Quay Po Cooks: potluck

Showing posts with label potluck. Show all posts

Monday, December 20, 2010

Potluck is a good idea for Christmas

I think potluck is a good idea for any party that needs to cater for a big crowd, especially when the host does not want do too much cooking. Yesterday, my son, Nick attended a Christmas party at his boss’ home. It was a potluck party so I prepared a few things for his contribution. I made salsa, grilled vegetables, beef burgundy and coconut speculas. It was my first time making the beef burgundy and fortunately it turned out quite delicious. So the next time I cook this again, I will share the recipe with you all.

I made some Belgium speculas but somehow when the first tray of cookies were done and I tried one, I did not like it because it was too sweet. In order to cut down the sweetness, I added dessicated coconut to the next batch of dough and the cookies tasted much better. I do not know if they is such thing as coconut speculas, if not, then let the name be borned yesterday. LOL!

I was eager to know if his colleagues enjoyed the food I prepared. It was around 10pm that I received a thank you sms from Nick to say they did. I can’t tell you how happy I was. I guess the best reward for any cook is to know that people enjoyed what they cooked. Do you agree with me?

Beef burgundy

Coconut speculas

spicy mango salsa

grilled mixed vegetables

A LITTLE ABOUT THIS QUAY PO

Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.