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Diana Liu 🕊

@sheandhercat

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taiwanese-american journalist in paris 💌
sharing the best (Asian) food spots
& writing city guides with emotions 🌃🌙
🪶more on my substack ↓

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🇬🇧 I’ve always wanted to write about London but never really knew how to do it, which is why I told myself I had to.

This essay is the accumulation of my experiences in this wonderful city that I’ve been visiting for the last ten years (ever since I moved to Europe/Paris, gasp!), where I’ve seen most of my friends get engaged, married, have children, and experienced the complicated emotions of seeing our life paths diverge.

It’s a pretty personal piece that I don’t think I could have written even a couple of months ago, because maybe I would have found it embarrassing, or not known how to approach the topic.

But I believe the anxiety or fear as we see our friends entering into life stages that are different from our own, that we cannot, for whatever reason, join, is a common one — especially when it comes to something as essential as love and partnership.

How do we weather changes in our closest relationships while continuing to love and be present for each other? I don’t have the perfect answer. But if you’ve experienced or are experiencing this, I hope that you’ll feel less alone by reading this.

And that it will remind you that whether you’re in a romantic relationship or not, whether you’re in the same “stage of life” as your friends or not, the abundance of love you share with them is infinitely precious. And it can — and should — continue to grow as our lives shift and evolve.

🪶💌 The full essay is available on my substack at the link in my bio 🔗⬆️. I also included a little London guide to my favorite places at the end, for your visiting pleasure!

much love, diana xx
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#london #europe #paris #livingabroad #personalessay #travelwriting #love #relationships #friendships #single #writing taken in London, United Kingdom by @sheandhercat

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10 months ago

inspired by animals by frank o’hara
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#poetry #poem #poetrygram #paris #writing by @sheandhercat

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23 days ago

I don’t write poetry too often, trapped by practical, perennial prose
but I awoke one morning with a scene and a song, and the urge to make them flow.

This poem is an ode to jazz, beauty, love, having it and losing it and being on the outside of it, Paris and the blues 💙

And to some of my favorite poets: Langston Hughes, Elizabeth Bishop, Frank O’Hara.

Not to mention having fun with language and using it to express what I love in new ways xx
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#poetry #love #paris #jazz #blues taken in Paris, France by @sheandhercat

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a month ago

Sex and the City was a great show but you know what the girls were missing? Taiwanese food! Hashing out men and relationships over overpriced tapas and cosmopolitans? Pass! I’d have to bail at 9:30pm for emergency dumplings around Canal.

But over popcorn chicken, xiao long bao, beef noodle soup… and cocktails? At that point, I don’t even need the sex, just dishing with my girlfriends over a great meal. Maybe Carrie was sad in Paris not because of Big, but because she didn’t have her friends and didn’t eat at the new Baobar in the swanky 9th arrondissement. I think she’d have loved it.

As you probably guessed, Baobar does a trendier take on Taiwanese food, with dim sum from Hong Kong and even rou jia mo from China. The xiao long bao impressed us with their savory pork filling, and the (hot pink!) sui mai were pleasantly plump and heavier on the fish roe (which I enjoyed as a seafood lover).

The noodles with marinated lamb were handmade with a nice QQ (springy) texture, and although the marinade was a bit sweet for me, the meat was still tender and tasty.

For drinks, the In the Mood for Love cocktail with rum by @cravanparis really hit the spot. And the mango sago was a refreshing way to end the meal, with a hint of lime that is unorthodox in Taiwanese desserts, but reminded me of the sliced mango with paprika that you can buy in Central Park.

I’ve also tried the Baobar in the Marais, which I really enjoyed - some favorites include the popcorn chicken, fried shrimp wontons and beef noodle soup. And I’d come back with my girls to to try the gua bao and some of the other dim sum options. For a date, tbh I’d prefer something more intimate, but that’s for another post!

Thank you to the team at @pandapandagroup_ for the invitation, and your warm hospitality! All opinions are my own obviously and as always 📝.

📍Baobar Faubourg in Paris’ 9th arrondissement
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Follow for more (Asian) food recommendations in Paris from this Taiwanese-American journalist (& former New Yorker hehe) 💌
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#parisfoodie #parisresto #asianfoodie #sexandthecity #invitation taken in Paris, France by @sheandhercat

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3 months ago

During the heatwave, the only noods I want are starchy and ice-cold 🍜🧊. Here are four of my favorite places in Paris for cold Asian noodles, because you can’t eat ice cream at every meal - PS I also added a special fifth bonus noodle 😇.

@kunitoraya - A stylish and breezy Japanese place on a photogenic corner of Palais Royal that’s prime real estate for people watching and slurping a bowl of zaru udon with shrimp & vegetable tempura! There’s something very satisfying about the slick, cold noodle with the perfect chew against the hot crunch of the tempera flakes. If you’re not in the mood for udon, they also do very good donburi.

