Jennifer J. Chow's Blog, page 62

Meet My Characters

“Better to be a rooster’s beak than a bull’s rump.” –Chinese proverb

I hope that all my book characters are significant, even in a small way!

Characters, come out of the shadows!

The talented Mona AlvaradoFrazier (who’s currently a quarter finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award) has asked me to share about the characters in my books. My published novel, THE 228 LEGACY, is a 2013 Foreword Reviews’ Book of the Year Finalist in the multicultural category. It features an entire Taiwanese-American family and you can get a flavor of the grandmother’s attitude here.

Now onto my current manuscript, a cozy mystery:

1. What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

Winston Wong. Definitely fictional. He’s an ex-video game tester turned detective. At 45 years young, he’s finally following the footsteps of his childhood icon, Encyclopedia Brown.

2. When and where is the story set?

It’s a modern day story set in the heart of Silicon Valley. While it explores the San Jose area, a good chunk of the tale focuses on a senior home.

3. What should we know about him/her?

Winston is the quintessential gaming nerd. He can talk consoles and comics with the best of them. He’s got a streak of goofiness, which you try to overlook, since he’s a romantic at heart.

4. What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

As he starts his career, his new ad gets misprinted. An extra “s” to his listing turns him into a “Seniors Sleuth.” He gets an easy first case to solve the death of a 90-year-old man. But what he assumes is a natural death changes into a bonafide homicide, and he soon finds himself trying to thwart a killer.

5. What is the personal goal of the character?

Winston needs to solve the case not just to bring justice into the world, but to recapture his sense of identity and self-worth. Plus, he’s in it to win a girl’s heart.

6. Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

The working title is SENIORS’ SLEUTH. I’m still finishing up some final edits before shopping it around.

7. When can we expect the book to be published?

Ideally, it’ll be in print next year, but we’ll see. I’ll keep you updated.

Thanks for reading!

I’m tagging Romelle Broas, children’s author extraordinaire, to continue this Meet My Characters Blog Tour. Stop by her website on June 23rd to see what she’s working on!

Foodie Friday: Chinese Pigs-in-a-Blanket

Summer looms near. Ah, the sizzle of the grill. The smell of hamburgers and hot dogs.

Tired of your hot dog escaping its bun? Try this:

Chinese Pigs-in-a-Blanket: hot dogs enclosed in a brioche-like breading

They’re great for a snack on the go. Kids also really like them! The Chinese version offers an upgrade on the usual hot dog bun by using a soft and buttery bread. (As you can see from the above picture, green onions and other extras can provide further flavor.) Here’s a quick 4-1-1 on pigs-in-a-blanket:

Sausage-based foods, often bite-sized
Pigs-in-a-blanket in the U.K. = tiny sausages wrapped in bacon
The next National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day is April 24, 2015

Happy hot dog eating!

 

 

 

 

Tiananmen Square–25th Anniversary

“Distance tests the endurance of a horse; time reveals a man’s character.” –Chinese proverb

Inspiration for “Goddess of Democracy”

Does time also reveal a nation’s character?

I remember watching the news coverage of the massacre with my dad. The images of rumbling tanks filling up the square scared me. Nevertheless, I think it is now, decades later, that I’ve begun to understand the horror of that time. My friend recently asked me: “Do you ever imagine what your life would have been like if your parents hadn’t immigrated over?” I shudder to think of it and count my blessings.

Here are some quick facts about the Tiananmen Square Massacre:

Occurred June 4, 1989
Peaceful protest led by students, asking for freedom and democracy
Nearly a million Chinese crowded into central Beijing
A “Goddess of Democracy,” a 30-foot statue resembling the Statue of Liberty was erected
Thousands of troops and tanks stormed the square in response
The iconic “Tank Man” has never been identified
Taboo topic in China; many young people are unaware of it

Where were you when the massacre happened?

