25 years. It's been 25 years since my mom passed away from metastatic cervical cancer. I was barely 15, and now I'm 40, and it is weird to realize mom's been dead for nearly 2/3 of my life.
I went to a local Chinese buffet for lunch and had some of the same rice that my dad made years ago (he's only been dead for about 7.5 years), plus had some of the same Szechwan string beans that my mom made years ago. We grew string beans in our backyard, and she'd more often dunk the beans in tempura batter and deep fry them (UBER NOM!!) but would also stir fry the beans occasionally. It hasn't really been rough this year, and although I suppose I'm used to it (them being gone), it's still not something I'll ever get over. Thankfully I can share some of the good memories with family and friends, even with friends who never knew either of them. Yay old photos and social media.
My mom was the youngest of 8 siblings so she cooked for a gazillion people every time we had a get together (birthday party, Bible study, etc.). I'm sadly missing several photo albums from years ago but I do have some snaps from way back when showing the ginormous amounts of food she routinely made. The one of me behind my birthday party food looking like a boss was from when I turned 7 in 1980. To this day, I'm amazed I survived the overwhelming mustard palette of my environment, from the wallpaper to the carpet to just... aaaaugh the colors!! THE COLORS!!!! But anyway, yeah, there was like, a ton of chicken (tempura batter is The Best Batter, btw), won tons, egg rolls, spring rolls, rice, punch, and other foods.
So. Foods. My mom always made a ton of won tons, egg rolls, and spring rolls for these festivities. To seal the wrappers, she used a beaten egg white. That's it. No cornstarch and water mix, just an egg white. All you do is separate an egg white into a bowl, whip it with a fork, and voila - beaten egg white glop. Add a few drops of water if it's too thick for you for some reason.
The most authentic-to-my-mom won ton stuffing and folding technique is at this link (which also has a recipe for chili dipping oil; we used either sweet and sour sauce or Kikkoman soy sauce for our dippings). For easy reference, the ingredients are 8 oz ground pork, 2 tbsp finely chopped scallion, 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, 1/2 tsp salt (I'm pretty sure my mom used MSG instead), and 1/4 tsp ground white pepper. Basically, smush all that in a bowl with your hands until the ingredients are combined. Spoon a small dollop onto the center of a square egg roll wrapper. Moisten the sides of the wrapper with pre-beaten egg white glop, then fold so that you have a triangle and the filling is in the center/bottom of the triangle. Put the left and right ends together, twist the dough a little so it's like two hands shaking, then reinforce seal that with more glop. Deep fry till awesome!
Wrapping spring rolls and egg rolls is done a bit differently, which you can read about at this link. However, BE AWARE that THERE IS A DIFFERENCE between spring rolls and egg rolls. At least in my family there's a big difference. My mom's spring rolls were wrapped in circular extra thin spring roll wrappers (not rice paper like Banh Trang but just as thin with wheat and rice flour if I remember correctly, since the skins fried to a nice super crispy brown), and mom's ingredients were shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, and bean sprouts. That's it. Her egg rolls were wrapped in the more normal square type of roll wrappers (the Dynasty brand looks right to me) and the filling ingredients were basically the same pork stuffing as above for the won tons, plus shredded carrots and sprouts, and maybe a little cabbage. She made use of the same ingredients across the board, at any rate. That link to that other mother's wrapping techniques is solid as far as techniquing goes, so do all that but use my mom's filling instead. ;)
Oh - and as far as crab Rangoon goes, use the same technique as dolloping the filling for the won tons, except keep them in the triangle shape. The filling is basically shredded or stringed out imitation cwab mixed with cream cheese, but I prefer Neufchatel cheese (the Americanized version in the grocery stores, not the real deal from France) because it tastes slightly better imho, plus has less calories than regular cream cheese.
Do I miss my parents? Hell yeah, I miss them. Some days, seemingly at random, I get overwhelmed with the missing one or both of them, but that hasn't happened too much in the last few years since I keep seeing bits of them in how I do things - actions I take, phrasings I speak - and it's freaky in a mostly good way. I know that part of them is alive in me, so that's comforting. Plus my sister and her extended families are only 3 hours away (just down a very long street!), and I talked with her a few hours ago, so that was pretty cool. Didn't mention anything about the day but finally got to catch up some with life this and that.
Be sure to love your family (blood or not) while you're still around. It doesn't matter if they're still alive or not. What's important is that you maintain that tie. Trust me on that.
I went to a local Chinese buffet for lunch and had some of the same rice that my dad made years ago (he's only been dead for about 7.5 years), plus had some of the same Szechwan string beans that my mom made years ago. We grew string beans in our backyard, and she'd more often dunk the beans in tempura batter and deep fry them (UBER NOM!!) but would also stir fry the beans occasionally. It hasn't really been rough this year, and although I suppose I'm used to it (them being gone), it's still not something I'll ever get over. Thankfully I can share some of the good memories with family and friends, even with friends who never knew either of them. Yay old photos and social media.
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| AUTHENTIC. Not Instagram filtered. In fact, enhanced to be more true to color because real is how I roll, yo. |
So. Foods. My mom always made a ton of won tons, egg rolls, and spring rolls for these festivities. To seal the wrappers, she used a beaten egg white. That's it. No cornstarch and water mix, just an egg white. All you do is separate an egg white into a bowl, whip it with a fork, and voila - beaten egg white glop. Add a few drops of water if it's too thick for you for some reason.
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| This was from a few years before I was born. That's my older sister with my mom and dad. They be stylin'!! |
Wrapping spring rolls and egg rolls is done a bit differently, which you can read about at this link. However, BE AWARE that THERE IS A DIFFERENCE between spring rolls and egg rolls. At least in my family there's a big difference. My mom's spring rolls were wrapped in circular extra thin spring roll wrappers (not rice paper like Banh Trang but just as thin with wheat and rice flour if I remember correctly, since the skins fried to a nice super crispy brown), and mom's ingredients were shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, and bean sprouts. That's it. Her egg rolls were wrapped in the more normal square type of roll wrappers (the Dynasty brand looks right to me) and the filling ingredients were basically the same pork stuffing as above for the won tons, plus shredded carrots and sprouts, and maybe a little cabbage. She made use of the same ingredients across the board, at any rate. That link to that other mother's wrapping techniques is solid as far as techniquing goes, so do all that but use my mom's filling instead. ;)
Oh - and as far as crab Rangoon goes, use the same technique as dolloping the filling for the won tons, except keep them in the triangle shape. The filling is basically shredded or stringed out imitation cwab mixed with cream cheese, but I prefer Neufchatel cheese (the Americanized version in the grocery stores, not the real deal from France) because it tastes slightly better imho, plus has less calories than regular cream cheese.
Do I miss my parents? Hell yeah, I miss them. Some days, seemingly at random, I get overwhelmed with the missing one or both of them, but that hasn't happened too much in the last few years since I keep seeing bits of them in how I do things - actions I take, phrasings I speak - and it's freaky in a mostly good way. I know that part of them is alive in me, so that's comforting. Plus my sister and her extended families are only 3 hours away (just down a very long street!), and I talked with her a few hours ago, so that was pretty cool. Didn't mention anything about the day but finally got to catch up some with life this and that.
Be sure to love your family (blood or not) while you're still around. It doesn't matter if they're still alive or not. What's important is that you maintain that tie. Trust me on that.
