It is 2020 and We Are Food Blogging, Baby!

What a privilege it is to go to the grocery store whenever you want. To pop in just for the one or two things you need to get to execute a recipe perfectly. To have the money to do so, as well! In any case, it has been a creative puzzle to try to find adequate substitutes in my own kitchen and pantry for a meal, especially at the last dregs before you do  have to make that one big grocery haul a week (or two). As I was scrounging around my kitchen, I came upon one can of chickpeas and one lemon. I knew I had some dried pasta left (although I only had one serving of gemelli and one serving of rigatoni) and the last few stems of parsley that I was able to stretch out for three weeks. Then, I remembered a Melissa Clark recipe that included all of these ingredients, and a wave of excitement rushed through me. We can make a very delicious, very easy lunch! Yes, I had to substitute fresh rosemary for dried thyme and basil. Yes, I had a bowl with two different types of pasta s...

Upon my return to Taipei a few days ago, I was immediately put into mandatory, super-serious 14-day quarantine. Like so serious I can't leave my studio apartment to throw out my trash. So serious that if my phone runs out of battery or loses signal, the police will show up at my apartment. So serious that if I break quarantine, I'll be fined $30,000 USD. Okay, so yeah, I'm not leaving my apartment. Luckily, I have very good people in my life who stocked up my fridge for me ahead of time with a spare key I'd left. The one thing I asked for, beside a lot of instant noodles? Ground pork. Why? Because I wanted to make a huge batch of meatballs. Meatballs are sort of my default go-to keep-in-the-freezer food. It's weird because I did not grow up with meatballs. My mother was more of the keep-dumplings-in-the-freezer type. But when I started to cook for myself, I discovered that meatballs were the easiest thing to make and great to keep on hand for wheneve...