In the Family of Things

Just finished reading Anne Morrow Lindbergh's "Gift From the Sea".  Her name came to me because she was quoted by Erica Bauermeister, a wonderful Northwestern author I recently stumbled on. I didn't realize Anne was Charles Lindbergh's wife until I read "About the Author" at the end of the book. Knowing that didn't change anything, in fact ignorance is a bliss in this case, my mind wasn't contaminated. Her writing "stood on its own feet" as she encouraged women to do in their relationships, and she claimed that it is essential women carved out time for solitude, because "women need to come of age by herself - she must find her true center alone." 


I was shocked to learn that Gift from the Sea was written in 1955, 56 years ago. It boggled my mind that while Ann Morrow Lindbergh was an American mother of five who lived in the suburb of Connecticut, I was a tiny-winy one-year old girl living with my Chinese parents in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Neither of us knew our paths would cross one day and there existed a kinship between us.    


Yesterday I stumbled on another book by accident(or was it?), "They Say I Say, the Moves that Matter in Academic Writing." I was actually using the book as a prop in my Chinese Language class at the Y, and the page opened to a hard-to-ignore paragraph highlighted in dayglow orange, "Writers who cannot show that others should care and do care about their claims will ultimately lose their audiences' interest. This answered why Ann Morrow Lindbergh's book captivated my interest 56 years later - she cared and she convinced me that I should care too. 


It's not the first time that books show up in my life and answer the questions I happen to be asking at the time. I have not written for a while and the blog has become a place for announcements. I'm going back to Taiwan for three months this winter and I've been thinking whether I should continue writing.  Ann Morrow Lindbergh convinced me good writing transcends time and space; and the They Say I Say book reminded me I should only write what I really care about and write it well.


This morning I saw one of my niece in Taiwan thanking my other niece on Facebook - "Thank you for being in my life." It made me so happy and proud to hear that, not only because I am their aunty but because I felt this ageless bond between women.  In the past year, I've been reflecting on the legacy of women in my family; I was thinking more about older women like my mother and sisters, how they live their lives before and after their men are gone. Today seeing my nieces comments and sisterly bond on Facebook reminds me again why I love and care about women. Before I become the next Amy Tan, here is a great poem to share with you. May you find your place in the family of things. 


Wild Geese


You do not have to be good
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting .
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting ---
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.


- Mary Oliver 

A Morning Prayer

It all started with deadheading a rose. The petals were falling apart in my palm, not good to put in a vase as I originally set out to do. I couldn't bring myself to throw the delicate, lightly scented, soft yellow faint pink edged petals on the burn pile. I came into the house and filled a big glass bowl with water. As I tore off the petals I started chanted "南無阿彌佗佛” (The Reverent Buddha). I didn't know why. I am not a practicing Buddhist and I am drawn to the teachings of all spiritual traditions. The simple act of gently separating the petals and watching them floating on water must have evoked a sense of scarceness and reverence. Maybe that is what a prayer means.

Next to the rose a lupine branch was knocked over, so I pruned it and thought of making a small bouquet. Purple would go with the flaming orange crocosmia which was in full bloom. I thinned a few stems that were crowding each other. Now it needed some filler; tiny cheerful white and yellow fever-fews with their chrysanthemum leaves would be perfect. Then the most perfect poppy caught my eyes. It's blood red paper-thin petals and intricate, complex black heart  took my breath away. I came inside again and looked for a complimentary container. A slender blue chalice Curt recently made was calling out to me. When the flower married the chalice I was moved by the union of the creation of men and the creation of God. Again, I am not a Christian either but I don't know a better word to communicate what I mean. Few days ago I posted some photos of the garden in the morning mist on Facebook. It received a few responses. I think what moved people was the awe and delight in creation, whether it's God's or men's. But unlike Oprah, I don't know that for sure. What I am sure is that I was the witness at the right place, at the right time.

