Shootingstar, I love your food descriptions. Can I come to your house? I'll bring a potluck dish!

I wish my mom had taught me how to cook . . . you've inspired me to bug her when I am visiting the parents this weekend.

Tulip, you're so right about "what passes for Chinese food." It wouldn't pass muster in any (or most) Chinese communities anywhere in the world. I had a history professor in college who had a theory that a lot of Chinese restaurant food as we know it in the U.S. has its origins in the merchant marine service and the introduction of Chinese labor to the U.S. Being the cook was not a desirable job, nor did they go to great lengths to hire people (usually men) who were good at it . . . voila, greasy heat-lamp piles of stuff. I avoid it too.