Foodie Friday Firsts: Okonomiyaki

I ate my first…

Okonomiyaki: Japanese savory pancakes, often filled with seafood

The name comes from blending together the words, okonomi (“favorite”) and yaki (“grilled”). These savory pancakes are often known as “Japanese pizza.” At restaurants, you can grill one yourself or have the chef make it in the kitchen:

Chef-prepared

The batter ingredients are simple: flour, dashi stock (or water), and egg.  (I’ve heard you can even buy boxes of the batter at Japanese markets.) Then you add in whatever seasonal vegetables or meat that you want. Extra toppings provide color to the dish, and choices include mayonnaise, okonomiyaki sauce, seaweed flakes, and bonito shavings.

The taste is savory but too heavy-handed for me–all those extra garnishes! (I prefer a clean scallion taste à la Haemul Pajeon–Korean seafood pancake.) What I did enjoy was the monjayaki (“monja” for short), a derivative of okonomiyaki. A specialty of the Kanto region, it’s made with a more liquidy dough. Because of the texture, you need to watch it more while it’s cooking. The version I tried had mochi and cheese in it. Somehow the softer texture worked really well with the gooeyness of the cheese and mochi.

What’s your favorite type of pancake?

Growing Green Onions in Water

“Do not wait until you’re thirsty to dig a well.” -Chinese proverb

Do not wait until you’re hungry to plant a seed. I’m planning out a vegetable garden in our yard, even though I don’t have a green thumb. One of my desired plants is the green onion. I like the pizzazz of a scallion spicing up a dish. Unfortunately, whenever I buy a whole bunch of them at the store, I use only a little bit. Then the rest remain in the fridge to wither away. I thought I’d save a little money and grow my own.

The hardware stores don’t carry green onion seeds, but my mom mentioned I could grow them from my usual grocery purchases. Researching online, I found people growing them in water! So I grabbed a bunch from my local farmers’ market and tested out the theory:

Amazing! Use the green shoots in your dishes, save the white parts with roots, and have at it. Here are some other neat plantings I know of:

Watermelon: After housing renovations, friends noticed something sprouting in their front yard. Workers had eaten watermelon while fixing up their home leading to a patch of the juicy fruit!
Tomato: A neighbor found a vine growing in her compost bin!
Popcorn: As a teen, I placed a kernel in the ground and grew a stalk with popcorn ears.

Share your plant stories!

Foodie Friday: Chinese Chicken Salad

Chinese chicken salad: self-evident description, and about as authentic as a fortune cookie

It’s not real Chinese food, but what can I say? I’m an Americanized girl. I have fond memories of the salad. Here are my top three happy associations with it:

1) High school. One of the first times I went “out” to a restaurant. I remember splitting this dish and some tasty walnut shrimp with my best friend from high school.

2) UCLA friends. Again, I found myself sharing a platter–with college peers. We loved the Rascals’ version, with its tangy but sweet dressing, and the extra crispy noodles and almond slivers.

3) Home cooking. My mom worked very long hours at our family restaurant sometimes. One of my favorite  (and hopefully, easy for her to make) dishes came from a culmination of extra food from the buffet table. She would toss together lettuce, pickled cucumbers & carrots, and fried chicken strips.

Here’s a version of what my mom made, minus the sour veggies:

Lettuce, one head (I like green-leaf)

Chicken, whole (try roasted from the local grocer’s, or fried if you’d like)

4 carrots

4 cucumbers

Rice sticks (maifun)

Plum sauce

1. Wash lettuce. Tear into pieces.

2. Cut chicken into smaller portions.

3. Peel and grate carrots.

4. Slice cucumbers into circles or rectangular sections. (Sometimes I like to make a zebra effect by peeling the cucumber in an alternate stripe pattern.)

