Kitchen of the Week: The ‘Angry Food Blogger’ at Home in Hong Kong
Google “angry food blog” and you’ll come up with Lady and Pups, founded by Mandy Lee in 2012. You’ll also find a profile of her on Vice, an online outlet better known for its edgy news reporting than its cookbook author profiling—and therein lies the appeal of the self-described “Taiwan-born, Vancouver-raised, and slow-aged in New York” blogger. Her adventurous cooking (scallion popover s’mores, anyone?) captures the attention of food enthusiasts, while her unfiltered musings—yes, much of it angry—on living abroad as a trailing spouse endears her to rule-breakers and iconoclasts.
Mandy’s first cookbook, The Art of Escapism Cooking: A Survival Story, with Intensely Good Flavors, was published this past fall. Included: a selection of her recipes as well as ruminations on her six years spent as an expat in China, where she fought off looming depression by obsessively cooking. Mandy and her husband and their dogs decamped for Hong Kong in 2016, but she’s still fueling her dishes with equal parts love and bile in her new home.
A couple of weeks ago, we came across her newly remodeled kitchen on Instagram; we’re taking the next available flight to spend an afternoon with Mandy; we’ll vent and cook. Until then, we’re chronicling the details of her Victorian-inspired kitchen, which she shared with us with her characteristic candor.
Have a look.
Photography by Mandy Lee.
