Italian Asian Pasta

Last week I selfishly went to Leeann Chin's restaurant and decided I needed to do a little Asian food research if I am to ever to become adequate in Asian food cooking.  These are the cooking blogs that I came across online in my research.

www.kyspeaks.com   I like this Malaysian cooking blog because its one of the most visited Asian blogs and also because it has some unique food recipes.  It also has pictures of Malaysia with the  writer Ky, on a motorcycle.  Ky has recipes like Sansai Okowa & Chestnut Steam Rice at Isetan KLCCand seafood I never tried for like prawns, snow crab, and fish head.

www.gourmeted.com Who says that Asians can't rock desserts on this blog is a fabulous German Sunken Apple Cake( AKA Versunkener Apfelkuchen) which I found so unique in appearance.  Its has your basic apple pie look with a weaved lattice pie-top crust but the apples inside are cored, peeled and  placed like an accordion making it look so fabulous.

 

www.steamykitchen.com  I like this blog because showcases a Korean food writer who is a TV chef and cookbook author.   She has a post called Food too Cute to Eat showcasing Sushi Pandas, polar bear in mushroom and cabbage hot tub and Sugar Kitty in a coffee.

www.indiansimmer.com  I found this blog interesting as it explores Indian food and some of the pictures just pop out at you.   Bright all blue kitchen shelves with bright blue cutlery. And fabulous food photography that gives new life to the typical ginger, cinnamon stick and turmeric typical in Indian dishes. ( I should know, I have to cook for a Pakistani individual daily and let me tell you  that cooking with Turmeric is not my favorite thing to do).

"The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck

"The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck.  The writer, Pearl S. Buck, writes a novel that is totally memorable, you wouldn't get this impression from the novel's front cover. Picture this year : You're a farmer working with your hands in a plantation and you want to expand your plantation and your

profit? How will you do this?

Well, start by buying out- all the nearby farmer's land; making yourself the envy of all the farmers in your village. Then have tons of kids, so they can help you harvest your land. This will ensure that you're no longer a peasant, but in fact, a successful farmer who has plenty of power. You'll have so much power, that you'll be able to buy your own wife from her servant hood. So she can in turn come back to the home of her servant days and show off her own child, richest baby in the kingdom, festooned with silk clothing and shiny fat from eating the stuff of the "Good Earth". (the Global Dig)

"The Kite Runner" by Kaled Hosseini

"The Kite Runner" by Kaled Hosseini.  Two boys living in Afghanistan are best friends at a time when war lords reign and threaten the classes.

I enjoyed the novel's great characterization of the two young boys: Amir and Hassan, and the initial love Amir shares with his servant/brother.  Amir takes the time to read to Hassan as Hassan does not know how to read, nor is he allowed to receive a proper education, as it is not extended to Hazaras.  I enjoyed this novel as it discusses the meaning of what it really takes to uphold a promise.

 The character of Amir upholds a promise by leaving America, even though he is a successful writer there, in order to save his best friends son.  He agrees to go back to a dangerous and complicated land after receiving a call that explained to him that his best friend died, and the warlords had captured his son. He must go back to a land to retrieve the son.  

How many of us would have taken such a risk like the character of  Amir does?

In my belief, most of us wouldn't.  In fact, many of us deny our own family members safety.  Even those people that are within our own communities.  Those people who don't even live hundreds of miles away are not  even granted safety and security.  Yet here is this man who goes back to a land, for which he is unfamiliar with; A land for which he only knew as a child, in order to save his best friend's child. 

The movie "Kite Runner" does great justice to the novel, in that the setting of the movie allows the audience to know the extreme conditions revalent in Afghanistan.  The setting shows the hot desserts and the women in Burqas (the arabic meaning of garment that covers a woman's body)The setting shows the remote conditions for which one must travel on unpaved roads, in rusty jeeps and cars that can barely be called "get-away-cars). 

 The setting depicts an arena in Afghanistan similar to the historical, Greek Colloseum, in that like the Greek gladiators who were thrown to fight to the death, similarly Afghans were thrown into the arena and humiliated in front of their peers and society where they would later be tried and punished for crimes.

"The Piano Teacher" by Janice Y.K. Lee

"The Piano Teacher" by Janice Y.K.Lee.The novel opens with a description of Hong Kong:dirty with people everywhere: businessmen from all parts of world, Indians, British and Philippinos, Pakistanis with Pakistani rug stores and lastly, the Chinese.

Lee describes the British and the Chinese their ability easily mingle with one another.  And how the fish mongers butcher their fish in an unsanitzed manner, how feculence can be smelled and found in the alley ways of the tallest, high rise buildings.

The plot engages readers in the tell tale story of young newly wed by the name of Clair and her exposure to a brand new culture in Hong Kong.  Clair, the piano teacher would come to teach Locket, a young Chinese girl how to play the piano.  Clair is initially baffled by the prospect that a Chinese, upper class, family in Hong Kong would be well known in the community.  She's surprised that the the family speaks immaculate English and at the parents interest in pushing their daughter, like an animal, to learn the piano.

When Clair asked the mother about whether Locket, the daughter, will be attending school in America, the Chinese mother simply retorts "I don't want to talk about Locket's education, I want to talk about yours." 

 When Clair becomes infatuated with the family's riches, she decides to take some for her own:stealing a trinket and scarf without being caught by anyone.  Unfortunately, the family servant gets fired for stealing the items instead.  Clair is once again baffled by the Chinese traits in the home, as the young pianist she teaches seems unruffled at the dispearance of the servant, exclaiming that her mother had always  taught her that "all servants steal".

This incident would stick with Clair, putting her on edge in the family's home. Clair would come to have an affair in the novel, masking her obvious unfamiliarity in China with a new sudden interest.

Lee's generalizations of Americans and their over confident zeal, in this novel ,is obvious.  But what is even more stunning is how Lee depicts the character of Clair.  How could Clair be so unconscious of up-and-coming Chinese super power?

"Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa Lee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" Lisa Lee. During 19th Century China, two young Chinese girls are best friend's at a young age, as their families unite and their mother's are adamant at keeping their young girls in good health and high statues. 

 

 

 Their mothers will do anything to procure their families status and they agree to bind their daughters feet.  The literal meaning of foot binding is to keep one's feet in tight bandages to ensure one's feet will no longer grow to their average lengths and keep them small and dainty.  This was Chinese tradition.

 

  It was thought that their tiny feed would attract a male suitor who likewise respects Chinese traditions and values, and the so-called strength of a woman's character in keeping up with the feed binding.  A Chinese husband would ensure a daughter's well-being and by being married, it would take up the amount of dept incurred upon a household for having a Chinese daughter in the first place.  

 

Some of us may shirk at the though of foot binding and societal lengths at keeping a woman beautiful, but how is this any different than the lengths we go to, even in America to progress the heights of our daughters status?

 

Take the reality show "Dance Mom's".  The instructor is supposed to bring these young girls into limelight and make them tough, but instead she belittles and humiliates these girls.