Chef Angela Dimayuga on Her Last Conversation with Anthony Bourdain →

It's so cool to get a glimpse of Anthony Bourdain as a person through the eyes of my old college friend, Angela.

Tony continued to support me in small ways to show he was watching and supporting. He called me his hero on Instagram when I responded to an IvankaTrump.com editorial request. He consistently stood up from his dinner table to greet me (which I always thought was too much), and we had a kind of rapport: He let me tease him. After I left my job at Mission last year, I spent a lot more time traveling and didn't see him as often.

I loved this part too:

We talked about places I’d never been that I wanted to see—Greece, Croatia, Portugal, San Sebastian—and places he thought I needed to visit: back to the Philippines, to Berlin to party, to Africa. He said, “You’re going to get people you meet there to teach you more important things than they would teach me because you’re you.” One of my favorite things he said that night was that his show Parts Unknown was a political show masked as travel television. I shared with him that art is important to me because art is inherently political. And, to me, food is an expression of art, and so cooking can and should be a political act too.

Clearly he was a brilliant man who did everything he could to encourage everyone to embrace diversity and other cultures around the world.

The world is a better place because he lived.

Angela's Response to Ivanka Trump Goes Viral →

The Cut:

When Mission Chinese Food’s executive chef Angela Dimayuga publicly shared her response to Ivanka Trump asking to feature Dimayuga on her website, she had no idea it would be a big deal. […]

Dimayuga’s Instagram post, which was picked up by the New York Daily News, Elle, Bustle, and the Daily Mail, featured a handful of screenshots showing her response to a request from IvankaTrump.com’s contributing writer Adi Heyman. “As a queer person of color and daughter of immigrant parents,” she wrote, “I am not interested in being profiled as an aspirational figure for those that support a brand and President that slyly disparages female empowerment.” […]

“As a woman, as a queer Filipino with immigrant parents, all the things within my personal politics are important to me: women’s rights, immigrant rights, gay rights,” she said. She hopes that Ivanka will see people fighting those battles against her father’s administration and start speaking up in her role as his adviser. “If she is trying to move in a positive direction, we need to see action faster,” Dimayuga added. “I feel like there are these small steps but just barely. I want her to acknowledge that she hears us.”

I haven't spoken to Angela since college but it's damn good to see her doing so well and not being afraid to speak up.

Last Moments with Copper →

Dear Copper,

You probably don't remember me. We only met one or twice when you were still just a pup. I just wanted to tell you a quick story:

A couple years ago, I was on the verge of getting my first dog ever. I was heading down to San Diego to meet up with your dad and a bunch of friends for a Padres game. Before I drove down, I made a little pit stop to meet my soon-to-be pup.

To be honest, when I met Kogi, it still hadn't hit me that I just met my new life companion. Of course it was a very special day for me; it just hadn't registered with me yet.

When I made it to the Padres game, I saw your dad. And dude, let me tell you…I will never forget the look on your dad's face when he congratulated me for getting Kogi. Your dad's face lit up as if he just found out he was having a baby. It was that very moment I realized that unconditional love for me was right around the corner, just a few weeks away.

I've known a lot of dog owners in my life, but I've never met one as big a dog lover as your dad. Just by the way he was so genuinely happy for me; the way he always posted pictures of you and talked about you; the way he always included you in his work and all of his relationships…Copper, I never really got to know you, but the unconditional love between you and your dad became everything I aspire for with me and Kogi.

Rest in peace, you furry little angel.