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I am promoting Chinese cuisine in the Western world.  Here I am in the Northern American soil, cooking for the Filipinos — Chinese dishes, the Canadians — Chinese dishes, the Koreans and Japanese — Chinese dishes.  Everything Chinese.  It’s very much appreciated though, especially the sweet whole chicken in dark soya sauce.  I learned that recipe from Mr Leung, the hard-faced, soft-hearted big boss in Hong Kong, whom I had the privilege of cooking side by side with on some occasions.  The Company Executive Officer (CEO) in the kitchen with the “gong ren” (worker) and the wok.

The steam pork ribs with fresh chili and garlic, the sweet spicy stir-fried fatty pork, the stew fish head with celery and lots of fresh red pepper, the steam spicy sweet fish head (intestines included) in chili, garlic and black bean sauce.  The list is endless, my mouth’s watering.  “Poh poh” (grandmother) used to have boneless “fei fei da” (fatty) pork ready everytime I’m expected in China because she knew it’s my favorite — fatty fish skin, too.  My Chinese “family” was amused with my obsession to fatty foods where most figure-conscious and health buffs steer clear from.  I’ve been tagged as “Joy to the weird”, anyway, so there’s no surprise to my preferences.  To me, you aren’t cute if you aren’t fat.  Chubby is cuddly and huggable.  When you ask how am I doing and I say, “I’m getting cuter each day”, it means I’m getting a well-rounded figure.  ‘Nuff with the fat, let’s get back to foods.

I had visited with Jahwa three different Korean restaurants in Coquitlam and Burnaby. Insadong is frequented not just by Koreans but also Pinoys, Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese. We dined there twice.  Sunrae, along Kingsway, is where she took me on my birthday.  The other restaurant, which name I could not recall, is where I first had a spicy noodle soup mixed with dumpling, onion and carrots.  In these places, the things that are sure to appear on your table are the yummy appetizers — cucumber in chili sauce, sweet pickled raddish, bean sprouts with sesame oil and sesame seeds, and the unbeatable “kimchi”!  I could enjoy the appetizers alone and forget the main dish.  The taste of kimchi differs from each of the places we dined at.  That’s the surest thing with kimchi, the taste varies.  Some got more chili, some have more garlicky taste, some have a richer shrimp flavor in it.  Aromatic, spicy, sweet and salty…very, very tasty.  In Hong Kong, there’s a Korean restaurant in Times Square in the overcrowded Causeway Bay.  The sweet Korean vermicelli, the “kalbee” (beef barbeque), and the rice flour cake were the favorites I share with Ms Ng, Ka Lam and Ka Yee.

I’m a better cook in Chinese ways than I am Filipino-style.  When it comes to “sinigang, pinakbet, dinuguan, and dinengdeng” — my cousinbears here will take over. In the Philippines, my Bicolano daddybear cooks “ginataang gabi” for me.  In Hong Kong, my coworker cooks pinoy dishes for me.  I just pig-out!  I can live on “tuyo” (dried fish) for an entire month… provided I have twix and vanilla ice-cream for dessert.
Guizhou Province is an hour and a half flight from Guangzhou airport.  I had never been in any Mainland restaurant where there wasn’t a spicy hot food in the menu.  Guizhou is the tops.  Rice is the only non-spicy food.  Try the chicken bits floating on oil with an abundance of red hot dried pepper, black pepper seeds and fresh ginger and garlic.  Add to it the fish stew on fresh red hot pepper; stir-fried vegetables with dried red pepper; any dish accompanied with red hot chili pepper.  Oh boy, eat, and you’ll turn into a fire-spitting dragon with a runny nose.  There’s even a roasted cricket served — wings and all its glory, you can swallow it whole.  Next time, I’ll go exotic and try that, which I didn’t the first time.

Somewhere along the dusty road of Guiyang was a fastfood restaurant where we stopped by for a late lunch.  A hot pot.  In the midst of munching on a delightfuly  tasty, chewy meat, bosslady inquired, “Hao bu hao chi?” (Does it taste good?)  I said, “Hen hao chi! Zhege shenme rou?” (Very delicious!  What meat is this?)  She sweetly answered, “Gou rou” (dog meat)  Uh-oh!  Was it starvation or ignorance that made me unaware of the food I was eating?  Both, plus, I’m a food-lover, my tastebuds open to anything that smells and tastes appetizing.  It tasted real good the children we were with even loved it.  But I wish I hadn’t known what poor creature I had eaten.  When I was back in Hong Kong, I told about the trip to Ah Ming, my coworker pal.  I hadn’t seen anyone laugh till he “fang pi” (fart).  Oh, sweet, the earthling’s laughing at this “wai go ren’s” (foreigner’s)  ignorance!  But have you heard about that line, “When you’re in Rome, do as the Romans do”?  I was in China so I was eating what the Chinese eat. And it felt real good to blend in.

On my birthday last year, knowing my fondness to hot, oily, spicy foods, I got a spicy treat from sweet Ms Ng.  We dined in a Shenzhen restaurant where everything but the rice was sizzling hot.  And there, we reminisced our Guizhou trip years earlier… and the “gou rou“.

I learned special dishes from Mr Leung, the restaurants, and recipe books.  The basics, from Ah Ming.  The secret of the Chinese kitchen was revealed to me.  When before I was unadept and illiterate in the culinary world of Chinese, now I’m a pro.  Not a master but a simple disciple who knows the master chef’s wok secret.