Cooking at Home

I love the privilege of working in a big kitchen, and I mean anything bigger than the 90?! square feet one I have in my HK home. So on the eve before going to the land of scarcity (in space), I prepared my darling sister an early birthday dinner and feasted with my extended family. On the menu:

1.) Maple biscuits with Smoked Salmon tartare
2.) Deviled curry eggs
3.) Organic greens with pears, walnuts and dressed in blue cheese
4.) Maple glazed Salmon with oranges
5.) Baked gnocchi with Asiago cheese

And finished off with chocolate cake that is wholly decorated with skills learned from my latest escapade: Wilton's decorating courses 1 and 2.

I love cooking for my big skinny Chinese family. We show love by feeding and we reciprocate love by eating more. Almost every Chinese kid has the memory of their tiny eighty- two year old grandmother shoving something with her chopsticks into your rice bowl. May it be her famous dumplings, or store bought char siu.

Tonight, as I see my family around the dining table, listening to my cousin embellish her misadventures in Korea, I get that warm and fuzzy feeling of home. The laughs that cause a little spitting, the uncensored second helpings, the wine in whatever mismatched whiskey glass...so unsophisticated, so real, and so loved :)

Nothing like HOME cooking!

So I am spending ONLY one month vacation home...and hoping to keep weight gain at a minimum :) Food highlights so far...

1.) My mom made a bouillabaisse of sorts from the Cooking Light cookbook she purchased in honor of my arrival. It isn't the best or most original french fish soup ever, but it was DELICIOUS! I suppose 'cause my mommy made it and the whole family was there, chowing it down. And of course, we paired it with the family favorites- Little Caesar's pizza, crazy bread, and a bottle of revered Chardonnay that we bought from our wine tour last year.

2.) Now that I have friends who own gigantic homes, bbq and wine on the patio is one of my favorite things to do on hot summer days here in Vancity. Better yet, on a trip to Whistler at a friend's cabin, it truly felt like I was in a movie. You know, sitting around a HUGE dining table in a luxurious log cabin- eating, drinking and being merry with friends.

3.) I make a yearly pilgrimage to the Raincity grill with my good friend Brandy. The food is notoriously well prepared, the service delightful, and the atmosphere exquisite. However, given what is out there in Vancouver for the price point, the reason that I keep coming back is really the tradition of my annual date of catching up, drinking good wine and having a great laugh with Brandy;)

4.) Yes, I almost always across the border whenever I am home- to shop, to eat, and to be merry.
This year, for our annual family fun excursion, my sister suggested Seaside Oregon. I love eating in the US, there is something giddy about being served a gigantic portion of food and having the option of supersizing it. And when quality matches the quantity, that is when it gets dangerous :/