5. Fry rice sticks in hot oil. (They should puff up.)

6. Toss together lettuce, carrots, and cucumbers.

7. Add in plum sauce for an easy dressing. Mix together.

8. Layer fried rice sticks on top (keep these separate to maintain their crunchiness).

Puzzle Pieces & the Formosan Salmon

“Ants can move even a mighty mountain.” -Chinese proverb

I’m not a big fan of puzzles. I have a hard time visualizing connections, and a scattered image overwhelms me. In high school, I had to help put together a puzzle of our mascot (and there was no computer wizardry back then) for our yearbook cover image. I think I managed to contribute a few pieces over the course of three days. As an adult, I realize I can complete puzzles, but it takes concentrated effort. I need to work bit by bit, much like the ant mentioned above (though ants can carry 10-50 times their weight because of their greater muscle area, up to about 150 mg).

My latest triumph is putting together this Formosan landlocked salmon:

Known also as the Taiwanese salmon, it’s endemic to the area. The Formosan salmon became landlocked through a process of glaciation. They live in cold streams above 1500 m and can be best found in the Cijiawan River in the Wuling area.

Related to the West-Pacific cherry salmon, the Formosan salmon is very rare because of historic overfishing and pollution. Declared critically endangered in 1989 when their population dropped to 200 individuals, conservation projects and centers have now increased the salmon population to the several thousand range.

Foodie Friday: Oyster Omelet

Oyster omelet: gooey egg concoction with oysters and savory sauce

Omelet is in the upper left hand corner.

I like omelets. I’m a big fan of the incredible edible egg. Oyster omelets are another species entirely. They’ve got some eggs thrown in, but a good chunk of the mixture is sweet potato starch or tapioca starch.

The texture turns out to be very chewy and gooey. Add some slippery oysters in, and the sliminess is not my typical preference. (I still have never been able to slurp down raw oysters.) The savory sauce upgrades the omelet–a key ingredient is ketchup, a fave of mine. I’m still not a wholehearted believer in this dish, though. (Although I might be predisposed against oyster omelets because my hubby got sick buying it off the street before.)

You do have to try it at least once. It’s the quintessential Taiwanese night market snack, and I’ve never seen anything else like it before.  Maybe if you’re a big seafood fan and a lover of gooey things, it’ll work for you.

What’s a new and strange dish you’ve tried?

 

Ribbon Dancing

“On earth no feast lasts forever.” -Chinese proverb

But sometimes you wish it could. Over the weekend, there was a Taiwanese American Heritage Week festival. (Taiwanese American Heritage Week starts every Mother’s Day weekend in most major cities.) The L.A. one featured folk dance, aboriginal music, Taiwanese food, and more.

As a child, I loved seeing performances of the ribbon dance. Women would sway to traditional music, making the swirls of ribbon fly into the air. Originating in the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-420 A.D.) it was first performed for royalty. Sometimes I imagined myself on stage imitating their graceful motions. I think there was a cultural group for children, but I never tried out.

The closest I got was at a summer camp, where we were encouraged to put on a talent show. My group wanted something cultural and decided to do a candle dance. (One of the members was Thai and taught us the movements.) It was a flowing and peaceful dance, our palms cradling glass votives with lit candles (I don’t know what our counselors were thinking). Everything went really well until the finale, when we posed one behind the other.  We arranged ourselves at different heights, with the tallest standing and the shortest kneeling. We tilted our arms, one up and one down–and then muttered a collective “ouch” as the melted candle wax dripped onto ourselves or (worse!) the next girl in line.

Any neat dance memories for you?

Foodie Friday: Mango Cake

Mango cake: a light cake with mango filling and topped with the fruit

Sometimes my kids go through seasonal fruit preferences. It used to be pears, then peaches. This year, it’s mangoes. The tropical fruit is bright and colorful, exotic in its hues. It’s also got tasty flesh that’s very sweet, and they love biting the cubes off the skin.

There are different varieties of mangoes. Here are a few that I’ve tried:

Alphonso mango: grown in India, these display a yellow skin. They taste very sweet and may be used in desserts and candies.
Keitt: are green when mature . They can be used for pickling.
Tommy Atkins: a popular variety, quite common in the US. The skin blushes red when ripe and produces a mildly sweet flavor.

Learn about more types of mangoes and their availability from the National Mango Board website.

Do you have a love for mango, either in cake or fruit form?