Once Upon a Time, in America

I love traveling - getting out of the wonderful cocoon of Northwest woods and into the vast wilderness of a land which I sometimes conceptualize as "America" but still am puzzling by it.  This is my third road trip and each time I returned with mixed feelings of awe, pride, wonder, joy, sadness and injustice. While I enjoyed the repeated and serendipitous opportunities to travel across Mei Guo (the beautiful country in Chinese) and being transformed by the experiences in un-explicit ways, I can't help noticing how few people of color were on the road, and wonder about "the land of the free" once again. I'm not too naive to know that with the economy and gas price close to $4 a gallon a road trip is a luxury for most people. But it is not just about money and race, it is about opportunity or the lack of it.

I was invited on all three trips by friends who fortunately seemed to enjoy my company and sharing of driving and only twice I was made to feel unwelcome - a motel in Dickinson was full (it was a Friday night but Dickinson sure didn't look like a weekend tourist destination to us) and the kitchen of a bar in Casselton was closed to serve us lunch. (It was 2:30 p.m. but we saw other customers eating.) We ended up camping at the parking lot of WalMart in Dickinson but the vibe made us decide to "get out of down" at 2 a.m. in the morning. In case you are wondering, both towns are in North Dakota. 

When I took my first trip with a girlfriend from Minneapolis to San Diego I was living in a rough inner-city neighborhood. There were many section A housing; drug, prostitution, noise, garbage was a daily fare. When I was transported from all my worldly worries and man-made ills by the ancient mountains and mystical canyons in Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, I was also acutely aware of the unjust missing opportunities of my neighbors - I wonder given the opportunities to "see" America in its nakedness and full glory, would they develop a love and pride for the land as I have. I think it will change how they see their country, and more importantly, it will change how they see themselves.  

"..that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom" - Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address

The Freedom to Ride 

Access Denied

What is Around the Corner for America?

  

Chinese Idioms II

Few friends seemed to enjoy my blog yesterday on Chinese idioms, like all writers we are inspired by our audiences. Here are two more. I hope my perspective brings you some amusement and insight, again I'm not speaking as an expert in Chinese language and culture but as  an explorer in languages and a story teller.  


"Feng Hua Xue Yue"(風花雪月）, literally are four characters in Chinese which mean "Wind, Flower, Snow, Moon" in English. These four words are probably the most frequently-used words in Chinese poetry, to quote just a few: 


When intertwined branches bloom
the jealous wind and rain strip away their flowers.." - Chu Shu-Chen, Falling Flowers 


"The plum without the snow isn't very special
and snow without a poem is simply commonplace..." - Lu Mei-P'o, The Snow and the Plum II


"For a winter-night guest tea serves as wine
boiling on a wicker stove as the coal turn red
outside the window is the same old moon
but with plum blossoms now it's different." - Tu Lei, Winter Night


Note: These poems are quoted from The Poems of the Masters translated by Red Pine. (Also known as Bill Porter, who was instrumental to our decision in moving to the woods near Port Townsend.) 


Now you probably get an inkling that "feng hua xue yue" means something poetic in Chinese and you are right.  "Feng Hua Xue Yue" is used to describe a kind of romantic and poetic way of life. For instance, my Chinese friends who visited me would say after living with us for a few days : "You are living the feng-hua-xue-yue-style of life."  There was always envy in their voice but the tag line that followed told another story, "I don't think I'm ready to give up and live like this yet!" At the beginning I often felt I somehow had to defend my "living like this", but now I just say, "It is not for everybody and we walk our own paths." This reminds me when a friend of mine decided to become a Buddhist nun. All her friends and family were trying to persuade her not to "give up" on her life. She was very relieved by my congratulation on her decision and said, "You know most people can only see what I have got to loose, not what I have to gain." 


"Chai, Mi, You, Yan"（柴米油鹽）, literally mean Firewood, Rice, Oil, Salt, in Chinese it is used to describe the fundamentals and the mundane aspects of living. The words and the imagery they provoke are almost the total opposite of "Feng Hua Xue Yue." I admit I haven't quite figured out this part of life. I can find poetry in "chopping wood and carrying water" as long as I don't have to do it from Nine to Five. 






