Growing up, meals were almost always Chinese family style. Everyone gets a bowl of rice and a large plate to fill-up with goodies. On any regular weeknight, 4 to 6 different dishes would be set in the center, and we’d take first, seconds, and thirds, to our hearts’ content. Sometimes we’d end with soup, and always fruit. As I got older, I realized how impressive it was that my mom, who worked full-time, put this spread on the table night after night. It was always different too. (You can tell by now, my mom’s got quite a roster up her sleeves.)
One of the tips/tricks that makes this possible is offering a mix of dishes she already made ahead of time with one or two that can be thrown together really quickly. She might have marinated cucumbers in the morning as we got dressed for school. A variety of “red-cooked” meats, egg, or bean curd was probably made on the weekend. When she walked through the door, she’d whirl around the kitchen: steaming a fish and stir-frying another two like it was as easy as skipping. This led me to some wrong assumptions. I thought that every mother in the world did that and I thought it was no-sweat, easiest thing ever. I know now, I was so wrong.
