Friday Favorites Remixed: Summer's Best

Discover your newest binge and get to know our staff a little better with the Asia Society Texas Center team's favorite ways to stay entertained indoors! In each post we'll share with you our picks for what to read, watch, listen to, and more.

Our Friday Favorites: Remixed series looks back at the dozens of suggestions our staff members have made over the last few months, collecting them by theme and adding a couple new suggestions to help you find exactly what you most want to nerd out to!

We're capping off our summer Staff Picks with our top selection in every category: Taste, watch, listen, follow, read, and play along with the six selects that our audience engaged with the most. We've enjoyed sharing these with you all!

The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook

Recommended by Chris Dunn, Marketing and Communications Manager

"This is not your average 'pan-Asian' cookbook. Featuring recipes from China, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Korea, Nepal, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand, The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook is unique because its emphasis is on home-style, old-school recipes. I've found that many cookbooks, in their attempts to represent multiple countries, err on the side of oversimplifying recipes. This book does no such thing — and, throughout, it features two-page spreads profiling grandmothers who contributed their recipes, techniques, and wisdom to the book. This is a wonderful resource and introduction to home cooking, and a delight to read on its own merits."

Find it on: Amazon | Pickles and Tea (Blog by the book's author, Pat Tanumihardja)

Shoplifters by Hirokazu Koreeda

Recommended by Oleg Jolic, Senior Vice President of Operations and Strategic Initiatives

"A beautiful meditation on love and family (biological or any other). In many ways a gentler, more humanistic and spiritually driven take on the class and the family than Parasite, Shoplifters is a masterpiece."

Find it on: Hulu | Google Play | Amazon

Joe Hisaishi

Recommended by Rebecca Becerra, Education, Outreach, and Data Coordinator

"I listen to Joe Hisaishi's music in the mornings. He's the composer for most of the music in the Studio Ghibli films and other movies. I find his style nostalgic, and I particularly like the Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle soundtracks."

Find it on: Spotify | YouTube

Jun's Kitchen

Recommended by Janine Mae Arostique, Development Manager

"I love Jun's Kitchen. It's a YouTube channel that focuses primarily on traditional Japanese food. Although he does not post as frequently as other cooking channels, he has well-edited videos on how to prepare udon noodles, sushi, temari balls, and more. Plus he often features his adorable cats in the background while he is preparing meals."

Find it on: YouTube

Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao

Recommended by Stephanie Todd Wong, Director of Performing Arts and Culture

"This is such a beautiful and heartbreaking book. Shobha Rao creates a vibrant and cruel world for the heroines Poornima and Savitha. It is a story of friendship that I couldn't put down, all the way up to the surprise ending."

Find it on: Shobha Rao's website (with links to purchase)

Carrom

Recommended by Saleena Jafry, Director of Business and Policy

"Carrom is a tabletop game similar to pool, and most commonly played in South Asia, especially India and Pakistan. It is popular amongst all age groups and played by families and friends as an enjoyable pastime. It is a simple game with a square wooden board, a striker, and small wooden disks of 19 pieces in three distinct colors — also known as carrom men. Carrom men are designed to slide when struck and are made with a smooth surface that slides easily when laid flat on the board. A carrom board can be found in most South Asian homes. Fun fact: Some say that Carrom was invented by Indian Maharajas!"

Find it on: Carrom Shop

Business and Policy programs are endowed by Huffington Foundation. We give special thanks to Bank of America, Muffet Blake, Anne and Albert Chao, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Nancy Pollok Guinee, and United Airlines, Presenting Sponsors of Business and Policy programs; Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, and Leslie and Brad Bucher, Presenting Sponsors of Exhibitions; Dr. Ellen R. Gritz and Milton D. Rosenau, Presenting Sponsors of Performing Arts and Culture; Wells Fargo, Presenting Sponsor of Education & Outreach; and Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), Presenting Sponsor of the Japan Series. General support of programs and exhibitions is provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc., The Hearst Foundation, Inc., Houston Endowment, Inc., the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, McKinsey & Company, Inc., National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, Vinson & Elkins LLP, and Mary Lawrence Porter, as well as Friends of Asia Society.

About Asia Society at Home

We are dedicated to continuing our mission of building cross-cultural understanding and uplifting human connectivity. Using digital tools, we bring you content for all ages and conversations that matter, in order to spark curiosity about Asia and to foster empathy.

About Asia Society Texas Center

With 13 locations throughout the world, Asia Society is the leading educational organization promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among the peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and West. Asia Society Texas Center executes the global mission with a local focus, enriching and engaging the vast diversity of Houston through innovative, relevant programs in arts and culture, business and policy, education, and community outreach.