The Awkward Moment When Your Dad Starts A Blog

The even more awkward moment when you realise that blog is about you.

I won't post the link here to my dad's post here, because it's a little embarrassing. Probably because it depicts my life. Mostly because he's got more page views than me.

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p.s. update! Okay, I give in. Some people have asked for the link and I feel rather mean so....Here's the link!(It's all in Chinese though, apart from a few words here and there but that could be enough to get the gist!) 
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(Before I go on, these are lotus root and pork fritters. It's a Chinese dish so quite fitting for what I'm going to say next.)

Why do I talk about this? Well, my dad has just written an article 'From State School to Cambridge to The City: My daughter's 10 years of work', talking about whether it's worth it to send kids to private schools, the best way to get the best education for your kids, and just how many hours of piano lessons they should be having etc. Lots of Asian parents like talking about how to bring up their kids, and recently there's been a book out about the 'Tiger Mother' (parents who are strict but only so their kids are the best at everything. I call it 'being arsey').

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So ever since the article 'Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior' was published on the Wall Street Journal, it's been more talked about - Asian parenting and whether it's right/works/excessive/a bit strange. Here is an excerpt:

"A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it's like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I've done it. Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do:

• have a playdate 
• attend a sleepover
• be in a school play
• complain about not being in a school play 
• watch TV or play computer games 
• choose their own extracurricular activities 
• get any grade less than an A 
• not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama 
• play any instrument other than the piano or violin 
• not play the piano or violin

It's true. For example I:

• didn't get any grade less than an A (or at least never told my parents)
• would hear a pre-recorded "do your homework!" message every time I booted up the computer
• play the piano
• was never allowed to not play the piano
• once thought that squash was a type of fruit

However, Iwas allowed to be in school plays, have other extracurriculars (hello blog!), go to sleepovers, have playdates (this sounds rude), so I don't think it's a massive generalisation. But's pretty close. I bet you three bars of Green&Black's chocolate that 99% of Asian kids now also study business/economics/medicine/science. 

I'm going to skip the rest of this parents stuff now I want to talk about FOOD!!

(Although, if you are here from my dad's blog. Hello! I am 'The Daughter'. I really hope I am not as scary as being called 'The Daughter' makes me out to be.)


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Lotus Root and Pork Fritters 

These fritters are my grandma's recipe, which she passed onto my mum, then onto me. Ok ok, I lie. The recipe was passed onto my mum, and then it stopped there. She helped me make these :)

They are bits of pork mince with seasonings sandwiched between two slices of lotus root, then coated in a thin batter and shallow fried. They can be part fried then frozen.

It's hard to make because:

a) lotus root is only available in Chinese supermarkets
b) I am too lazy to go to the Chinese supermarket 

However, I managed to get my paws onto some last week and promptly started chopping, mincing and mashing. One cooking session and blog post later, here we are!

This is what lotus root looks like. I know, it ain't pretty.

I also just wanted to ask, do the cool kids still eat this in China? I don't go back that often, so I can't really say. Or is pizza and chips the 'cool' thing now? It would be quite interesting to know :)

Recipe below! (Note: for extra authenticity, chop everything (even the mushrooms) with a meat cleaver and fry the fritters in a wok. When the oil is hot enough, stick your finger in it.)

I'M JOKING! Please please please don't stick your finger in hot oil. I was just checking you were still reading.

* Disclaimer: I claim no responsibility if you do decide to stick your finger in hot oil. Please don’t sue me – I’m a student, it really wouldn’t be worth your time!

Lotus Root and Pork Fritters Makes about 30 fritters. Can be frozen for a month. Ingredients A packet of lotus roots (usually weighs about 1kg… I think. Although you can adjust the filling to how much lotus root you have. Whatever mince filling you are left with can be made into meatballs or stir fried). For the filling One 500g packet of mince (I use pork) One small onion, diced 3 mushrooms, diced 1 clove of garlic, diced 1 tbsp grated ginger (not ginger powder) 2 tbsp light soy sauce 2 tbsp Shaoshing wine, or cooking sherry For the batter 85g all purpose flour 200ml cold water Oil, for frying Soy sauce or vinegar or chilli sauce, for dipping Method To make the filling, put the mince into a bowl and add the filling ingredients. Mix and mash until well combined. Wash and peel the lotus roots with a vegetable peeler. Then, cut it into slices about 1cm/½inch thick.  Scoop up about a tablespoon of mince filling and sandwich in between two slices of lotus root. Continue until you have run out of lotus root. Make the batter. I’m not too sure about the exact quantities, but you should be mixing flour and water until it is the consistency of double cream. Heat the oil in a wok. When it is very very hot, start coating the fritters in batter, shaking off any excess batter. Fry in the wok for about 5 minutes on each side until they are golden and cooked through (About 3 minutes if you are sure you will cook them again). Drain on kitchen paper. If you have fried them for about 3 minutes, you can freeze them and either bake them at 200C for 10 minutes on each side or re-fry them.