Eggplant was never a favorite of mine, growing up. I think mostly because my mother rarely cooked with it, and if she did, I think she didn’t really know how to cook it in a flavorful way. It was always… bland and chewy. And it didn’t look that great on the plate either.

Fast forward to my early adulthood, when I first met my hubby (we were dating then). I was invited to family dinners, where I was re-introduced to eggplant (I was also introduced to bitter melon which I was not so much of a fan). And WOW was I shocked at how good eggplant actually was! Maybe it was my mother-in-law’s Cantonese sauces, but whatever it was, I was sold. And when we would go out to eat, those eggplant dishes were OH so good, but oh-so-difficult to replicate (later, I found out that you deep fry the eggplants in hot oil and plate them, then you make the sauce separate and pour over the eggplant - not very healthy, but oh man it is SO good).

I’ve been trying to find a more “healthy” way of cooking eggplant, but with similar flavors. I tried a steaming recipe, a roasting recipe, but in the end, I ended up with the good old tried and true stirfry/wok method (I don’t know the source of this recipe, sorry) ~

My wok, with pieces of eggplant with garlic, ginger, green onions, bits of red chilies, sizzling in oil (before adding sauce):

It came out steaming hot, but I love the saucyness of it and how it goes well with steamed white rice.

Here’s what you need:

1 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 Tbsp. water
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
4 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion
4 thin slices of fresh ginger
4 dried red chilies
2 eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch wedges
1/4 cup rice wine or sherry
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
salt to taste

1. Mix together the cornstarch, broth, water, and sesame oil in a small bowl, set aside.

2. Heat half of the vegetable oil in a large wok (or frying pan) over medium heat. Add the garlic, green onion, ginger, and chilies and stirfry for a minute, until fragrant.

3. Add remaining oil, swirling to coat the sides of the pan.

4. When oil is hot, toss in the eggplant and stirfry until evenly coated with oil. Then spread it out into a single layer in the wok. Brown for 3 minutes without stirring.

5. Flip over pieces and spread in a single layer, cook another 3 minutes. Stir again, and cook another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until nicely browned.

6. Gently stir in the wine and soy sauce; the eggplant should absorb it quickly. If some of the larger pieces of eggplant are still not cooked through, reduce heat and continue cooking until done, stirring occasionally.

7. Add cornstarch mixture, bring to a simmer and cook, stirring a few more moments until the sauce thickens and coats the eggplant.

8. Taste and season with salt, if needed.

Serve over steamed rice. Serves 4.

*Variation: To make it more substantial, cut baked/marinated tofu into cubes and add it to the wok with the rice wine and soy sauce (step #6). You can also add ground beef or pork.

No pictures with this post - sorry! Instead, some stream-of-consciousness musings here. Recently, I hit a lull in my cooking. Nothing was interesting anymore, didn’t have much inspiration or desire to make anything new or yummy. Probably because it’s been so freakin hot here lately (we just passed through a heat spell up to 107 degrees F).

No one really taught me how to cook. When I was a teenager, my dad taught me how to steam rice. I knew how to make ramen and canned soup. And when I went off to college, my mom taught me how to do three basic dishes: stirfried baby bok choy with oyster sauce, chicken wings (Chinese style), and black bean pork ribs (pai gu). It wasn’t enough to get me going. So by the time I got married, and had a resident doctor husband to help support at home, I turned on the Food Network and it was Rachael Ray who taught me how to cook. The only thing with everything on the Food Network, all the cuisine is Americanized. There are some European influences here and there (Italian cooking, etc.), but for the most part, there isn’t much room for different ethnic cooking. Which is sad, because here I am, a Chinese-American, grown up on eating Chinese home cooking, and I can’t cook a thing from my own culture/heritage. Ask me to make cream of mushroom from scratch, bake a cheesecake from scratch, do a million pastas, a zillion homemade soups, even osso bucco. But I suck at stirfry dishes (don’t laugh), and I can’t even do a good job with fried rice, that’s how upsetting this is.

So I’ve recently had a change of heart. I’m going to teach myself how to make the foods that I grew up with, the ones that I crave from my childhood and family dinners. The supermarkets around me are all western grocery stores, so I have to go a bit far to the nearest Asian supermarket, but that’s okay. It’s about time I learned how to cook usual Chinese homecooked meals. From scratch. I’m not talking about the greasy, salty, MSG-laden Chinese restaurant dishes out there (Sacramento is not known for having an abundance of quality and variety of Chinese food options). I’m talking the simple, nostalgic, healthy, yummy, home-cooked meals of my past.

We’ll see how I do. Wish me luck! =)

The past couple weeks have been a frustrating struggle with my current internet service. I’d like to drop them ASAP, but I keep sticking around, hoping that things will get better. And they don’t. I’ve had several +30 hour outtages in a row, which is absolutely not acceptable. So as of now, Hubby and I are seeking a new service. Probably will switch over from our cable to DSL. Fingers crossed, wish us luck! =)

…

I’ve also been busy with the jewelry thing. My camera skills still have yet to improve, so bear with me on these pictures. Here are some of my latest creations (click on the thumbnails for a close-up):

An illusion/”floating” necklace set - I made 6 of these babies all at once, for a wedding (they matched our bridesmaid dresses perfectly!). At first I thought an illusion necklace would be really simple to make. Boy was I wrong. I struggled and learned alot about crimp beads and crimp tubes, and crimping them neatly and correctly and even being able to fit a crimp cover over them seamlessly!

Surprisingly enough, wirewrapping came alot easier to me than those damned crimp beads. Although it took awhile (there were alot of links to wrap!), it was surprisingly relaxing and fun to do.

Some matching earrings (I love doing those spirals at the ends!):

And lastly, my one bracelet I made a couple weeks ago - I was experimenting on how to photograph them, and the best one that came out was on a mirrored riser: