Personal Dork Assistant

Not Just Carnations

It's good to have good help. Sure's nice to have a Taiwanese ah-yi who can cook all the familiar dishes, instead having to teach an Indonesian or Filipina maid. Must take quite some skill to make daikon-and-beef-liver soup taste good. And it's just been ages since I've had some good cow tongue. Taiwanese specialties aren't just about offal, though. It's bluefin tuna season, and the restaurants are taking full advantage. Went to the Japanese restaurant for Mother's Day, and they worked up a full-tuna meal. Thick slabs of sashimi to start, of course. Mom might be the only person on Earth who complain about toro on the plate (she thinks it's too fatty, as if there's such a thing). Then there was the fish-cheek and baby ginger stew, a perfectly grilled piece of white fish, right near the jawbone where it's tender, with just some salt and a squeeze of lime. Finished off with a bowl of clear fish-head broth. Yum.

And you know that nothing says Happy Mother's Day more than orchids. Large pots of orchids.