Quay Po Cooks: home cooked food

Showing posts with label home cooked food. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

CNY Day 4 – Potluck at my neighbors’ home

Last Sunday, we had a potluck dinner at my neighbors, Andrew and Annie’s home. There are four families and each cooked a dish or two for the dinner. Dr. Hall brought some great wines and his wife, Dr. Lee cooked one of the famous Peranakan dish “Ju Hu Cha”. Another neighbor, Mr. Meta share with us a bottle of fine champagne, Mrs. Meta brought curry chicken, while I made three dishes, garlic yellow squash, roasted butternut squash with rosemary and thyme and deep fried prawn in tamarind sauce. The host made two favorite Hakka dishes, stew pork belly and yam and braised pork belly with wood’s ear bean curd sauce. There were all very delicious.

We all enjoyed the dinner and the company especially when we had Uncle Meta telling us so many funny stories. He is such an adorable guy, his stories made me laugh so hard that my jaw hurts. Both Mr. and Mrs. Meta are in their eighties who has just celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary. What a charming couple! It warms my heart to see such a loving couple growing old together. They truly enjoys each other company, love life and find humor and laugh at anything positive or negative. I saw Uncle Meta laughed at his aches and pain and cracked jokes about it instead of whining. He did not let that deter him from spending good times with his friends. I marvel at his positive attitude towards life. Oh and he is a lucky man because Mrs. Meta is a gorgeous lady and a good cook.

I think it is very important to know our neighbors and be on friendly basis with them because they are the closest friends in distance to us. During times of emergency, neighbors can definitely fill in the need. There were many times in the past when I was in need of help, my neighbors came to my rescue. So, do not just leave your house, drove off and then when you come home, go straight into your house and don’t even say “hello” to your neighbors. Socialize with them, be their caring friends but not a nosy one. LOL! I said, friends nearby is worth two far away. Do you agree?

Once I gather the recipes from all the foods in the picture, I will definitely share with you all.

Top pic: roasted butternut squash with rosemary and thyme, bottom pic: deep fried prawn in tamarind sauce

Left pic: Ju hu Cha, right top pic: curry chicken, right center: stew pork belly and yam, right bottom: deep fried prawn in tamarind sauce

A LITTLE ABOUT THIS QUAY PO

Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.