Quay Po Cooks: purglutton

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Thursday, May 17, 2012

How do you eat your Ba Chang?

I got up very early last Monday to make some macarons and almond crisps for my friend Chris of Purglutton because I would be seeing her for dinner that evening. As I did not age the egg for more than 48 hours, the macs did not turn out as perfect as I wanted them to be. Furthermore, I was lazy to draw circles so they are of all kinds of shapes and size. I need to improve on my skill in piping. Chris was very kind to tell me she does not care about the look and she thought they were delicious.

Chris gave me some Ba Chang she made herself. Ba chang is one of my favorite things. I tried my hands on it last year but I don’t think I want to do it again. Out of ten packages that I tried wrapping, I could only get one right. That was what I told my friend Chris over dinner. The first time I met Chris was at the Angry Bird Cupcakes class last November and since then, we have been keeping in touch by commenting on each other’s blog and on facebook. We wanted to meet up several times to catch up but we did not get to do that until last Monday. We found out that we are from same hometown, Ipoh. Somehow, we both agreed that when we meet people from the same hometown, we tend to feel connected easily. Obviously we chat till the cow comes home that evening. We had a fun evening together and greed that we must do that more often.

Coming back to the ba chang I got from Chris. When I reached home, I wanted to eat one before I go to bed. I knew I will be sorry if I did that. I tried very hard to resist the temptation but I was thinking about the ba chang the whole night long. LOL! So, the first thing I did when I woke up the next morning, I warmed two, one for me and one for my mum for breakfast.

The Ba Chang are from Chris of Pureglutton.

She made these herself.

My favorite way to eat the ba chang is with sugar. Oh yes, you did not heard wrongly, I always eat my ba chang with sugar. I know, most of my Kuala Lumpur friends thought that I am crazy when they saw that but that is how “Ipoh Mali” people eat their ba chang. Can some of the "Ipoh Mali" people confirm this? How about you? How do you eat yours?

Chris, if you are reading this post, TWO THUMBS UP for your ba Chang. The taste was similar to those I had when I was living in Ipoh. They brought back sweet childhood memories. See my next picture for proof of how good it is, do I need to say more? LOL!

If you are interested to know how to make ba chang, check this video and like what my Quay Lo used to say, "Knock yourself out!" LOL!

The Ba Chang Chronicles

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.