Worst Quality Crab

Episode 26: Tomato Beef with Alisa Wong

We’re back! (Whoops, life!) On this episode we get a little San Francisco-y with native San Franciscan Alisa Wong and her dad’s tomato beef over rice. We talk about the impalpable specificity of being an ABC San Franciscan and try as we might, we never land on what exactly makes us feel that way. (We’re open to your thoughts on that, friends!)

Given the saucy nature of tomato beef, we of course talk about being Sauce On Rice Kids, and ponder the generational nature of the sauce rice preference. Will we age out of this some day??? 

Plus Alisa shares her all-time fave Disney wink to the culture and that one time she got in an altercation that started with cutting a line and ended with not being Chinese enough. Yeah, stuff goes down in these Disneylands apparently.

Episode 25: Tod Mun Pla with Nina Meechoonuk

On this episode it’s another blast from high school past with our first Thai guest Nina Meechoonuk, talking about her childhood fave, tod mun pla, aka Thai fishcake. For Nina, this one has had staying power into adulthood and even into her kid’s Thai food rotation.

While Freesia and Nina have been friends since high school, they never really talked about Nina’s experience of being Thai–until now! Hear what it was like for Nina to grow up Thai but without a large Thai community to learn from, and what that means for feeling Thai enough, even as an adult.

Plus we talk about high school lunches, Thai spicy vs other types of spicy (lookin at you wasabi and Indian food) and we dream up the grandparent cooking show.

Episode 24: Nilaga with Sam Lugtu

On this episode we’re chatting with Sam Lugtu, sister of past guest Nicole Lugtu, about her favorite childhood dish, nilaga. We talk about nilaga as a weekly meal vs a special occasion meal, never ordering the things that mean the most to you in restaurants, and the must-order restaurant dishes that are the barometer for everything else. 

Plus cooking this Filipino stew for a very French family, when your oldest daughter syndrome plays out in your takeout, and we start a support group for people whose childhood restaurants have closed.

We know it’s hot basically everywhere so save this one for those chilly fall nights. Unless you live in the southern hemisphere, then this one’s for you right now! Check our website for the recipe.

Leave us a review and rating! We’ve still got a couple of gift boxes for some people who leave us a review and one could be yours! DM or email us a screenshot of the review just so we know. 

And if you’ve had nilaga, let us know what yours was like. And was it a special occasion meal or an anytime meal?

Episode 23: Miyeokguk with Jin Yoo-Kim

Whoops! We were away too long. But we’re back and we love this one! We’re joined by return guest Jin Yoo-Kim talking about miyeokguk aka seaweed soup aka birthday soup. Since miyeokguk is a postpartum dish as well as an everyday dish, in this episode we dive deep into its role before and after baby arrives. We talk about nourishing mom and the ripple effects to the rest of the family, postpartum as a first-time parent vs already having other kids, and the hidden time-costs of self-care and exercise (spoiler, it’s showering!)

Plus we talk about grandmothers competing to be best grandmother, we have a first-for-this-show-soft launch, and we dream up a couple of postpartum meal services along the way.

There’s still time to leave us a review on your platform of choice for a chance to win a box of some our fave Asian food brands and cute things. Think fancy instant noodles, sweet keychains, and super cute stickers, among other things.

Episode 22: Happy AANHPI Month with Freesia & Samson Lee

Happy AANHPI Heritage Month and Happy Anniversary to us! We can’t believe it’s been a whole year of doing this show. In this guestless episode, we sit down for our annual performance review and talk about what it’s been like this year and what we hope for in the future. Turns out we want to hear more from you! Plus we soft launch our Buy Me A Coffee and some probable forthcoming WQC stickers.