A taste of home

We just got back from a quick trip home. Up Friday, back Sunday. Yes, it was a bit rushed, but we also had some free time.

One of my favorite things about going home is the food. Mom really doesn't cook for us any more; we usually go out. The flavors are so familiar, Chinese food like I'm used to. Cantonese, not Mandarin flavors. Roast chicken with salt pepper. Gai lan. Bok choy with black mushrooms. Deep fried flounder. Peking spareribs. Okay, maybe some of these started in the north, but all the Cantonese restaurants back home have been fixing some variation of these for the past twenty years. I can't get anything like this here, certainly not at the same price.

I didn't get any Dim Sum, so I'm a little bummed about that. But I did get some goodies to take home. Mom sent home some joon (Chinese dumplings) and they're in the freezer right now. I'll probably eat one a month, just to make them last longer.

On Saturday, we went to T's to pick fruit. No one has been taking care of the backyard so fruit has been rotting on the trees. We picked boxes, literally, of fruit. Mr. Fix-it estimates we picked between 30 and 50 pounds. I'd guess somewhere in the middle of those. We took more than half to the banquet Saturday night (the original reason for us going up) to share with the family. The rest come home to share down here. Does anyone have any good recipes for peaches?

I did stock up on plastic bags at mom's. She's been collecting/reusing them for years so I knew she had some to spare. I took a bunch so everyone could use them to take home fruit at the banquet.

Mr. Fix-it wanted to know if my family ever goes out for anything other than Chinese food. He remembers going out for steak with Uncle T (but I don't remember that), but that's it. Always, always, always we go out for Chinese food. Both sides of the family. I guess he's still not used to it, lol.