The closest I’ve come to being a regular at a bar, Cheers-style, came when Andrew and I lived in San Francisco’s NOPA neighborhood. At the time, my best friend Ally bartended at a spot down the street, Madrone Art Bar. Naturally, we’d pop in from time to time to say hi and have a couple (or more than a couple) drinks. While Madrone has a fairly-extensive cocktail and beer list, early on I landed on a favorite and rarely wavered in my order thereafter. A combination of cucumber vodka, ginger beer, and lime, the “Lola” was easy to love.
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cucumbers
Rick Ross’ Cucumber-Mint Spa Water
Generally speaking, I’m not particularly excited by celebrity news and gossip, with diets being a major exception. It may edge slightly into the realm of “stars — they’re just like us” journalism, but I feel no shame in my fixation (we all have our guilty pleasures). And really, there’s something fascinating about learning how anyone eats, even more so when it involves an individual whose body is so tied to their work. All of which is to say that I’m a frequent reader of the Grub Street Diet series, Bon Appetít’s My Morning Routine, and one-off pieces in the same vein. (Rebecca Harrington’s I’ll Have What She’s Having: My Adventures in Celebrity Dieting is also excellent.)
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Thai Cucumber and Sausage Salad
If you’ve yet to try Chinese sausage (also known as lap cheong, lap chong, or lap xuong), you’re in for a real treat. Sort of similar in flavor to the king of bao fillings — char sui — but saltier, these dried pork sausages add a punch of flavor to fried rice, taro cake, lo mai gai (lotus leaf rice), and other delightful Chinese dishes.
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