My Hong Kong Kitchen
When I was a barefoot, tow-headed little child helping my mom make volcano biscuits (the jam is the lava), I decided that I liked cooking. As a high school student, I did more baking than cooking trying to bake enough cakes for my 4-H cake decorating class, but I did take over dinner preparations on occasion. In college, cooking became a necessity. My rice cooker got a lot of use then, especially when my friends and I decided to have dinner parties for upwards of thirty people. I could handle cooking in America, no sweat.
Then I moved to Hong Kong.
Actually my first year in Hong Kong, I lived with my parents, so my mom still did most of the cooking. Sponging off your parents has its advantages. But then I later moved into a cute studio that was probably half the size of my Colorado bedroom. I had prayed for a studio that had a kitchen, which is pretty hard to find, actually, and I did find one. It was only big enough for one person to stand in it (without moving too much), but it had the basics: a sink, a pillow-sized counter, and a few shelves. Before long I had outfitted it with a portable electric stove and a microwave. I was cooking (pardon the pun).
Then came the problems. It's one thing to acknowledge that Hong Kong spaces will be smaller than US spaces, but how do you actually work with that? How to work without an oven? Or even more pressing, the stove. I was used to having four burners, and I regularly used at least three, often all four, when I cooked. How to cook with only one pitiful, measly, frustratingly electric burner?
Even making my morning oatmeal proved difficult. My cooker (as they call it here; thanks British people) didn't know how to simmer. It had two modes: nothing and furious boiling. If I tried turning down the temperature, it would simply wait longer periods in between the furious boiling. I solved that problem by lifting my pot up off the burner every time it was threatening to boil over. Thankfully my kitchen didn't have a window or my neighbors would be wondering what kind of strange pot dance I was doing.
I grew accustomed to my closet kitchen. I learned to try to make some stuff in the microwave and use my rice-cooker a lot so I could cook the main at the same time. It seriously takes forever to make even a simple pasta dish when you have to cook the pasta then cook the veggies then cook the meat then cook the sauce because you only have one burner.
Efficiency is key in tiny kitchens. Did you know that a lot of rice cookers have little steamer baskets in the top so you can steam your veggies while you cook your rice? And did you know that you can bake banana bread in a rice cooker? It may take an hour and get really annoying since you have to keep hitting the button every time it overheats and turns off, but it does work. The bottom just might get a bit black but the top will be fine. In case you were wondering.
My cooking became streamlined. I no longer had the counter space to make make complicated things. Bok choy with eggs on top, runny yolk of course, makes a pretty great meal. Stir-fried pork with onions and mustard is pretty great on rice with a side of broccoli. And if I'm feeling lazy, I don't even need to add the onions.
After three happy years in my little house, I moved in with another girl, and then later moved again (a long bitter story with a happy ending), adding another roommate. Now that I am in a three-bedroom house, my kitchen is quite respectable. I have TWO burners, and they're even gas! I have lots of cabinets and storage space. I have an oven. It's in Korean for some reason, which keeps things exciting, but it can cook my veggies, and that's what counts. Kitchen heaven.
Even with my bigger kitchen and my new oven, I find that I have gotten used to cooking stovetop. I have to actively remind myself to use my new oven because of all the years I couldn't. I browse Pinterest for oven recipes, pinning Garlic Parmesan Roasted Potatoes and Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Chicken. If I cooked everything I pinned, I'd be eating well.
Tonight, it just so happened to be more of a mustard pork night. That's ok. The Baked Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Zesty Tomato Sauce will be waiting for another day, and it will be super delicious when I get around to making it. Now I just need to learn enough Korean to change the oven settings...
Then I moved to Hong Kong.
Actually my first year in Hong Kong, I lived with my parents, so my mom still did most of the cooking. Sponging off your parents has its advantages. But then I later moved into a cute studio that was probably half the size of my Colorado bedroom. I had prayed for a studio that had a kitchen, which is pretty hard to find, actually, and I did find one. It was only big enough for one person to stand in it (without moving too much), but it had the basics: a sink, a pillow-sized counter, and a few shelves. Before long I had outfitted it with a portable electric stove and a microwave. I was cooking (pardon the pun).
Then came the problems. It's one thing to acknowledge that Hong Kong spaces will be smaller than US spaces, but how do you actually work with that? How to work without an oven? Or even more pressing, the stove. I was used to having four burners, and I regularly used at least three, often all four, when I cooked. How to cook with only one pitiful, measly, frustratingly electric burner?
Even making my morning oatmeal proved difficult. My cooker (as they call it here; thanks British people) didn't know how to simmer. It had two modes: nothing and furious boiling. If I tried turning down the temperature, it would simply wait longer periods in between the furious boiling. I solved that problem by lifting my pot up off the burner every time it was threatening to boil over. Thankfully my kitchen didn't have a window or my neighbors would be wondering what kind of strange pot dance I was doing.
I grew accustomed to my closet kitchen. I learned to try to make some stuff in the microwave and use my rice-cooker a lot so I could cook the main at the same time. It seriously takes forever to make even a simple pasta dish when you have to cook the pasta then cook the veggies then cook the meat then cook the sauce because you only have one burner.
Efficiency is key in tiny kitchens. Did you know that a lot of rice cookers have little steamer baskets in the top so you can steam your veggies while you cook your rice? And did you know that you can bake banana bread in a rice cooker? It may take an hour and get really annoying since you have to keep hitting the button every time it overheats and turns off, but it does work. The bottom just might get a bit black but the top will be fine. In case you were wondering.
My cooking became streamlined. I no longer had the counter space to make make complicated things. Bok choy with eggs on top, runny yolk of course, makes a pretty great meal. Stir-fried pork with onions and mustard is pretty great on rice with a side of broccoli. And if I'm feeling lazy, I don't even need to add the onions.
After three happy years in my little house, I moved in with another girl, and then later moved again (a long bitter story with a happy ending), adding another roommate. Now that I am in a three-bedroom house, my kitchen is quite respectable. I have TWO burners, and they're even gas! I have lots of cabinets and storage space. I have an oven. It's in Korean for some reason, which keeps things exciting, but it can cook my veggies, and that's what counts. Kitchen heaven.
Even with my bigger kitchen and my new oven, I find that I have gotten used to cooking stovetop. I have to actively remind myself to use my new oven because of all the years I couldn't. I browse Pinterest for oven recipes, pinning Garlic Parmesan Roasted Potatoes and Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Chicken. If I cooked everything I pinned, I'd be eating well.
Tonight, it just so happened to be more of a mustard pork night. That's ok. The Baked Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Zesty Tomato Sauce will be waiting for another day, and it will be super delicious when I get around to making it. Now I just need to learn enough Korean to change the oven settings...
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