I’m Mohkeed, I’m a home cook and I enjoy cooking. My kitchen is a happy place where I love to share with my children and friends the food I’ve learned to cook over the years and the memories associated with them.
My cooking is drawn from different cooking traditions because of where I’ve lived. For more than 40 years, my family and I have lived in seven countries, including four cities that are the bastions of the finest Chinese food—Guangzhou, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Singapore. With such a nomadic experience, I have enjoyed these communities and have learned the authentic ways of their cooking from friends, teachers and cooks.
In Singapore where I was born I learned how to tumbuk or pound curry ingredients from our beloved maid, Lan Jie. Popo, my grandmother, taught me to make her chili sauce, the best accompaniment for steamed crab. Even though my family cooked mostly Chinese food at home, we are extremely partial to and familiar with Indian, Malay and western cuisine. Singapore is a cosmopolitan city with these major ethnic groups.
Mum, my precious, dear mother, taught me about hosting generously with her readiness to invite people to a meal, eating out or at home in her younger days where her table reflected the warmest Singaporean hospitality. As children in the 50s and 60s Mum introduced to us the joy of eating out. She took us to all sorts of eating digs at a time in Singapore when dining out was a treat. We learned to appreciate barbecued cuttlefish and turtle soup from street side stalls, and also pigeon, fillet mignon and raw oysters in finer restaurants.
When I met my husband, an American foreign service officer, I became part of a community that is renown for its representational events. What people say about diplomatic functions is true. I’ve witnessed it first hand and enjoyed behind the scenes preparations of some of the most delightful dinner parties, whether they were hosted in large, official, or small, intimate groups, in banquet halls or in private homes. Being in and hosting these events were great learning opportunities for me.
When I first left home, I had no choice if I yearned for Singapore food except to make it myself. Today my taste and experience have widened. We are now back home in the Washington DC area. If I hanker for Nonya chicken curry, or liang mian cold noodles Taiwan-style, or Cantonese roast pork, or siu yoke, or Filipino garlic rice with chicken adobo, I can find the ingredients for it here in the U.S. And I can make it.
The memories and culinary experience I gained from living overseas have been wonderful and I wish to share it with you.
My blog is dedicated to my husband Ted, daughter Alison and son Russell, who have always appreciated the food I’ve enjoyed making for them.