1) Late night sushi with a friend in town. Ryoko’s, San Francisco.  2) Just a tiny speck among the redwoods! Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve  3) Yes, I photograph chilaquiles on a weekly basis, but this one was especially beautiful (and delicious)  4) Lately, it has been unseasonably warm in San Francisco, which means I can wear my Jason Wu x Target poplin dress.

1) Unable to resit Girl Scout Cookie season.  Samoas, my favorite.  2) Is the mail carrier angry at me?  3) Left overs for dinner, the beautiful shape of rice.  4) Blue bottle coffee at the SFMOMA sculpture garden. Caffeinated, I saw the Garry Winogrand retrospective, which I recommend.

Lots of food photos this month (not that different from every month, really) 1) The rocky terrain of Rice Krispies Treats. These were made with brown sugar and sea salt, which means they were even more delicious than usual.  2) Dumpling party for the Lunar New Year. Wrapped and ready for cooking.  3) Cutting snakes out of paper for my Lunar New Year cards. 4) Visiting Point Reyes, the windiest, foggiest spot on the West Coast.

1) Even though I mostly use my phone to calendar, I still love having a paper calendar. 2) Celebrating a friend’s birthday, the closeup view of an Asian cake. 3) Buns in disguise. Also, I love faux bois.  4) Thrifting at Goodwill. I appreciate things organized neatly by color.

I seem to be into roundness this month. 1) Porcelain plates at the new Muji store, which just opened in San Francisco. (Hooray!)  2) Pecan pie and banana pudding at my friend’s southern-food-themed get-together. (Oh, and Stormtrooper spatula.)  3) The beauty of grapefruit.  4) Filling up on a bowl of chicken rice porridge at Turtle Tower before a shopping expedition the Sunday before Christmas.

Photo by Kaiser Hwang

This Thursday, my interview with Sooyoung Park about the reunion of his band Bitch Magnet airs on Apex Express. (That’s radio producer Robynn Takayama capturing audio at the interview the night before they played in San Francisco back in October.)

I first met Sooyoung when he was the frontman of indie rock band Seam and I interviewed him for a college journalism class. We have since become friends. I usually don’t interview my friends, but in this case, it was nostalgic fun to revisit the era of our first interview. Bitch Magnet (circa late ’80s) came before Seam (’90s), so for Sooyoung, the reunion of this band is taking him way back. What is it like to come back to songs you wrote 25 years ago?

The show airs Thursday, 7 to 8 pm PST. To tune in live online, visit kpfa.org or via terrestrial radio go to 94.1 FM KPFA.

UPDATE 1/6/2013: The audio for the segment is up now. Listen to it here.

Most of my photos for this month were taken in Texas, which I visited twice. 1) Migas at South Congress Cafe in Austin. Perfection. Wish I could get these outside of Texas. 2) The port of Galveston. 3) Tex-Mex neon beckoning in the night at a theater re-purposed into a restaurant, Houston. 3) Just had to go try on the Maison Martin Margiela x H&M plexi pumps.

1) Peanut butter and jelly bon bons at the launch party for Uniqlo’s new San Francisco store. So good! Guests were treated to tasty snacks from Mission Chinese Food, a performance by Goapele, and a sake toast. Happy to have a Uniqlo (the source of all my jeans) nearby now.  2) Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I have a weakness for objects that are the “wrong” size. I love miniatures and oversized versions of objects.  3) Just another Sunday night at the laundromat. Lost socks waiting to be claimed.  4) Jellyfish at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. No hearts, no brains.

1) Vintage telephones in my home. Sometimes I get nostalgic for rotary dial. 2) Afternoon ice cream break at Bi-Rite Creamery, San Francisco. Salted caramel and balsamic strawberry, my favorite flavors. 3) Hurry up do it now! Bell from a limited edition Curiosity Shoppe x Target collaboration. 4) Tater tots in balance. Phil’s Sliders, Berkeley.

I’m excited to be reading at an event that is part of the Asian Culinary Forum’s annual symposium. The theme of this year’s symposium is: Exploring Asian & Latin American cross-cultural foods and experiences.

FOOD & PLACE: On the Geography of Eating
Sunday, September 23 | 5 – 7 pm
Women’s Building, Mission District | 3543 18th Street, San Francisco

Oscar Bermeo, Javier O. Huerta, Melissa Hung, Bill Gong, Barbara Jane Reyes and other selected Bay Area writers share their prose and poetry. Come hear their stories about the worlds of food in which we live and love, cleave and connect.

Wine and light refreshments will be served.

Ticket are $10 at the door or you can purchase them online.

Facebook invite (with author bios) here.