@sanukiya.udon_paris - This udon place is more down to earth than Kunitoraya and has cheaper prices, but the quality is on par with its fancier neighbor. Their zaru udon with tempura really hit the spot on the hottest day France has ever recorded and… they gave me a glass of ice water. The American in me was so happy. I’ll come back to try the agedashi tofu and their lunch deal, which includes egg omelette, chicken karaage and burdock rice.

@togo_paris - This minimalist Japanese restaurant is my go to when I’m craving a more substantial (buckwheat) soba noodle. Other than the traditional cold dipping soba with tempura, which was very balanced, this place also has really interesting options like like soba with sliced limes and soba with shaved radish on top, which tasted a bit like a fresh and savory radish slushie.

@kike.paris - Cold sesame noodles are a staple for us in Taiwan, and Kiké’s version really tastes like home. I get the vegetarian option with sliced cucumber and carrots with a bit of chili sauce on top, marinated tofu and tea egg, and a refreshing iced green tea or passion fruit tea.

BONUS: @ramen.wagaya11e - My favorite ramen spot in Paris also does the best (soupless!) tantanmen I’ve had, with pork, bok choy and a healthy dose of spice. It’s not cold, but eating spicy food helps cool our bodies and when a noodle is as good as this, I’ll eat it even if it gets up to 42°C degrees…

Comment what cold noodles in Paris I should try next if you want a part two & stay cool xx
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#paris #parisfood #parisresto #asianfood taken in Paris, France by @sheandhercat

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4 months ago

what i’d like to remember from this trip to the Loire Valley:
 the soft textures of the green meadows, the pale yellow of the stalks of wheat, stretching toward the sky, pale blue when we set out in the morning, a vivid azure at high noon, softening only slightly at 8pm when we drove back to the cottage. the sun casting its benevolent light on the expansive fields, a glow that seemed to emanate both from above the clouds and from the earth itself and that continued unabated, unhindered by buildings or even mountains.

the poppies that dotted the meadows, blurring orange-red as we drove past, proof that God loves a good color palette, that He cares about the artistic features of a landscape and also - “see how the flowers of the field grow…” shall God not clothe and care for you just as much, you of little faith? the birdsong that woke us the morning and the deep quiet that made it easy to fall asleep at night.

the small villages of people, many retirees, engaging in slow, fundamental work with the earth - planting a garden and waiting years for it to grow. the renaissance castles, @chateaudechambord and @chateau_chenonceau : their romanticism, splendeur and ingenuity, the dream that became a reality carved out of stone and spun into spires, and the generations of women who pushed forward their artistic and architectural brilliance.

the moments with the girls, walking along country roads in the outskirts of small towns, exploring the cave homes and nature strolls in charming Trôo, throwing together a tart with goat cheese, boursin, courgette, tomato, aubergine and onion, preparing duck confit and asparagus for the first time, listening to Olivia Rodrigo all day long, from the car to dinnertime and pudding (and learning that this is how the Brits say dessert!). thank you for a weekend filled with beauty and togetherness.

and going into the field on the last night around midnight to look at the stars, to see how they shone all the more against the countryside’s deeper darkness. i never take the time to look in paris, but here, they seemed to pulsate quietly, like they were alive and beings in and of themselves. taken in Loire Valley by @sheandhercat

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4 months ago

the heatwave in paris will make you do some crazy things… but I’ve never had short hair in my life and always wanted to try to here we go 🫣!! for a long time I felt like short hair would make me “less feminine” because of the way I grew up - my mom always put me in long braids because she said it looked like Sailor Moon lol. but hair does hold memories and remnants of our past selves, so what better way to embody a new self than to chop it all off (and donate it hehe)? And French people have never been nicer to me at the salon than when I told them I wanted a hair ✨transformation so maybe I’m doing something right! Thank you @angelhairdress @fostal.paris, you’re amazing 🪽🪽

and if you’ve been hesitating about a bob, let this be your sign 🩷💇🏻‍♀️
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#paris #haircut #hairtransformation #parisstyle #parislife taken in Paris, France by @sheandhercat

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5 months ago

A busy and emotional week trying to escape the heatwave that turned into: How many affogati can I eat in a week? But thankful for good friends and food that remind me of home 🇹🇼🇺🇸.

Wishing y’all a good start to the week and lots of cold drinks and gelato in this heat 🩷!

