Huí Guō Ròu (回锅肉, twice-cooked pork) is pork belly, first boiled then fried with a fragrant chorus of peppers and bean pastes. Green chili pepper used during my recipe lesson was about four inches, thin, curled, wrinkly skin, and spicy. The red peppers are sweet.
This recipe of twice-cooked pork may differ from other twice-cooked [...]
Continue Reading →
There are many ways to cook a dish. For a whole year, I cooked Pork Adobo from a Filipino cookbook my mom gave me when I was in college. I couldn’t figure out why it was nothing like the Adobo I loved. After much procrastination, taking the time to consult with my mom about [...]
Continue Reading →
Píngshān 屏山, CHINA – My journey to learn favorite family recipes began this morning at the Suíjiāng market. Heavy bags of meat and vegetables turning our knuckles white, we board Liu Yeye’s boat. Liu Yeye (Grandfather Liu) motors his river tank up the Jīnshā River just enough [...]
Continue Reading →
Tōngzhōu 通州, CHINA — One of the best things that led me to my Āyí‘s home was her cooking. Āyí, Mandarin for aunt, is my mom away from home. When I’m sick, she cares for me. When she cooks [...]
Continue Reading →
Wǔdìng, Yúnnán, China — I rode a bus from Kunming through lush green hillsides terraced with rice paddies and new development reminding me of stucco homes in anyplace, USA. We step off the bus into dry heat and the air is dust-filled from [...]
Continue Reading →
Suíjiāng, Yunnan, China — As I walk to the corner where my team and I will set off in a sānlúnchē (三轮车, motorized three-wheeled taxi), I look around me in awe; all of these buildings will be submerged under water after the Xiàngjiābà Dam [...]
Continue Reading →
Kūnmíng (昆明), Yunnan, China — Growing up, my father didn’t cook. He afforded the food set on the table. Together he and my mother tended the garden that brought organic food to our plates before I had ever heard of the word “organic.” When my mother had her third child, [...]
Continue Reading →
中国，绥江——从宜宾通往绥江的道路是一条六车道的高速公路，它预示着这个地区可能有着良好的经济状况，直到我们的司机在公路的尽头转过弯后，新的路况在 向我们诉说着截然相反的事情。沿着金沙江——长江的上游——前行，我们看到了很多废弃的村庄。建筑物上面的瓷砖都碎裂或者掉落了，道路也是坑坑洼洼的，在 没有玻璃的窗台后偶尔会出现一两个居民的身影。这里发生了什么？难道这里是一块被政府遗忘的土地么？当我问我们的司机——一位在宜宾火车站迎接我们团队的 叔叔——为什么这些村庄被废弃的时候，我注意到一个废弃的工厂正立在江的对岸。
Continue Reading →
Qīngdǎo 青岛, Shandong, CHINA — I step off the bus in front of Qīngdǎo’s train station and onto wet streets lined with German styled buildings. The air smells of the sea and our hostel, Big Brother, sits on a hilly street reminding me of San Francisco. After settling into [...]
Continue Reading →
Beijing, China — When friends from out of town visit me in Beijing, the host in me lights up during mealtimes. My husband and I send our friends off for long hikes on the Great Wall and walks within the walls of the Forbidden [...]
Continue Reading →
While living in Beijing, my home was blessed with an Āyí (Chinese for aunt, another term for home helper) who could cook well. Āyí gave me my first cooking lessons in China. Hóngshāo Páigǔ is a favorite in her home and easily became one of my favorites as it had an ingredient close [...]
Continue Reading →
