24-June-2006 * Chengdu

We went to the home of Yue Chi-Meng for a cooking lesson+lunch. Chi-Meng lives a simple life with his wife and son. Their front entry is graced by ripening bunches of grapes and a cluster of bamboo. Inside, their simple living room contains a couch, computer, wall map of China, and a Chairman Mao calligraphy calendar. Their ground-level apartment also includes 2 bedrooms and a washroom. The kitchen is strung out along the narrow back porch, where Chi-Meng spends a lot of his time concocting delicacies.

I watched with interest as he prepared Fish Fragrance Eggplant Slices, Sweet & Sour Peppered Chicken, Chicken with Tea Stick Mushrooms, Sweet & Sour Pork Spare Ribs, Stir-fried Red Long Beans, Cold Green Beans with Ginger & Garlic, and Tomato-Egg Soup. Chi-Meng's cooking is wonderful, careful, patient, casual, skillful, and delicious.



Chi-Meng's wife was very shy, never speaking to me directly. But she was eager to show us her son's beautiful calligraphy. He, a 1st-year high school student, spends only an hour or so per week practicing calligraphy. But when he was younger, it was more like an hour a day, from the age of six.

He got out his brush and paper after lunch, and took a long few minutes to bring his mind to focus while dipping and shaping his brush in just the right amount of ink. Then he began to paint the black words on white paper. Copying from those of a Tang Dynasty emperor, who had written an essay of congratulations to the monk Tang Shan, of Journey to the West fame.