To be continued.

Chinese Idioms

I posted on Facebook few days ago about enjoying a private lesson with a student - "We drank tea, played with the calligraphy brush and talked about the sky (chat in Chinese). A friend really liked the phrase "talking about the sky" and asked me for more examples in Chinese. Here are a couple to start with; I've been wanting to write about them for awhile, so thank you, Kristine, for giving me an incentive. But be forewarned, these two I'm writing today are not poetic or even clever, what I'm hoping to convey is the strong emotional hold that language has on us, and hopefully by being aware of its power we use it more thoughtfully or reinvent it so it liberates instead of imprisons us.


1. "Bu Dong, Bu Xi"（不東不西）, Not East, Not West literally, is used to describe someone who is confused about his/her cultural identity. When I was in college I started to listen to rock 'n roll and hanged out with "foreigners". In the 70s Taiwan was still fairly conservative and because of martial law there weren't many foreign private companies or civilians. The foreigners the Taiwanese saw were mostly military personnel, either based in Taiwan or visiting for R&R.  So Chinese women to be seen with a foreigner often was regarded and treated as a prostitute without any discrimination. (It didn't matter I was wearing a T-shirt, jeans and flip flops.) When I went out with foreign exchanged students from my college, I got many dirty looks, rude remarks and a few near-missed spits, but what irked me the most was the condescending "bu dong, bu xi".  I still have issues with the phrase, maybe I'm still confused about my cultural identity! I think this phrase sounds especially vicious to me because it reflects a cultural chauvinism which I've fought against all my life. Taiwan has changed a lot and I didn't hear this phrase once during my recent visits, in fact, Taiwan today is not only embracing foreign and Han cultures but also Taiwanese, Hakka and Aboriginal cultures.




2. "Le Ji Sheng Bei"（樂極生悲）, Happiness Extreme Born Sorrow literally, the closest translation I came up with is "Curb your enthusiasm!". I remember growing up when my sisters and I were laughing and giggling, my father always "reminded" us, "Be Careful, Le Ji Sheng Bei".  My father was over- protective, like majority Chinese parents, but instead of encouraging kids to freely expressed their happiness, we learned that it was wrong to be "too happy" - something bad is going to happen if you are too happy.  Naturally this idiom can be interpreted and used differently - I do believe happiness and sorrow are two sides of the coin, or the white and black keys of a piano, as a friend quoted recently on Facebook. The Ying and Yang of emotions, the cycles of life.  How about saying "Bei Ji Sheng Le" when someone is going through painful losses - Extreme sorrow gives birth to happiness!


To be continued.

The Myths about Tofu

A former student S.P. emailed me after she tried the "Stewed tofu with snow peas" recipe I posted on January 22nd with a good question: how do you make tofu dishes more flavorful? She said her husband, like my partner from the Midwest would add cheese to tofu if they can help it! It's true tofu itself has hardly any flavor but this is exactly its characteristic and uniqueness: it absorbs whatever flavor you add to it. Another thing I don't see mentioned much in recipes and what the Chinese are so particular about is "texture". To Chinese, texture is as much, if not more important than flavor. Tofu, along with bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, wood ear, just to name a few, are used and savored for their textures in Chinese cooking.

Here is a recipe which includes shrimp, ground pork for people who want to enjoy tofu without being deprived of flavor.

Stuffed Tofu with Pork and Shrimp

Ingredients:

2 boxes of firm tofu
1/2 cup raw shrimp, shelled and gutted, finely chopped
1 cup ground pork
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon rice wine
2 Tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with 4 tablespoon of water,
1 Tablespoon of dry cornstarch
2 Tablespoon soy sauce
                                                      1 teaspoon of sugar
                                                      1 cup water or chicken broth(more flavor)
                                                      3 Tablespoon oil
                                                      1 teaspoon sesame oil
                                                      a dash white pepper (optional)

                                                      cilantro, green onion for garnish (optional)

Preparation:

