This diminutive chair sits in our kitchen and is much sought after by everyone. Loving chairs in general, I particularly like this small-scale chair from the ’30s. The scale is perfect for an extra seat and is surprisingly comfortable for all size people. I frequently place them in client’s kitchens, as in my own (seen here). Today’s chairs being generally over-scaled, they are not easily tucked into small areas. Thus I am always searching flea markets, sales and even the trash for someone’s throwaway that will be our treasure.

Exhibit A: One very elegant chair in our library is dressed in jade silk and trimmed with luscious fringe, although at one time it sat on a neighbor’s curb, covered in a soiled, torn vinyl from a 1930 boudoir chair moment.

My first real dim sum was in Hong Kong on a first trip to Asia with my husband in the late ’90s. We ate in a typical large, noisy, over-lit, crowded restaurant that was famous for its dim sum. Not being able to speak Cantonese we looked around at the other diners for some direction and then pointed to dishes as they were wheeled over to us. We had many delicious tastes and even picked chicken feet apparently! This is a considered treat but was somewhat of a shock to us. My husband, ever adventuresome, ate the whole portion.

Unbeknownst to us at the time we would move to Singapore just three years later for a very interesting career opportunity for my husband. Since then we have had numerous dim sum opportunities from the large family restaurants we first experienced in HK to the very elegant, subdued and beautifully decorated. One of our very favorites in Singapore is the Golden Palace which is a Teochew restaurant.