1. @ramen.wagaya11e
2. @cafeperlant
3. @togo_paris
4. @tsujiri_fr
5-6. @lemonde_en
7. @pausebobun
8. @brigat.paris
9. @naturalia_magasins_bio
10-11. @kike.paris
12. @fiveguysfrance
13. @ramen.wagaya11e
14. @casa_cafe_paris
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#paris #parisfoodie #parisresto #asianfoodie #asianfood taken in Paris, France by @sheandhercat

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5 months ago

🩰 I discovered my new favorite ballet at Opéra Garnier! (& swipe to the end for another kind of discovery lol)

La Dame aux camélias, by American choreographer John Neumeier, is inspired by the 1848 novel of the same name by Alexandre Dumas (the son, not the father), which tells the tragic romance of Marguerite Gautier, Paris’s most desired courtesan, and Armand Duval, the young bourgeois man who fell for her.

Rarely have I seen introspection and the inner lives of the characters staged so brilliantly in a ballet through every single element: the performances, costumes, lighting design, color palettes, sets and music, with Chopin’s delicate piano concertos and preludes creating the tortured emotional atmosphere the characters inhabit.

Neumeier even takes it a step further, adding another layer of psychological depth and melancholy to his ballet with his use of the story-within-the-story (mise en abyme in French) — a ballet within a ballet whose lovers, Manon Lescaut and the Chevalier des Grieux, haunt Marguerite and Armand by foreshadowing their tragic fate.

This was probably the most beautiful ballet I’ve ever seen (and growing up dancing, I’ve seen a lot): the elegance and restraint of the sets, the romantic, dreamy costumes, the purity of the music, but, most of all, the emotional depth of the characters.

As a writer, I’m always moved by how music and dance convey entire worlds and vistas of feeling that transcend language, how these art forms allow us to access an intuition beyond the rationality and limitations of words.  And in a world that’s filled with ugliness in many forms: neglect and inattention, hatred and despair, not to mention optimisation and AI, I think it’s important to immerse ourselves in environments and works of art that remind us that beauty is a virtue that dignifies both its creator and its audience, and gives us a glimpse into higher forms of goodness and justice.

Beauty occupies the tension between the earthly and the eternal and bridges present transience with future hope. And so pursuing it isn’t frivolous or indulgent, but essential to keeping this hope alive within us.

#paris #ballet #operagarnier #operadeparis #beauty taken in Opéra Garnier by @sheandhercat

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5 months ago

Dinner at @restaurant.oktobre felt very special to me because the dishes and the entire experience reminded me of all the cultures I know and love - new-wave French bistronomie with Asian-inspired flavours, service that was kind and thoughtful (they allowed us to share the menu découverte between two people) and a cute waiter who grew up in Los Angeles and spoke perfect English for my American friends and family in town!

Although the techniques in many of the dishes were classically French, their ingredients like raw tuna, black sesame, yuzu and Thai spices made the flavours more fresh and vibrant, like they were on the verge of becoming Chinese or Japanese and even Thai, but not quite - so really the best of both worlds for someone who lives on noodles and dumplings only eats French food when she is forced. Just kidding but not really lol

Bonus points for the interior and menu design, stylish while remaining cozy and warm. The table next to us was on a date, and I thought, good idea, I wouldn’t mind going on a date here… sue me, a girl can dream! Especially when she’s here.
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#paris #parisresto #france #asianfoodie #parislifestyle taken in Paris, France by @sheandhercat

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5 months ago

The link to the full video investigation by our team at @lemonde_en is in my bio if you’re interested! 📹⬆️

The crackdowns we investigated in the video targeted the church in Yayang in January 2026 and Zion Church in 11 different cities in October 2025. As of the publication of this video, many church leaders and members of the communities are still imprisoned (more information in the investigation!).

Also, obviously the question of why people believe what they believe and are willing to defend their faith at great personal cost is a complicated one, and there are many historical, sociological, psychological and spiritual explanations available (our investigation gives some more historical context for the rise of Christianity in China, for example!).

I just find it striking that faith has a life of its own in people, despite how governments want to direct or stifle it. Whether or not you believe, I think there is something very commendable about fighting for your freedom of conscience in a country like China where there is very little freedom left in any form.
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#Christianity #china #xijinping #yayang #chinesechristians #zionchurch #faith #religion #investigation by @sheandhercat

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5 months ago

everyone always asks me where to eat in Paris so it’s about time I shared as a @chopchicksinparis 🇫🇷❤️

just another week eating exclusively Asian food and missing home (California), par for the course when you live abroad?

also hi, I’m Diana and I’m a Taiwanese-American journalist and writer in Paris! follow along for more food, restaurant and café recs from the most beautiful city in the world 🥐 and reflections on life, writing, relationships, living abroad and figuring it out from France 💌.

1. @mokochaya
2-3. @thehoodparis
4. @la_tropicale_glacier
5. @jujiyabento
6. @nerolibar
7. Menkicchi ramen
8. @tapisserie_patisserie
9-10. @cafecomets by the amazing @dawnieperry !
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#paris #livingabroad #parisresto #parisfoodie #asianfood taken in Paris, France by @sheandhercat

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5 months ago