Appetite for Good

What can I say, I was watching the Food Network today so I’m borrowing a little inspiration. Originally, I was going to include all my food adventures in Suzhou (a very large city near Shanghai) in one big post… but this dim sum was seriously t-h-e b-e-s-t I’ve ever had in my life, so I think it deserves its own post!

I rarely think about donating to a charity right before I leave on vacation. I mean, between packing and trying to find my misplaced passport, I’m up all night until the minute before my flight. But for New York’s 21 Club restaurant and Executive Chef John Greeley, vacation means being generous.

After my long run on Saturday (8/21/2010) with my super cool new phone app, I really wish I could run outside everyday and track it accurately. This is week 2 of my recap! Aren’t y’all excited? What ridiculous things will Patrick eat next?

I’ve recently had a revelation about ways to incorporate my skills and time to help out my friends and my community. So what am I good at? Eating… Cooking… Baking… Sleeping… so I combined my powers and came up with cakettes! Not quite a cupcake but more like a mini-cake!

Megan from Runner’s Kitchen really inspired me to recap my marathon training experience, except she’s good at staying healthy while training. I’m quite the opposite. I like to live vicariously through her and pretend I had a healthy week and trained hard when in reality I’m just pigging out. Kids, please do not try this at home. This is how one should NOT train for a marathon.

As promised in the first Shanghai article, there shall be food! It would be unlike me if I didn’t devote an entire post to sushi! Two places I would like to highlight (there are more, I’m sure, but I didn’t get a chance to feast there) are Misato, atop the City Hotel on Shaanxi Road, and Wasabi, on Julu Road near Jing’an Temple.

Growing up in Maryland, especially on the Chesapeake Bay, crab is a staple of your diet, whether it be crabs and beer on the deck in the summer, cream of crab soup, cheese and crab dip, or the most important of the all – the all mighty crabcake. Crabcakes are an art.

The 8th annual Plate by Plate is this Saturday in LA! All net proceeds from ticket sales and auction purchases will benefit the Health Justice Network, dedicated to advancing a pro-active agenda around health disparities and the right to quality healthcare.

It has been 7 years since I’ve visited Shanghai. My first impressions of the city from my previous trip were less than positive. But after two weeks in Shanghai and the surrounding cities of Hanghou and Suzhou, I left China with a mixture of inspiration, appreciation, and optimism.

Japanese food in the past decade has become a regular staple in American cuisine, but it has been limited to mainly sushi. I am a big fan of the underdog and one of my favorite Japanese dishes that isn’t sushi is the okonomiyaki.