Learning Chinese cooking from the best: Stir fried pork with celery and dried tofu

I’m doing my best to focus on the positive during these days of pandemic uncertainty. Collectively, we seem to be doing a lot of panic shopping, hysteria cooking and doomsday prepping. The upshot is many of us are cooking, experimenting and trying new things in the kitchen. Hell, I’ve found more recipes for sourdough starter than I’ve seen in my lifetime. 

I’ve been doing my bit to “fatten the curve” by creating the extra indulgent things I love. I figure we all need to nourish our collective spirit while we wait for the day we can come out of our hiding places.  Continue reading Learning Chinese cooking from the best: Stir fried pork with celery and dried tofu

a new experience

I recently had the wonderful experience of catering a yoga retreat. Overall it was a lot of recipe testing, shopping, prepping and of course, cooking. I’m so grateful to my friend Erin, who asked me to collaborate with her retreat. I proved to myself that I could pull it off, and in the process, I met some lovely ladies.

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cherry clafoutis for the season

It’s stone fruit season, which means I’ve started going overboard with all things cherry. It seemed like a good idea at the time to buy a 20-pound box of cherries with my friend. Do you know what 20 pounds of cherries look like? It’s A LOT! Needless to say, I’ve been churning out a lot of cherry-based recipes in my kitchen these days.

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learning chinese cooking from the best: zha jiang mian

A happy consequence of spending time with my mother-in-law is continuing to learn her recipes. During my last few visits to the Bay Area, I had zha jiang mian on my brain. It’s what I consider to be Chinese comfort food. My husband loves it, my brother-in-law makes it regularly for my nieces, who love it, we eat it at family gatherings, and everyone loves it. Zha jiang mian is universally loved in the family.  Continue reading learning chinese cooking from the best: zha jiang mian

tsui family’s spicy vinegar sauce

I recently spent some time in California in my mother-in-law’s kitchen. Her kitchen is a familiar place for me. Prior to moving to Portland two years ago, I spent a lot of time in my mother-in-law’s kitchen.  It’s in that kitchen that we would stand side by side and I would make sure she was measuring everything she was making so I could properly document her dishes and turn them into written recipes. It’s in that kitchen that I learned so many of my husband’s family dishes.  Continue reading tsui family’s spicy vinegar sauce

exploration in the kitchen, and restaurants near and far.