May 2025 | My Kitchen Table

Welcome to the first edition of My Kitchen Table! This is my monthly recap of everything food related with the occasional life update sprinkled in. Expect a mix of new recipes on the website/instagram, restaurants checked off of my never-ending bucket list, noteworthy grocery finds, and insightful podcasts and books. And, to fuel my inner nerd, I’ll end with a science tidbit, hopefully made simple without all the fancy chemical names.

If you liked this and want to see more or have suggestions for any of the categories, comment below!

Fuel my stomach

👩🏽‍🍳 Inside my kitchen

I think protein might be the word of the year for 2025. And as a vegan, one of the first questions I get asked is “How do you get protein?” That was the inspiration behind my current series, Power Plates. Each recipe highlights a different protein source, all of which are very pantry friendly and affordable. And as a hidden bonus, being plant based sources means they also pack in a generous amount of fiber, which I would argue is just as important as protein, and other micronutrients like iron and calcium.

Tofu Kitfo

Tofu scramble gets an ethopian makeover

Chocolate Chickpea Waffles

Sweet, earthy, and your new brunch favorite

Enchilada Bake

The kind of dish that sounds fancier than it is

🥡 Outside of my kitchen

Click on each link for a more detailed review on Yelp.

Nasi bungkus, Azalina’s

Feast for two, Bunna Cafe

Pacifica, Tane Vegan Izakaya

Azalina’s (10.0⭐️)

San Francisco, CA

One of the best dining experiences I have had! Super unique that the chef comes to serve you tableside.

Bunna Cafe (9.3⭐️)

Brooklyn, NY

Finally found good ethopian food in New York.

Tane Vegan Izakaya (9.2⭐️)

Palo Alto, CA

Pro tip: go with company and split multiple rolls

Oren’s Hummus (8.9⭐️)

Cupertino, CA

If I make a trip home, Oren’s is a must on the agenda

Glur (8.6⭐️)

Chelsea, Manhattan, NY

Wide selection of vegan Thai food at affordable price

Tamam (8.3⭐️)

Upper East Side, Manhattan, NY

Good hummus though the toppings were just okay

Mitr Thai (6.7⭐️)

Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, NY

For a place with this nice ambiance I would have liked more than one vegetarian option

Divya’s Kitchen (6.4⭐️)

East Village, Manhattan, NY

I like the concept but the food could have been more flavorful and filling

La Dong (5.4⭐️)

Union Square, Manhattan, NY

Similar to Mitr Thai, would have liked more veg options

Mezeh (5.3⭐️)

Multiple Locations, NY

Ranking this one low because I’m pretty sure I got food poisoning

🛒 in my shopping cart

Currently on a mission to find the best vegan protein bar. Stay tuned for the full results. In the meantime, here are other noteworthy things to add/skip on your next grocery run.

• Kite Hill Vanilla Greek Style Yogurt — i have tried kite hill products in the past and have been satisfied by their creaminess. The two key selling points in this one were the high amount of plant protein and the low amount of sugar. The vanilla flavor is subtle but enough to give it a hint of sweetness. The texture was thick and creamy, yet had a bit of graininess because of the protein. I made it into a yogurt bowl topped with fresh strawberries, mixed nuts and seeds, and a drizzle of almond butter.

• Heyday Kimchi Sesame Navy Beans — picked these up on a day when I did not feel like cooking and they were so good! Such an easy yet flavorful meal addition. I ate mine plain in lettuce cups (hence the zero effort) but they would also go well in a bowl with rice, on top of toast, or even in a stew with other vegetables.

Kite Hill Vanilla Greek Style Yogurt

Heyday Kimchi Sesame Navy Beans

Yogurt bowl with strawberries, nuts, seeds, and almond butter

Lettuce cups with kimchi beans

Fuel my brain

🎧 Worthwhile listens

One of my goals for 2025 is to diversify the selection of podcasts that I listen to. I tend to gravitate towards ones that are more self-help related or lifestyle/science related. Here are some of the episodes that stood out to me this month.

• Take Back Control of Your Health with Dr Sharon Malone (IMO)

• Dr Casey Means: Transform Your Health by Improving Metabolism, Hormone, and Blood Sugar Regulation (Huberman Lab)

• Be a Different Kind of Leader with Brian Chesky (IMO)

• How Different Diets Impact Your Health | Dr Christopher Gardner (Huberman Lab)

• How to Make Friends as an Adult - Even After Rejection (A Really Good Cry)

• The Body Reset: How Women Should Eat and Exercise for Health, Fat Loss, and Energy (The Mel Robbins Podcast)

🧪 Science made simple

The debate about whether to train fed or fasted was one that perplexed me for the longest time. I was under the misconception that doing a workout fasted was the best way to burn through excess fat stores and challenge your body to build muscle. Well, that’s not totally true, especially for women. Hearing Dr Stacy Sims’s logic about how women are not small men completely changed my perspective. She explains how women have a higher cortisol response in the morning, which means that we wake up more alert and ready to take action for our day. If we then go to do a workout without eating anything, that already high cortisol level is going to increase even more, causing our body to enter a mode of “oh no what do I do now?” instead of the strength building mode you want at the gym. Even just eating something light, like a banana or a few dates, before my workouts has changed how I feel before and after.