A Source of Inspiration and Perspiration

Because this is my first food blog (and being the studious worker and meticulous architecture student that I am), I have been researching precedents and journeying through different food blogs on the internet for examples and potential models. The web of connections eventually led me to Kitchenscraps. 

I was immediately captivated by the colorful and adorable illustrations, drawn with a “sketchy” hand that illustrates so much character and personality. Each post is like reading a story, narratives filled with humor, history, culture, and facts. His style of writing is not filled with technical terms or lengthy vocab words, which is perfect for everyone to read! 

The recipes (one per post) are preceded by comical introductions. And then the storyteller moves to a more serious tone, sprinkling with amusing words here and there when presenting the directions. Although fairly random, the posts are linked by a common theme of delicious recipes and fun illustrations.

As I was reading his blog, I thought I might share this particular post with you. I had to look up a lot of words (like "Babushka" and "borscht") from this post because this is a soup recipe combined with ingredients from many cultures I am unfamiliar with. I think I am probably one those Americans screaming for sour cream too.

Here's another entertaining one. Don't you like how he personifies the asparagus? That is something this blogger likes to do often. I think this makes his posts seem more like a children's story. The blogger also likes to include facts. It is enlightening to learn facts about the food you are eating. Let me tell you a fact:

Only some people produce the sulfurous smelling urine after consuming asparagus but, to complicate things, not every one who produces the odour is able to smell it.

Resulting in 4 categories

Those who produce the odour but cannot smell it

Those who do not produce the odour and cannot smell it

Those who produce the odour and can smell it

Those who do not produce the odour but can smell it in other peoples’ urine

Although he posts several times a month, unfortunately, he hasn't updated his blog in awhile; must be busy with his book. I forgot to tell you more about the author of Kitchenscraps! His name is Pierre Lamielle, an award-winning illustrator in the process of publishing (or has published) his own cook book. Mister or Monsieur Lamielle completed a graphic design and illustration program from a college in Vancouver and began his career as a designer for the Vancouver Sun. Monsieur Lamielle later moved to Calgary, where he wrote food articles for the Calgary Herald’s Swerve magazine. His column has been described by some as

offbeat writing [with] irreverent illustrations-and great recipes.

After some ups and downs, Monsieur Lamielle furthered his education in the culinary world by enrolling in the French Culinary Institute in The Big Apple. And now, Monsieur Lamielle has probably published his first cookbook! Congratulations! 

I really enjoy the fun attitude Mr. Lamielle brings to his blog posts. I am going to strive for the same approach; hopefully I can make you laugh too. Similar to this blog, I will be introducing less known recipes, all from my Cantonese culture. Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with the orange chicken, fried rice, or chow mein recipes. In addition, I will occasionally be slipping in Chinese proverbs and traditional stories so you can learn about other aspects of Cantonese culture too. Please look forward to the next episode of Food Adventures!

Introduction to Food Adventures

Ever since 5 o’clock this afternoon, I have been trying to think of a way to introduce my blog. Since then, 5 hours have passed and my mind is still a blank. Even now I would write a sentence, write one more than delete both and then write another sentence again, delete again, and stare at the computer screen. I really want to tell you about my culture, my love for eating, my culture’s love for eating, my culture’s love for uncommon foods, but I cannot formulate the words to do so.

Writer’s block has always been my problem. I have many ideas, but it takes me a really long time to cohesively connect all these thoughts together. May be that is the reason I prefer blogging to writing essays. To me, blogs are like journals. They are chapters of personal stories and thoughts that do not necessary need a thesis, a topic sentence, or be the typical five paragraph essays. They are like freewriting and brainstorming, something that I love to do. I actually keep a personal blog that I share with my friends. This blog allows me to express my mind without worrying about how childish, overly excited, or depressed I may sound.

I guess I can start by telling you about my family. My parents are also big fans of food and different kinds of food. I am pretty sure that is where I got my love of food from. We are constantly in search of delicious dishes. Whenever we find a good recipe, my dad (the cook of our family) will try to recreate it in our kitchen.

Did you know that my dad learn how to cook by himself? He always tells us that he learned to cook when he started working and living by himself. His cooking skills developed from over thirty years of trial and error, observing other good cooks in our family, and looking up recipes. But unfortunately, ever since my dad learned to cook, my mom stopped cooking and our weights have been steadily increasing.

Being a daughter of a good cook, I always feel that I should inherit his heirloom of recipes one day. I think I have a little talent in cooking, but the foods I make always turn into an alteration of the recipes. Thus, I immerse my passion for food in watching shows from the Food Network and eating. That is why I feel very fortunate to come from a Cantonese family because we eat many weird and unusual foods in our culture. As Cantonese people put it, “as long as its back faces the sky then you can eat it”.

Using my dad’s cooking, I want to introduce interesting recipes that may be strange in some cultures, but delicious in our family and tradition. I want to tell you more about Cantonese cuisine and the different cooking methods. Hopefully my recipes will persuade you to try something new next time you are thinking of eating. Welcome to Food Adventures!