Friday Favorites: 'The Woks of Life' Blog, Novel 'Girls Burn Brighter,' and More
Friday, April 17, 2020
Asia Society at Home
Learn More
Discover your newest binge and get to know our staff a little better with the Asia Society Texas Center's team favorite ways to stay entertained indoors! Each week, we'll share our picks for what to read, watch, listen to, and more.
Blog: The Woks of Life
Recommended by Mei Qi, Business and Policy Manager
"The Woks of Life is a fantastic recipe blog (and Instagram) for Chinese home cooking run by a Chinese American family. Besides gorgeous food photos essential to any food blog, they also offer a great mix of traditional Chinese, Chinese American (based on the mish-mash of ingredients that immigrant families often have in their pantries and fridges), and Americanized Chinese recipes. Their hot and sour soup recipe in particular hit my craving for the more traditional ingredients and flavors. They've also moved toward including a lot more vegan-friendly recipes and have lots of great suggestions on how to make amazing tofu."
Novel: The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
Recommended by Jennifer Kapral, Director of Education and Outreach
"Set in 1930s colonial Malaysia, this novel weaves together multiple perspectives as it explores colonialism, family obligations, gender, were-tigers, and ghosts. Mesmerizing and masterfully written!"
Find it on: Yangsze Choo's website (with links to purchase)
Novel: Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao
Recommended by Stephanie Todd Wong, Director of Performing Arts and Culture
"This is such a beautiful and heartbreaking book. Shobha Rao creates a vibrant and cruel world for the heroines Poornima and Savitha. It is a story of friendship that I couldn't put down, all the way up to the surprise ending."
Find it on: Shobha Rao's website (with links to purchase)
TV Show: Kim's Convenience
Recommended by Chris Dunn, Marketing and Communications Manager
"Highly approachable Canadian sitcom about a Korean Canadian family that runs a convenience store in Toronto. It's both funny and touching, and while there are very specific Korean/Asian 'moments' and references, the humor and plot points are accessible to a very wide audience."
TV Show: Killing Eve
Recommended by Kaitlyn Ellison, Performing Arts and Culture Manager
"Sandra Oh is a total standout in this show and has been making history with her awards for portraying the eponymous Eve. It is utterly bingeable, fun, stylish, and murderous. The first episode of Season 3 just debuted on April 12"
Channel: My Analog Channel by Zag Erlat
Recommended by Liz Nguyen, Production Technician
"Zag Erlat's Coffee Break Sessions are 30 minutes of pure vinyl grooves. The sessions have a variety of different themes ranging from Bollywood grooves to Japanese '70s funk. Great to zone out to — I always find myself bopping my head to the beats. My favorite is CBS: Japanese Drama Funk & OST vinyl set."
Find it on: SoundCloud | YouTube
Album: Traveler by Official HIGE DANdism (Official 髭男dism)
Recommended by Nina Shimaguchi, Japan Outreach Initiative Coordinator
"Official HIGE DANdism's rhythm and voices are catchy and new. The band's name is a combination of Japanese and English words, which is such a unique idea. A hige (髭) is a beard, and represents the band's dream that 'even old men with full-on beards, anyone, would enjoy the music and be excited to see the band perform.' Also, the music video of "Pretender" is filmed in Taiwan, and I find that scenery to be beautiful, so it was rather interesting to see it used as the video's backdrop."
Find it on: Spotify | YouTube ("Pretender" music video)
Business and Policy programs are endowed by Huffington Foundation. We give special thanks to Bank of America, Muffet Blake, Anne and Albert Chao, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Nancy Pollok Guinee, United Airlines, and Wells Fargo, Presenting Sponsors of Business and Policy programs; Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, and Leslie and Brad Bucher, Presenting Sponsors of Exhibitions; Dr. Ellen R. Gritz and Milton D. Rosenau and Wells Fargo, Presenting Sponsors of Performing Arts and Culture; and Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), Presenting Sponsor of the Japan Series. General support of programs and exhibitions is provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc., The Hearts Foundation, Inc., Houston Endowment, Inc., the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, McKinsey & Company, Inc., National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, Vinson & Elkins LLP, and Mary Lawrence Porter, as well as Friends of Asia Society.
About Asia Society at Home
Though Asia Society is temporarily closed, we are dedicated to continuing our mission of building cross-cultural understanding and uplifting human connectivity. Using digital tools, we bring you content for all ages and conversations that matter, in order to spark curiosity about Asia and to foster empathy.
About Asia Society Texas Center
With 13 locations throughout the world, Asia Society is the leading educational organization promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among the peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and West. Asia Society Texas Center executes the global mission with a local focus, enriching and engaging the vast diversity of Houston through innovative, relevant programs in arts and culture, business and policy, education, and community outreach.
