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| This book is a celebration of the delights of home cooking. I believe it is in the kitchen that one feels most strongly the pulse of the home. |
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| There are very few things
that match the picture of a
family eating together. It is
heartwarming to imagine the
chatter, the exchange of
random impressions and the
way issues of toil and study get
summed up amicably during a
shared meal. I encourage my
young friends – as I did my
children before they left home
– to establish the tradition of
the proper meal early in their
lives. It is a discipline quite difficult to dislodge and will
serve them well into the future. |
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| Congenial meals with family and friends are among the
best rewards of hard work. I treasure memories of dinners
my children and I have cooked jointly in their kitchens as
they gamely struggled to find their respective places in the
world. The practice of eating together is one of the habits
we continue to share as my role in their ever evolving lives
contracts. We catch up with one another, chat and laugh
as we peel and pare and dice. As a mother, I can’t ask for
more. |
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| The adage instilled in me as a child remains my motto:
Waste not, want not. I buy seasonal ingredients and use
substitutes instead of paying exorbitant prices for items
that may not have travelled well.
Leftovers are not just re-heated.
They get re-invented, as a side
dish or sandwich filling. The larder
is never filled to capacity and I
constantly review expiry dates on
bottled ingredients I purchase. I
see to it that I look after and use
what I buy. |
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| Recipes leaving clear impressions
of harmonious ingredients should
be lauded. I recall a respected
food connoisseur saying: I like
foie gras and filet mignon, but
not when they are served on top
of each other! Excess detracts
from the nourishing and engaging
power of food. Expensive may not
necessarily mean quality. A wellsmoked
red snapper, adorned with nothing more than a
lemon wedge, is by far better than a sloppily prepared
T-bone steak that comes with all the trimmings. Better
an unpretentious meal offered with affection than an
elaborate spread served with misgivings. |
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| So the cooking odyssey continues. The basic
principles remain – simple is best, fresh is better. Meals
must be eaten at a table and everyone who gathers around
it must agree to postpone unhappy talk and acrimonious
exchanges. I observe no rules about seating and how a
table is turned – suffice the food is enjoyed by everybody.
I feel that if all are in a positive mood, grace will follow.
CAROL CHENG
Penang, 2009 |
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