Pia Sarkar

MORE CORKS POPPING IN ASIA

Winemaking, drinking rising in China, India and other countries

ASIA IS NOT ONE of the first places that springs to mind when it comes to winemaking. The region has historically shown little interest in cultivating grapes for wine, largely because its population is more interested in getting its buzz from drinks like soju, sake, beer or whiskey. Even the wine they do drink tends to be rice based, or made from fruit other than grapes.

Getting Under the Hood

Tired of rip-offs by male-dominated auto shops, one woman fights back — by opening her own.

MAE DE LA CALZADA was once the kind of person who would rather crank up her radio to drown out her squeaking brakes than bring her car to a mechanic.


Today, she's the proud owner of LadyParts Automotive Services in Redwood City, CA, and lives by the maxim that knowledge is power. "I'm basically a customer [who opened] my own shop," she says.

Rare Vintage Asian American Winemakers Are Gaining Visibility

It‘s an unusually cool, overcast September morning, and Kenny Likitprakong has already retrieved his first batch of grapes. A boyish 34-year-old in cargo shorts, a hooded sweat-shirt and a silver hoop earring, he is gearing up for the inaugural weekend of fall’s harvest season, marking the start of the busiest time of the year in Northern California’s wine country.

Global Cuisine

From Peru to New Zealand, author Jennifer 8. Lee traveled the world in search of the best Chinese restaurant outside of China.

A COUPLE of years ago while doing research for her book, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, intrepid reporter Jennifer 8. Lee of The New York Times found herself with the enviable task of searching for the greatest Chinese restaurant.

Apparently, it didn't exist anywhere in the United States, France, Australia, or Mauritius for that matter. But there are worse things in life than getting stuck with bad Chinese food on a scenic tropical island.

Inside Men

The API prison population is rapidly growing, but that doesn't mean the community acknowledges those behind bars.

WHEN YOU FIRST MEET Eddy Zheng, you think of him as the sort of guy you'd want to bring home to your mother. He is smart, down-to-earth, and exceedingly polite. His lanky frame assures you that he is harmless. And his calming voice puts you immediately at ease.

He is also a tireless do-gooder, serving as the project coordinator for the Community Youth Center in San Francisco, where he works with kids in the Asian American community to keep them off the streets, and more importantly, out of jail.

One Fine (Three) Days

Wardrobe changes, multiple venues and drama -- the staing of cross-cultural weddings.

LATA MURTI would have been fine with marking Dave Cochran just once Instead she married him three times.

The first time was in a historic train depot in Lawrence, KS, surrounded by close friends and family and free from all the strains and pageantry of a lavish ceremony-just as she had wanted.

A year later, she married Cochran in an Indian ceremony, wrapped in a crimson and green sari, draped in a thick necklace of flowers and blessed by a Hindu priest-just as her parents had wanted