"Bloggerview" - Food Lover Meets Food Lover

What I love about blogging is meeting new people by purely sharing your thoughts. How wonderful it is!!! I love making friends, yet I'm totally anti-social; I love to express myself to someone who has similar mindset. Blogging just makes my life so much easier and enjoyable!

I've just have this blog launched early this month, and fellow bloggers have already been coming along chit-chatting. One of my favorites, Kirsten of Kirsten's Home Cooking Adventures, was invited to join a "chain interview". The idea was to ask interesting questions (be it personally or "cook-able") to any fellow blogger, who would then share his/her answers by posting them on his/her blog. I completely adore this idea - "sharing to knowing", and here I am the one being interviewed by Kirsten. Enjoy!

P.S. "EAT! Vancouver" is in town, I'm heading to it now. Can't wait!

1. Do tell, who is that DARLING child in your blogger profile photo? How did you decide on that photo?

Kids are adorable! I love kids, and I love collecting and taking pictures of kids. I took this picture when I was visiting Paris 8 years ago. At a market, this little girl, with her mother, apparently was not in the mood for shopping. Instead she kept her eyes on that candy stall mouthwatering. It's her outfit that caught my attention...red jacket with shinny pick pants, plus her natural but chic hairstyle! I would say her mom was an ordinary 30-ish French lady whom I really surprised about her fashion sense to dress her little angle.

So, when I was selecting photo for this blog, the scene of this little girl gazing at the food stall came across my mind. And here she's my "representative" now!

2. When did you first learn of food blogs, and what blog or event inspired you to join in and start your blog?

I used to have another blog communicating with my friends in Hong Kong. It's pretty much personal issues which I didn't have time and mood to sit down and chat about with friends.

In case you have no idea what my life in Hong Kong was, here is a brief introduction:
- work like hell = no time to cook
- eating out a lot = no need to cook
- home kitchen too small = no place to cook

I love watching cooking shows though. The thorough preparation and delicate presentation of the dish always appealed me. I hadn't started my own cooking until I watched about Nigella Lawson who carries the most beautiful face I'd ever seen from other food show hosts. Then I read about her story - cancer took away her husband, mother and sister within a couple of years, and how cooking became her refuge when under stress. Since then I pick up cooking to help relax my stressful working life.

Moved to Vancouver, work is not #1 priority. Pursuing qualify of life made me spend more time to cook hearty food for my beloved ones. Exploring food blogs was the result occurred from searching recipes through internet. The first food blog I ran into was Kirsten's Home Cooking Adventures which opened my eyes to thousands of real hearty chefs out there.

I admire the creativity and expressiveness of these enthusiastic chefs who keep their most inventive cookbooks online. I could imagine how satisfying it would be to any bloggers by sharing their works plus gaining others' encouraging words.

That's the story of how a little beginner like me started her journey.

3. Have you always lived in Vancouver? If not, where else have you lived? What is the best and worst thing about living in Vancouver?

I'm from Hong Kong. I came here in Vancouver 2 years ago, because my then-boyfriend-now-husband is a Canadian. We were married last year.

I chose to move away from Hong Kong to Vancouver because I love how Canadians enjoy their lives. The greenery, beaches, parks, fresh air are the elements that Hong Kong is impossible to beat. Yet I also love Hong Kong for her energetic and sophisticated character which have nurtured one part of myself.

The winter in Vancouver is pretty depressing though. It's not the cool weather (actually it's quite warm compared to other north American cities), but the rain that really annoys me. My first June since I came here was the worst month that only 1 single day was not raining.

4. Did anyone in your family cook a lot, or are you a product of a pretty normal food family? What does your family think about your cooking skills? What do you think about your cooking skills? What is your BEST thing that you make?

My family is pretty ordinary in cooking. Yet one signature dish my aunt always made when I was young was "stuffed bean curd ball with assorted vegetables". My aunt was a Buddhist and a vegetarian, she made this exquisite dish for our family for every Chinese festival. She made little bags of bean curd sheet, then stuffed each little bag with finely chopped mushroom, celery, carrot, parsley and garlic. After frying, a full dish of little round golden crispy balls were ready.

My mom-in-law does cook a lot though. She's such a big family mama who is really handicapped to make dinner for 2, where she would also make 10-person meal. Her pantry is like an army food supply where you would never starve for at least 10 years! We always make fun of how she loves to cook and share with family, friends and neighbors. She's born in India (she's a Chinese though), her adorable super spicy curry with lamb/chicken is always my favorite.

I've lived on my own since I was 19. I moved to a small island where I got to know the nice neighborhood within a short period of time, thanks to the tiny size of the warm community. We almost gathered every dinner bbq-ing, cooking together or pot-lucking. We spent weekends at the beach, picked organic produce from the farm. I made my first pasta, grilled my first pork rib, rolled my first apple pie crust during my island life. The mouthwatering food was one thing, the spirit of cooking and eating like a big family was always the most memorable.

Apparently my skill is still up to elementary level, not to mention thousands of talented bloggers out there who I really admire. One thing I do feel proud of is I've built some good sweet teeth into my husband mouth. Extremely opposite to me, he used to be such a typical no-dessert guy. I think I've been doing a good job to cultivate him to love sweets by making him desserts with cheese as he loves cheese. My very first tiramisu was the one that really hit him and the family. Now, after-meal dessert seems to be his ritual!

5. When was the last time you stayed up all night, and why?

I don't usually stay up all night, I'm an "early bird". I go to bed no later than 1am and get up early. I enjoy morning breeze and my breakfast. The last time I stayed up late was the weekend when my husband went to New York for business. I got my rented video "The Best of Youth" ready to kill the weekend.

It was shown once in a small art theater when I was in Hong Kong. I heard it was a sensational film with a lengthy story (more than 6 hours!!!). And I missed it as I didn't think I could spend my whole day in the theater being not able to curl my legs on the chair, nor pause the movie for snack-cooking. I never expected I would take one breath to finish this 6-hour movie until I was completely hooked by its story-telling style. "The Best of Youth" is a story about two Italian brothers experiencing the historical events from 1960s to the present. Their opposite temperament, intertwined with rigorously shifting Italy, brings them together in some life occasions yet pulls them apart as they have different dreams. The film explores family, love, friendship, politics, tragedy and forgiveness. When the movie ended, I was like I actually know these characters. You would probably think six hours sounds endless. But the movie, unlike any art film, has no single boring second. It's like an epic novel with plenty of plots, yet the story lines are amazingly fluid. I do highly recommend to watch it if you have not.

Do you want to be interviewed? Here are the directions:
1. Leave a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. Beware, I may ask personal questions! Please make sure I have your email address.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.