Tag Archives: chinese

Gung haggis fat choy!

Posted on January 21, 2009 | 1 Comment

So, it’s Chinese New Year’s Eve on Sunday. I’m really looking forward to a monstrous dinner with family and friends that night, but I’m a little sad that I can’t go to Toddish McWong’s Gung Haggis Fat Choy. It’s the best of both worlds: Chinese New Year and  Robbie Burns Day. Even better, this year marks the 250th anniversary of Robbie Burns Day.

Think about it: haggis and lucky money. Kilts and dragon dances. Bagpipes and firecrackers. The combinations are endless.

Apparently, there are still tickets available. I really want someone to go and give me a full report of the evening. Guest blog, anyone?

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Family treasures: soya sauce chicken

Posted on January 14, 2009 | 2 Comments

I’m an only child, so I’ve never had to argue with siblings over who got the newest toy, or who got to sit where, or whatever siblings argue about. See? I’m such an only child that I don’t even know.

When it comes to family treasures, the thing I want most is my mom’s marinade for soya sauce chicken. She has two jars of dark, dark brown sauce in the freezer that are older than I am. It’s essentially a braising liquid for any kind of meat (usually chicken) or, my favourite, hard-boiled eggs.

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Posted in Homemade

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Strange Christmas traditions

Posted on December 24, 2008 | 2 Comments

My family is a little, erm, unconventional. My dad is from Hong Kong and my mom is from China, but they met in Canada in the early 1970s. I was born in Vancouver and raised as a Chinese kid in a white neighbourhood. Case in point: the last time I was in Hong Kong, I was five years old. I got off the plane, saw hordes of Chinese people, and asked my mom if we were in Chinatown. Yup.

So I’ve grown up with this mixture of Chinese and Canadian cultures. For instance, my mom is a devout Christian and eschews most Chinese superstitions. But, she still refuses to clean the house on New Year’s Day for risk of sweeping away good spirits, and she arranges furniture according to the principles of feng shui.

Our Christmas traditions are no exception. We usually have a big dinner party around Christmastime, but it’s just a matter of convenience whether it’s before or after Christmas. We invite 12-15 people over, crowd around the dining table, and eat with chopsticks from plates.

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Posted in Homemade

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My favourite restaurant in Vancouver

Posted on November 6, 2008 | 3 Comments

I hope you realize the gravity of the situation here, in that I’m about to tell you about my favourite restaurant in all of Vancouver. As in, if I were on death row somewhere, I would want my last meal to be from this place. As in, if I could only eat at one restaurant for the rest of my life, this would be it. As in, I just had lunch there today but after writing this post I think I might go back for a little snack.

And it’s not some fancy-schmancy restaurant where they serve multi-course chef’s tasting meals, featuring deconstructed lasagnas or avocado foams. It’s not a place where you’ll have to eat dust and water for the next month because the meal was so expensive.

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Review: Fortune Restaurant

Posted on October 16, 2008 | 2 Comments

I just got back from a belated birthday dinner with the folks, and we inhaled an eight-course meal. To be honest, it’s a little uncomfortable sitting in front of the computer right now, but I’ll soldier through it for you.

Our meal consisted of:
1. shark’s fin soup
2. crab with ginger and green onion
3. pork with vegetables
4. fish belly and dried scallop with baby bok choy
5. crispy skin chicken
6. salted chicken fried rice
7. lemon soupy dessert thing
8. laughing cookies and almond cookies

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Posted in Restaurant reviews

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