Easter, 2016. This was the first holiday in several years that my Poppa cooked. I'm not saying she doesn't cook on a daily basis, but there's definitely a difference between cooking dinner for 3 and dinner for 9.

As this was a holiday ('special') dinner, we had many, many meat dishes. Meat is 'special' mainly because it costs (and has historically always costed) more than veggies, legumes or grains - the current crazy cauliflower prices in North America notwithstanding.

Dinner dishes*:
Whole fish (bass?)
Duck
Beef
Shrimp
Chicken
Paai gwat (pork spare ribs)
Tong (broth soup)
Gai lan (Chinese broccoli)

*the meat dishes do sometimes have veggies in them, but I only ever remember the meat itself, never the accompaniment...

Of course, as I normally do, I started quizzing my poppa on how to say the dishes in Canto, but this time I was armed with 3 months of Cantonese class! Not that I could say much, sticking mainly to dim gong a? how do you say...? and then pointing at the food.

The most intricate and interesting was arguably the least popular dish: the tong (not really a surprise). This tong consisted of:

Gei ji - goji berries
Lotus seeds
Carrots
Mysterious root vegetable
Chicken
Tangerine peels

If you had to sum up what goes into a tong, the best description of its ingredients would be: 'medicinal' ingredients. Everything is good for your eyes, skin, blood pressure, sore throat, etc...

I had never heard of nor seen lotus seeds before: dried, they resemble closely to kernels of corn.

Me: Do Chinese people eat lotus seeds?
Poppa: No. They are just used in tongs. But they eat them in Yuht Nam (Vietnam).

At this point, my poppa shuffled off into the back pantry and brought back a container of dried, yellow lotus seeds. They tasted like dried chickpeas and were slightly sweetly seasoned!

Poppa: They are good, right? I like to eat them.
Me: Huh. Do the Chinese like to eat flowers?
Poppa: ??? No. Why?

I had made the observation that this wasn't the first time I had seen flowers or flower parts in Chinese food. Exhibit A: Chrysanthemum Tea!

When I showed my Poppa, she more or less gave me the impression that yes, they drink this, but obviously you drink flowers/leaves. But, luckily, my hunch of eating flowers was not too far off.

Poppa: I had a soup once with lotus petals on top. It was a sweet soup.

I was not prepared for what came next.

Poppa: But I didn't like the soup. It had snake in it.

Holy mother of all that is holy: Snake soup?!?!!
Horrifying - from a western perspective, yes. When my Poppa had eaten it, it was a delicacy. Apparently, to cook snake, you can skin it and boil it. No bones, guys!!

She then went on to explain how, this one time, she was tricked into eating dog. To say the least, she was not impressed. It did not taste of much, and, as far as I can tell, she seems to like dogs (although has never owned one).

Going back to the soup, I asked her about the tangerine peels. She brought out (another) container; this one with just tangerine peels.

Me: Did you..did you eat the tangerines and save the peels?
Poppa: No, they are green tangerines (unripe). I bought the jar.
Me: You bought a container of dried tangerine peels...?
Poppa: Oh yes. It's very good for you, but very expensive.

She then told me about how she went to Hong Kong once and saw two ladies on the side of a street, peeling green tangerines. They were throwing away the insides and only saving the peels.

Poppa: I asked them if I could have one; they said no, it's too expensive.

She then disappeared into the back pantry again, this time bringing back a jar. They looked like mini tangerines.

Poppa: These are salty gam kwat (kumquat). Good when your throat hurts.
Me: Did you make these?
Poppa: Yes.

Apparently, she not only makes salted kumquats, but salty lemons. In a jar twice as big as the kumquat jar, she showed me the 7 or so lemons that she had essentially brined, also for sore throats. As my throat was hurting that night, I then became the proud owner of a jar of salty kumquats. (I have yet to try them out, but you're supposed to pour hot water over them, then drink the liquid and eat the kumquat.)

Finally, the pièce de résistance: a massive jar was brought out from the back. It was rice wine.

At this point, all of my family members were freaking out.

You made this?
She made moonshine!!
Holyyy....you can smell how strong it is from here.

My poppa has not made rice wine in the past couple of years. In fact, this jar was from a friend who had made it a couple of months ago.

Poppa: I haven't made it in 10 years. Too much work. Very tasty though.

You too can make rice wine. All you need is rice, a special type of yeast, and water. Layer them, one on top of another and heat in a clay pot. My poppa used the heat register in her bedroom to heat it over three days, while also covering it in a blanket and a bag. Then transfer to a glass jar and enjoy once it's all cooled down. Make sure to eat the rice that's been fermented too: it's healthy for you.