1. Put ground pork, shrimp, salt, rice wine, 1 teaspoon of cornstarch mix in a small bowl and blend well.
2. Cut tofu into triangles and scoop out the center, add to the pork/shrimp stuffing mix. Sprinkle a little dry cornstarch inside the tofu triangle. Stuff the triangles with shrimp mix and set aside.
3. Heat the oil until hot in a wok or frying pan. Dip the triangle's stuffed side in remaining corn starch mix(save one teaspoon) before browning, this prevents them from separating. Cook with medium heat until all sides are golden brown.
4. Add soy sauce, sugar, rice wine, water or broth and white pepper if using. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add cornstarch mix (1 teaspoon corn starch, 2 tablespoon water), cook until the sauce thickens.
5. Put on a plate, drizzle sesame oil, sprinkle cilantro, green onion and serve.

Notes: Tomatoes or shitaki mushroom will add interesting and extra flavors to this dish. Add one or the other (I wouldn't use both, then it is too much flavor and we have a name for it - Chop Suey!) at step 4.

S.P. asked another good question which might interest you as well: How do you make dishes flavorful but not spicy? -  I used lots of garlic and onions (green onion for Chinese.) For Asian cooking, fermented black beans, dried shitaki mushrooms, sesame seeds and oil, Chinese rice wine, Cantonese oyster sauce, Japanese sweet wine Mirin and miso, Vietnamese fish sauce, Thai Tamarind, tomatoes, basil, lemon grass and chicken broth all enhance flavor without adding heat. Another aspect of Asian cooking I think need to be addressed is the balance between saltiness and sweetness, Asian American restaurants tend to be "crowd-pleasers" leaning too much towards the sweetness.

I'm excited that a neighbor is going to teach me how to make tofu from scratch. You might wonder why a Chinese need to lear how to make tofu from an American. Well, this is another assumption many people have - the reason I don't know how to make tofu is in Taiwan tofu is so available and inexpensive, and there are so many varieties, not just the white square in a box you see here, and they are freshly made daily. By the way, please don't ask me how to cook rice on the stove stop, I don't know because I always use a rice cooker!  Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! (February 3rd, 2011)

The Myths About Tea - Bon Appe-Tea

I gave a colleague a small bag of tea I brought back from Taiwan for her birthday. I told her I will email her some information on this tea and brewing instructions. Then I was inspired by the idea of sharing it with more people. Having a blog is a great way to fulfill my desire to share.

The tea I gave her is Bao Zhong (包種), it is a tea, to my knowledge, unique to Taiwan. It has a beautiful soothing aroma, when it's brewed it looks like green tea but its taste lingers and layers like Oolong. The best way to brew Chinese tea is using a small teapot; it is a worthy investment. You can probably find something inexpensive on-line or find them in the International District in Seattle.

How to prepare Bao Zhong:

1. Place one tablespoon of tea in the teapot, pour just-boiled water over the tea, pour immediately to warm up your teacup and pour the rest in another cup or a creamer. It's important to drain all the tea from the teapot after each infusion, so the tea doesn't get bitter and you can enjoy many infusions. Breath in the tea aroma before you take the first sip.

2. Add more hot water into the pot and leave the second infusion for approximately 20-30 seconds.  Pour and enjoy. In my opinion, the second and third infusions are usually the best. Continue adding 20-30 seconds more to each infusion (so third infusion is one minute, fourth 1.5 minutes so on and so forth). Most good quality tea will endure  up to 6 infusions.

3. Clean teapot with hot water, never use soap. Some believe it is harmful to drink tea that has been sitting in the pot overnight. I don't drink it just because it doesn't taste very good.

Here are some common myths about Chinese tea I find amusing:

1. The pros don't drink the first infusion: This made sense in the old days because tea was aired outdoors on the ground in the elements, I don't believe that it is the standard procedure any more, at least not in modern Taiwan. Tea was dried indoors in bamboo trays stacked in many layers in carts similar to the ones Western bakeries use. In recent years when I visited Taiwan it is not a standard practice to discard the first infusion any more.

