Light, soft, and delicate in flavor, this Bundt cake is the perfect dessert to make when you are looking for a quick one that is not rich or creamy, and which will pair beautifully with a cup of tea or coffee. The fine cornmeal (or polenta) in this cake gives it a nice bite and a lovely, slightly crumbly, texture, while the all-purpose flour keeps it soft and fluffy. My favorite way to slow down when making this cake: smelling the aroma of the rosewater as it is incorporated into the cake batter. The combination of the earthy, grassy flavor of the olive oil, along with the delicate floral taste of the rosewater, gives this cake a really refined flavor profile, making it hard to stop eating at only one slice!

Pepper shrimp is most often found as a roadside snack, particularly in the area of St. Anne, Jamaica. Shrimp in the shell is key, as it has so much more flavor, and peeling them is half the fun. Today, some people use red food coloring to give the dish its signature color, but traditionally it was tinted with annatto seeds. It’s also perfectly acceptable for the shrimp to not be red. What’s not acceptable is for them to be anything less than burning hot, hence the name. My sweet spot is two Scotch bonnet peppers, seeds and all, but adjust to your heat tolerance.

One of our most popular biscuits at the restaurant is studded with crisp bacon and cheddar cheese. It’s used for a biscuit sandwich that’s an elevated version of the classic bacon, egg, and cheese, so you get bacon and cheese in two forms (we’ll make that sandwich later in this book). As these biscuits bake, the cheddar melts throughout each layer, creating pockets of gooey cheese that alternate with bits of bacon, a heavenly combination.

If we were lucky, my family would have some seriously interesting fish for dinner—but we often had dry spells, when my mom would buy dirt-cheap tilapia or basa (a type of catfish) from the Asian grocery store. Look, I’m not saying those fish species are bad—they just didn’t excite me. But in my mom’s hands, whatever excitement the fish lacked was more than made up for by the vegetables she added to it. This hot pot recipe is just one case in point.

Fertilized for years with fish bones and guts and watered with spoiled milk, the garden’s soil was steeped in nutrients. It was a sort of long-game marinade, and it resulted in candylike cherry tomatoes; vibrant, meaty stalks of dill bursting with vigor; and leafy Korean celery, full of sweetness and natural salinity. I know you don’t have access to my mom’s garden, but here’s hoping you get a little window into its flavors with this recipe.
 

If you were to ask my dad which of all the dishes my mom makes is his favorite, he would say Taiwanese chow mein. This recipe has been perfected and passed down from my grandma. It has the perfect combination of salty and slightly sweet and uses simple pantry condiments for the sauce. My mom made it all the time when we first immigrated to Canada because of how accessible all the ingredients were. Don’t leave out the fried shallots—they make this dish truly special.

There is something so comforting about rice soup. This dish is so easy to make, especially if you have leftover cooked rice, and the perfect way to settle an empty stomach between the calming ginger, chicken broth, mild tender fish and shrimp, soft rice, and silky poached eggs. The famous soup places in Southern Thailand really focus on the quality of the broth, and have passed their recipe down for generations. In your house, you may use a good-quality storebought chicken broth, and while we eat this for breakfast, you can find your own tradition and make this any time you want. This is a family friendly dish that everyone will love (but it can also cure a hangover).