This watercolor painting of my rice cooker is dedicated to the good people at Beijing on Irving, one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in San Francisco. New Orleans is a city full of wonderful food but, at least in comparison to my former stomping grounds out west, we're kind of hurting when it comes to Chinese cuisine. This has led me to start cooking more at home, a culinary strategy that has pressed the rice cooker into frequent service. I've gotten pretty handy with a wok, but nothing from my own kitchen has ever come close to the Singapore noodles at Beijing on Irving. Don't feel too bad for me though - any time my longing for a plate of noodles threatens to send me into a state of total despair, I can walk up the street and drown my sorrows in a the immortal glory of the shrimp po' boy at Domilese's.
