My Corner for Education

Hot Pot or Shabu Shabu

Hot pot or Shabu Shabu? However you want to call it, I don’t really care. I just know that it is not fun to have this hot pot all alone by yourself. I don’t usually have many opportunities to have a hot pot although I love it for a meal with a group of friends on a cold winter day. This morning I happened to have three friends over for a visit and I decided to have a hot pot for lunch. I didn’t want to cook a fancy meal right after my big New Year Dinner. Plus, I had another engagement to attend this evening and I did not want to spend too much time preparing for this lunch. So, what is the quickest and easiest work? Hot Pot!

What a great social event! We just talked while the pot of food was cooking. I happened to have some frozen ingredients and tons of condiments for the hot pot. We mixed peanut butter with some spices and created a really unique flavoured sauce. Yum! It did not take much time to prepare for this meal but it sure made the kitchen all messy. I didn’t care though because the food is more important here. (We have to get our priority straight here!) Last time when I had a hot pot was when I visited Taiwan last summer. Friends, comfort food such as a hot pot seems to be so trivial for you but it is all different here. It is a wonderful thing to me!!!!   ^v^

International Party

My friend’s sister usually organizes an annual international party on New Year weekend. It is a pot luck party and people would try to bring food from different regions. This year there were foods from Africa, Belgium, India, China, Japan, Korean, Mexico, US (New Orleans) and Germany. There were about 50 people there today at the party (not including kids in the basement). It was great fun but I forgot to bring a camera with me.

Canada is such a melting pot country. It is not unusual to see a multinational family like my friend’s. Her father is of East Indian descent and her mother is a German. She is married to a Philippino. Her sister is married to a Chinese. All her friends from high school or university are quite a mixture of different ethnic backgrounds as well. It is really interesting to see all the different ethnic groups mingle at a party tonight and share the laughers and joy. I truly appreciate the richness of cultures and foods that we had experienced tonight. It was truly a mini-UN there!