Quay Po Cooks: wheat pasta

Showing posts with label wheat pasta. Show all posts

Saturday, January 14, 2012

When old, must have 3 "LOWs"

One of my girl friends once told me that when we grow old, we will be very blessed if we have all 3 “LOWs” (in Cantonese, "LOW" means OLD). The first “LOW” we must have is our “Low Kung” (husband). Our husband is our companion, someone we can pick on when we become old and grumpy! LOL! (Just kidding). Actually, he is our best friend, the one we trust that we can be ourselves. He is the one we can confide in and rely on to take care of us for the rest of our lives. The second “LOW” is “Low boon” (our savings). This is necessary not for ourselves alone but for those who eventually ended up taking care of us. Our "Low boon" help relieve them from any financial difficulty as a result of taking care of us. The third “LOW” is a VERY important because this “LOW” is one that will keep us sane and brings us lots of joy! That is “Low Pang Yau” (Old friends). One biggest fear of growing old is loneliness but if we have lots of “Low Pang Yau” then we will not feel lonely and isolated. Statistic shows that seniors who are isolated and lonely tend to have more health problems and a poorer quality of life than those who have a good social network of friends and family. I think I have that. Just recently, my friends and I celebrated New Year together at a karaoke joint which belongs to one of my girlfriend's vocal teacher. We had a great time eating till we were stuffed, yakking till our jaws dropped, laughing till our stomachs hurt, singing our hearts out and dancing like no one was watching. We had so much fun and we almost brought the roof down! LOL!

Out of 3 "LOWs", I already have two. My Quay Lo and I are still working very hard to have enough of the 3rd "LOW" so that we can both retire in the near future.

My 1^st LOW, my Quay Lo "Low Kung"

Here are some of my second “LOWs”, my wonderful “LOW PANG YAU” (old friends).
We celebrated the New Year with a BANG!

I brought with me some food to share with them and one of them is a pasta salad. The karaoke place was dark and I could not take a nice picture of the salad. I guess I was too excited to go off to have fun and I forgot to take a photo at home too. I have made this salad before with same pasta but different other ingredients. They both tasted pretty much the same. I will share with you the recipe of one I made earlier which I have photos. There you go.

Wheat pasta salad with herb vinaigrette dressing

Ingredients for salad:

2 cups of wheat pasta of your choice

1 can garbanzo beans

1 cup pomegranate seeds

½ cup diced cucumber without seeds removed

2 slices of bacon, fried, and broken
shave parmesan cheese

water with salt

Method:

Bring water with added sea salt to boil and cook pasta for 9 mins till al dante. Drain pasta and set aside. Add in garbanzo beans, diced cucumber and pomegranate seeds. Put in the fridge and chill for 1 hour. Pour herb vinaigrette dressing over and toss to mix well. Serve warm or cold with shave parmesan cheese.

Ingredients for herb vinaigrette dressing:

½ cup white wine vinegar

dash of salt and pepper

½ cup fresh basil

¼ cup rosemary leaves

2 cloves garlic

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Method:

In a blender add white wine vinegar, dash of salt and pepper, basil and rosemary and blend for 10 to 15 seconds. Add 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil and blend for another 10 to 15 mins.

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.