Quay Po Cooks: what flower are you?

Showing posts with label what flower are you?. Show all posts

Monday, May 14, 2012

Let's have some fun! What flower are you?

When I was admiring the blooming flowers in my garden…

I recalled when I was in my teens, one of my classmates took me to see a fortune teller. He lived in a big bungalow. In his garden, there were all kinds of flowers. The way he would tell your fortune was by the flower you picked in his garden. The flower that I picked was a bright red carnation. He got most of my character right and even got some of my past right. One thing he said about my future that was right was, my husband would be a big man and that I get to travel the globe. At that time, I was thinking, I was so poor and cannot even afford a bus ticket to go to Kuala Lumpur from Ipoh, how would I afford to travel the globe? Honestly, I don’t believe in fortune telling at all. I was there because I was curious. After all, we only paid RM3.00 each.

Then one day, while I was browsing the web, I accidentally ended up at this website “What flower are you?” and took the quiz and here was the result.

"You are a carnation. You are down to earth and grounded. You tend to be more traditional than trendy. Your confidence gets you through anything. People trust you and are very loyal to you."

What a co-incidence! Believe it or not? LOL! Now click on the link and go take the quiz and find out what flower you are. Have fun.

Well, since I am talking about flowers, I would like to share with you a delicious and beautiful salad with edible flowers that I made for our Christmas in 2010. Click on the photo to get the recipe if you are interested.

This is a plate of butternut squash and edible flowers salad

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.