For lunch yesterday, my brother cooked a good old pot of Kraft macaroni and cheese (the kind with the yellow powder you pour in), and arranged some salad with Wishbone Italian salad dressing. As our protein, we stir-fried some beef tips with hoisin sauce and ketchup.
Sitting eating our lunch at the dining table, I realized how funny we looked—the two of us—eating macaroni and cheese with our chopsticks. Such “fusion” scenes are so common in my household, however, that I barely stop and notice them most of the time. Last night, for example, my brother asked me to “close the lian zi (帘子),” or close the curtains, and I promptly responded without even batting an eye. Whilst savoring the rather cardboard-like flavor of our macaroni and cheese with our chopsticks though (I added a good douse of red pepper flakes), I realized just how awesome it is to come from a fusion background. Being Chinese-American is like having the best of both worlds—Chinese and American culture.
In my opinion, the best part about being Chinese-American is the food. For example, having grown up in a Chinese household, I can appreciate food like fermented bean curd that most of my non-Chinese friends would find rather challenging. Perhaps the most exciting part is thinking of your own creative fusions of American and Chinese style cooking. I love coming up with something totally novel and lip-smacking delicious.
Just taking what we ate for lunch yesterday as an example, who else would stir-fry beef tips with hoisin sauce and ketchup? Such a yum combination.
Last week, I came up with an American twist on a Chinese classic—Chives Boxes, or “Jiu Cai He Zi （韭菜盒子）.” My brother, my dad, and I were eating turkey sandwiches for lunch, but I had to think of something special to make my mom (who doesn’t eat any animal that walks on land). My mom wanted me to use up the chives we grow in our backyard, so I thought, why not make a chives box for her out of bread? Those of you who have had chives boxes before will know that they are essentially pan-fried dough pockets stuffed with a mixture of scrambled eggs, chives, and glass noodles. So I took a piece of crusty bread, hollowed out the insides, and sprinkled a bit of olive oil and red pepper flakes on the bread before toasting it in the oven at 250 degrees for about 5 minutes. After making the filling (scramble an egg with a good amount of chives, add in the boiled glass noodles, and add salt, pepper, vinegar, sesame oil, and sherry to taste), I stuffed the whole mixture inside the bottom half of the bread and topped it off. My mom let me try a little bit of the concoction I made—mmm! I’d say an improvement on the original even. The crusty and hearty bread made an excellent “box.” So, in honor of chive box sandwiches, macaroni and cheese with chopsticks, and all the chinglish you can come up with, here’s to living life fusion-style!
P.S. I’d love to hear about your fusion creations too—send in a recipe!
昨天午饭我哥哥煮了一锅子Kraft牌子的芝士通心粉（就是用那种有黄粉末的可以直接倒进去然后搅拌变后成芝士酱）和一盘用Wishbone牌子沙拉酱拌出的沙拉。蛋白质的话，我们用番茄酱和海鲜酱抄了一碟牛肉。
坐 下吃时，我看到了一个非常有趣的场景。我和我哥两个用筷子吃一道地道的美国菜芝士通心粉。象这种中西混合的场景在我家是常有的。有时也因为这些场景太频繁 了所一都没有意识到。就昨晚我哥还叫我“close the 帘子。”我眼睛眨都不用眨就知道他是叫我把窗帘拉起来。在用筷子享受那牛皮纸般味道的通心粉的同时（我之后加一把红辣椒粉）我感到拥有这混合的背景真是太 棒了。作为一位美国华裔，我同时拥有了这两个国家的文化。
对我而言，作为美国华裔最大的好处就是能吃到中西合并的美味佳肴。比如说，我能接受和享受可能对其他美国人来讲味道有一点怪的豆腐乳。可能最有趣的就是自己创作出一些中西合并的菜色。我最喜欢想出一些奇特美味的新菜色。
就拿昨天的午餐来说，谁抄牛肉会用海鲜酱和番茄酱下锅。那可好吃了。
上 周我还将一道经典的中国菜韭菜盒子西式化。我哥和我爸午餐吃火鸡三明治就可以了。但我妈不吃任何在地面上的动物所以我必须做一点特别的给我妈吃。我妈叫我 我用掉我们家剩下的一些韭菜。我灵机一动。。。要不做韭菜盒子但用面包做？你们有吃过韭菜盒子的就知道它基本上就是塞满韭菜，炒蛋和玻璃面的煎饼。所以我 便拿了一个面包然后将中间挖空再加一点橄榄油和辣椒粉便放入烤箱烤个5分钟。然后我把我做好的馅儿塞进面包里（馅儿就是由炒蛋，韭菜，玻璃面，盐巴，胡椒 粉，醋，芝麻油和雪利酒做的）。我妈让我尝了一口。真是好吃。我觉得这道菜是韭菜盒子的改良版。 扎实和酥脆的面包成了很好的一个“盒子”。不管是做改良版的韭菜盒子还是用筷子吃芝士通心粉亦或是用半英语半中文沟通，这都是中西混合生活中的特色。请为 这融合性风格的生活方式喝彩。
P。S。我门也很想知道你们的一些混合／融合的作品——请将你们的配方寄给我们。