THE TASTE OF MEMORY.8 2/4/2021

 

 

As we are focusing in today’s class on stories about vegetables we use in our cooking, the warm up incorporated how we prepare them. Each student took a

turn at leading the class with a mimed action, such as peeling, tossing, stir frying, grating, snapping and tearing or pulling apart the leaves.

Our students’ work is fantastic, and we take great pleasure and joy in showcasing their achievements each week. I screen share the photos of their artwork which they have submitted to us as homework each week. The other students are encouraged to offer observations and give feedback. Hui Fen drew her bottles of sauces pouring into the mixing bowl, so they played with a Chinese traditional saying. Jing Wei offered to cook for us all, her page depicting her knowledge of Sichuan spices. JuLisa’s drawing included images of her son’s cooking also. Lao Yu’s artwork proclaimed, “No Spice, No Happiness”. Pun depicted dried mandarin skins, good for cooking as well as dispelling mosquitoes. The focus of Ru Ping’s page was an image of one of her husband’s signature dishes, surrounded by the necessary spices. So Sim drew the egg, sausage and ginger she uses to make her fried rice so special. Sook Fong animated her page by drawing ginger grated and honey dripping into a mug. She drinks this every morning and as a result does not fear the winter colds. Stella showed the sequence of her cooking by drawing pans in action. 

Margaret completed her Snack page which included a map of where to buy the best Chinese ice cream in Chinatown. Susanna’s Snack page included drawings of different candies she likes inside which she wrote her story. 

As next week is Chinese New Year and we will not have class we discussed what is typically eaten. Students shared stories of the traditional fish and mustard greens that are cooked but eaten the day after as leftovers, suggesting long life.

We shared stories of favorite vegetables to cook and Margaret held up a watercress which she mainly uses in soups. Stella shared that she cooks it with crystal sugar as it’s good for the lungs. JuLisa warned that the water has to boil first, otherwise it becomes bitter. Ru Ping uses watercress to make wontons. Sook Fong likes white cabbage and JulIsa remarked it’s very good for making kimchi. Stella enjoys making turnip cake. 

We shared a Mad Lib as a prompt to generate story ideas about vegetables. Encouraging our students to think more broadly about the topic Spica shared the story of when she was little and her parents would take an early morning walk in their neighborhood of Taipei, which was mainly market gardens then. They would bring home freshly cut water spinach directly from the farmer and she remembered the dew dripping from the leaves. I remembered helping my mother unpack groceries and putting the onions and potatoes in the deep bottom drawer in the kitchen. With this page they can incorporate an object that relates to their story 

Students drew their chosen vegetable while Spica demonstrated with spinach, penciling the shapes, adding details, then layers of color, using 3 different brush markers dipped in water. The focus is on drawing one vegetable quite large for this page. This allows for more details to be layered in the drawing and coloring process.

 

We wish everyone a very healthy and happy Chinese New Year 

新年快乐，万事如意 xīn nián kuài lè, wàn shì rú yì

Happy New Year and may all go well with you.