So far this week I have made turnip cake and Chinese black bean spare ribs with my mom. These foods are very nostalgic, as they were foods I ate often when I was younger and brought back memories of sitting around the table with my grandparents, brothers and mom eating dinner all together. While making the food, I worked alongside my mom, helping and observing and after we finished cooking and ate some food, I would go back and try to write down the recipes from memory. The reason why I did this was because this was often how my mom made food, just straight from memory. This meant that sometimes she would accidentally omit ingredients. When we made the turnip cake, she forgot to add salt and the resulting turnip cake was different. This also led to her telling me that with Chinese home cooking, because everything is eyeballed and not exact measurements, each time she makes things they can turn out different.

I also had to wait on line outside at the Chinese grocery store for a while which was an interesting experience as I was one of the only younger people in line while everyone else was older. I think the effects of corona on Chinatown are prevalent, as the bakeries that are so often frequented by locals are closed and the usually vibrant streets are empty. It’s sad. 🙁