February 19th, 2006
Madame Wong and beautiful skin
“Madame Wong” photo by Roger Bourland
Madame Wong brought Chinese Chicken Salad to America (she should get a prize just for that!); taught Wolfgang Puck and many others about Asian cuisine; in her 90s… Family friend. When we see her these days, she gives us a little plastic bottle that says: LONG LIFE NUTS. They are perfectly sweetened pecans, which you can eat by themselves, or put on ice cream, or on salads.
Once at dinner, she rolled up her sleeves exposing the underside of her arm to me (I was terrified she was going to say she was off heroin or had numbers from Auschwitz); she ordered me to feel the underside of her wrist. Mmm, very soft. She attributed her soft skin to eating ONE bok choy per day for her whole life, so girls, take note!
May 28th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Small world. Madame Wong died last week (5-19-08). My acupuncture dr. is her niece. She was 105 and died peacefully in her sleep. She was telling me about her incredible life. Yesterday I was telling a client about her (but didn’t mention her name) — she said “Madame Wong?” As it turned out she and her husband traveled to China with her many years ago before china was opened for tourists. She said she was quite a character!