2. Tea is healthy: I've been asked many times whether tea can help people loose weight - my answer is "Yes", if you also eat right and exercise. If you drink tea mindfully I believe it is very relaxing. I don't drink tea after 3 p.m. because it effects my sleep.

3. Whole-leaf tea is expensive: it is not more expensive than coffee because it is so light-weight and you can get so much out of it from just one spoonful of tea.

4. Green teas are made from green tea plants and black teas are made from black tea plants - tea is similar to wine in ways that where, how and who grow and make it has everything to do with its quality and taste, and just like wine is made from grapes; tea is made from Camellia sinensis. It is the method of processing that determines how it is categorized.  The green, Oolong and black teas are best known in the West, but in Asia the categories are much more refined.

Let's Pour Tea

5. A good question: Where do you get good Chinese tea in the U.S. - I am spoiled and I can get tea from Taiwan directly so I have not explored much. In the past when I was trying to start a tea business I did some research but I must say as Chinese tea goes I didn't find any resource that satisfied my pallets. Maybe things have changed,  if you are interested in engaging in this wonderful art, you have to do your own research and experiment. Of course you are very welcome to come to my house and we can practice "pour tea" together.


Tea-drinking is a very personal experience and you can create your own. My attitude towards tea is similar to food; I am not a gourmet - I enjoy creating from what is available to me, the process and the people I share the experience with. Bon App-Tea!

An Improvised Evening Well Received

" Isn't it a great joy when friends visited from afar?" - Confucius

This past Monday a couple of friends from New York paid us a spontaneous visit. We already spent the weekend in Seattle cooking, eating, and carousing with other friends. Although it was fun I felt a bit "partied out" and was looking forward to come back to the quiet woods. I was glad when Jeffrey and Brigitta agreed to drive back with us. I was hoping they might appreciate a change of scene from the cities. I improvised a Chinese dinner which Jeffrey later emailed me after they returned to New York for the recipes. Nothing pleases a cook more than being appreciated, so here they are.

This dinner is what I and maybe most Chinese would consider a "typical" dinner for a middle-class (the rich families will have maybe two meat dishes more elaborately prepared) family of 4: San Cai Yi Tang, three meat and vegetable dishes and a soup. If there are 5 people, then it is Si Cai Yi Tang: four dishes and one soup. This ratio is followed almost unconsciously and taken for granted at Chinese homes and restaurants. At restaurants these "set menus" (vs. ala carte) are called "He Cai". Chinese eat soup at the end of the meal; using the same bowl for rice.  I skipped the soup from this meal as I was short on time and ingredients.

Steamed Cod with Fermented Black beans, Ginger and Scallions

Ingredients:

A fillet a cod, cut to size so the pieces fit on the plate for steaming
2 Tablespoon each of thinly sliced (julienned) ginger and scallion
1 Tablespoon of rice wine
1-2 Tablespoon of fermented black beans (If you can't get these, miso works well too but it tastes completely different.) Some black beans are saltier than the other, soak them in water if they are too salty)
2 Tablespoon of oil
salt

Instructions:

1. Rinse and pat dry cod. Sprinkle and gently rub in the rice wine and salt, set aside.
2. Cut ginger and scallion into thin slices. Chop fermented black beans.
3. Bring 1/2 pot of water to boil. I used a bamboo basket that fit over a big pot for steaming , but you can adopt any Western-style steaming method.
4. Distribute ginger, scallions and black beans evenly on top of the fish.
5. Steam with medium high heat for 8 minutes. It is very important not to overcook the fish. Check the thickest part, if it has turned white, it is done.
6. During the last minute before the fish is done, heat up the oil in a small pan until hot.
7. Pour hot oil over the fish. I served the fish directly in the basket.

