Anyone who thinks that an international chef leads a glamorous life should have travelled with me for the last month. I cooked for 18 days straight in Los Angeles, flew to Singapore for five days and worked non-stop on 80 recipes for the new restaurant there, Chinois by Susur Lee, flew back to Washington for three days to set up a tasting menu at Zentan, and then flew to New York to cook a Chinese banquet at Shang for 300 media foodies and chefs to celebrate the restaurant’s first anniversary. Now I’m back home, concentrating on my New Year’s menus at Lee and Madeline.