sun shining and kids wearing shorts and t-shirts to school. It’s hard to believe just a few weeks ago, temperatures were dipping below freezing at night and front lawns were crunchy with frost in the mornin… Read full post »

One of my favorite parts about regional food is how sometimes odd combinations of flavors come together — under circumstances,  not corporate focus groups — informing you about the history and culture of a place or the personal journey of t… Read full post »

Someone stole my soul iPhone.

You know those moments when a thought flashes through your mind that what you're doing isn't very smart — but you do it anyway?

I had that split-second thought, as I sat in front of my third grader's classroom, waiting for his teacher to finish meeting wi… Read full post »

Early in my marriage, my husband and I were trying to make plans for a certain weekend at the end of January. It was Chinese New Year, and I wanted to visit my family several hours to the north of where we lived. My husband, however, had other ideas.… Read full post »

It all started quite innocently. About five years ago, I bought a pair of designer jeans online for a price that was too good to be true. When the package arrived, the pants were not quite the same as the ones at the mall. The thin fabric, plastic packaging, and vaguely medicinal… Read full post »

Upon reading Amy Chua’s “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” in its entirely, I have to say that the narrative arc does turn out differently than the “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” essay in the Wall Street Journal suggests. The now famous birthday card rejection and nam… Read full post »

The book is scheduled to be released today (January 11), but Yale Law professor Amy Chua's  new memoir on parenting, "The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother," has already created a stir based on her excerpt titled "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior"  published in the Wall Street Journ… Read full post »

If you need advice on how to survive a snowstorm on the contents of your cupboards, ask someone who lives in the Sierras — namely, the Eastern Sierra ski town of Mammoth Lakes, California. I know because I lived there for two El Nino winters which dropped record-breaking warm, wet storms&n… Read full post »

One year ago, my husband and I bought ourselves iPhones for Christmas. I had been lobbying for months to get one. My previous cell phone was just that: a straight-up phone, with a rudimentary camera and a numeric keypad. I was constantly worried about running home to my PC to check my… Read full post »

I thought I had my holiday shopping done on Black Friday (one of them, at least). Lured by the emails promising 30...40... 50 percent off of everything, double the reward points,  and cashback on the credit card, I scooped up armfuls of sweaters and gift sets at the mall. Presents for every… Read full post »

There's nothing better than homemade cookies. Except homemade cookies in a shiny tin, sent from a faraway friend. Just before Thanksgiving, I received a package on my doorstep. Inside was a tin of cookies, sent by Open Salon blogger Lisa Kuebler. This is a tin that has alrea… Read full post »

The contents of the Next Gen Happy Meal  

Something strange has been happening at my local McDonald's.

The Happy Meal is shrinking.  

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newson may have vetoed the Board of Supervisors ban on “Happy Meal” t… Read full post »

Big Holidays are perhaps the most loaded with meaning during those times in life when you don't have family or a community nearby. That was the case for me, one year, when I was living in the remote ski resort town of Mammoth Lakes, California. 

I was expecting to work on Ch… Read full post »

Just how do you cut this thing open?

Fall, with its bountiful harvest and cool temperatures perfect for baking and simmering, is the ideal season for cooking. Unfortunately, fall is also the season packed with soccer practices, school volunteering, PTA meetings, meetings to train volunte… Read full post »

 The following is an excerpt from my novella "Proceed to Checkout"

On the surface, Jennifer looked better than ever — her body now slimmed down to pre-baby contours and clad in staggering variety of the latest fashions. Baristas would smile a bit too long and ask her too many questi… Read full post »

 We moved into our house the spring before our first son was born. Both the tree in the front and the one in the back were bare and twiggy. A few months later, each tree had sprouted blossoms — pink in the back, white in the front. In the summer,… Read full post »

5th Annual San Diego City College Int'l Book Fair

September 24 - October 2, 2010

San Diego City College

Most events take place at Saville Theater

For the full schedule, click on: 5th Annual San Diego City College Int'l Book Fair

The San Diego City College Int'l Book Fair celebrates local,/… Read full post »

Jonathan Franzen's Freedom has consumed the attention of readers, including the Salon Reading club — and now even Oprah has made peace with the past, and picked the novel for her book club. Freedom is the kind of story you can get lost in, and wonder where time went, wh/… Read full post »

If you don't get calls from me anymore, don't take it personally. I don't really call anyone, anymore. My husband jokes that the only time our home phone rings, it's either a telemarketer or someone over sixty. (Hi Mom!)

Although I am a Luddite in many aspects of embracing technology  (jus… Read full post »

The line to get into the book store, two hours early

The Great American Novelist kicked off his speaking tour for his newly released novel Freedom at an unlikely location: a strip mall in Santa Cruz, California. Actually, not even Santa Cruz proper — but&… Read full post »

As a very young child, my bedtime stories  didn't come from a book. Nor were they the fairy tales and nursery rhymes familiar to most American tots.

My father told the stories — mostly the same folk tales he heard as a young boy in Taiwan. One of my fav… Read full post »