Steamed Cod with black beans, ginger & scallions

Stewed Tofu with Snow Peas, Carrots and Mushrooms

Ingredients:

1 box of firm tofu, slice into 1/4" thick pieces
A handful of Snow peas, stringed
1-2 carrots, cut into 1/2" chunks
Mushrooms, I used Enoki mushrooms because I had it in the fridge but any mushrooms will do, slice or cube
2 Tablespoons of oil
1 Tablespoon of rice wine
2 Tablespoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 cup of water
a pinch of salt
(Note: You can substitute 2 Tablespoons of Japanese Mirin for the rice wine and sugar.)

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan until hot, gently place the tofu pieces into the wok. Shake the wok or pan a couple of times during frying to prevent sticking. When the tofu slices are brown on both sides, move them to a small pot. Add soy sauce, salt, rice wine, sugar, water, mushrooms, carrots and simmer for about 10 minutes. If using Enoki mushrooms, add last with the snow peas as it takes no time to cook.
2. Add snow peas and Enoki mushrooms if using. Cook 30 seconds or until snow peas are crisp-tender.

Stir-fried Boy Choy

Ingredients:

A bunch of Boy Choy ( I used regular boy choy, baby coy choy, Chinese broccoli, You Choy, regular broccoli will all work.), chopped
1 Tablespoon of oil
1-2 Tablespoon of water
A dash of rice wine (optional, it is believed the rice wine keeps the green color vibrant.)
A dash of salt

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil until very hot, put the greens in the wok, add salt and rice wine, stir, add a little water and cook about two minutes more or until the white part of the vegetable is translucent.

A typical Chinese dinner for 4 (minus soup)

Stir-fried Boy Choy

After dinner we all stretched out on the sofa, full and happy like fat cats. But after some pleasant and lazy conversations  I could tell Jeffrey was starting to get a bit restless. When he jokingly said he'd eat dog treats I knew I had to come up with a desert. Chinese rarely eat deserts after meals; a little fruit sometimes. I was so thrilled to see I had one apple left in the fruit bowl. I knew just the right desert to make. Again it was something quick and easy using whatever was available - my favorite kind of cooking. It gives me great pride and joy to improvise and make our guests happy. 

Apple Oven Pan Cake 

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoon butter

1/4 brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 apple, peeled and sliced

3 eggs

1/4 salt

1/2 cup each flour and milk

1 Tablespoon each fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat over to 425 degrees. Melt butter in a cast-iron pan or ovenproof pan over hight heat. Add brown sugar and cinnamon, stir to combine and add apple. Cook about 3 minutes or until apple just starting to soften.

2. Use a blender, food processor or a whisk and a bowl, blend eggs, salt, flour and milk until smooth. Pour egg mixture into the pan and bake until puffed and brown, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with lemon juice and powdered sugar.

I told our guests this quick desert would taste so much better using our own fresh apples and eggs. I hope they will come visit again when they can harvest flowers, fruits, vegetables, fresh eggs themselves. I think that would be a very nice experience.  

Crabs with Green Peppers and Black Beans

Ingredients:
Serves 2

1 large crab, cleaned, drained, pat dry and cut into pieces (I separated the legs and left the body halves whole)
peanut oil, 2 cups and 3 tablespoons
1 large green bell pepper, cut into 1/2" chunks
1 tablespoon each, ginger, garlic, green onion, black beans, chopped
1 tablespoon of hot chilly pepper (optional)
2 tablespoons of corn starch
Sauce: 1/2 cup of water, 1 tablespoon rice wine, 1 teaspoon each of sugar and salt

Instructions:

1. Heat 2 cups of oil in a skillet or wok until hot. Dip the crab pieces cut-sides into the corn starch, shake the access and fry about two minutes each side. Set aside on a big plate, let them drain over paper towels.  (Be aware that the crab pieces will "scream" when they are fried - wouldn't you? This recipe is not for the faint-hearted.)

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a clean skillet or wok. Stir-fry the ginger, garlic, green onion and black beans until fragrant about 30 seconds. Add crabs, green pepper and sauce. Lower the heat and cook 3-5 minutes until sauce is thickened, pepper tender and crabs cooked through.

3. Serve immediately with lots napkins.