introduction.

I am a second generation Chinese American, born and raised in Southern California. I understand conversational Mandarin and speak fluent Chinglish. I even look Asian, too! And, as evidenced by the photo below (note: outdated photo and clearly an outdated outfit), I actually freakishly resemble the women on my mom's side. Same squinty cheek dimples and all.

L to R: meet my mom, grandma, and aunt!

Unlike them, most of their culture is now lost on me. I barely know where my parents and their families came from and I won't be able to teach my kids Mandarin. The older I get, the more that fact saddens me. I can, however, eat... and sort of cook.

Enter 2015. Realizing my mom's Chinese dishes are basically the best thing to ever happen to me growing up (second only to my mom's sheer awesomeness), I no longer wanted these dishes to be lost with her as my generation and the next all grow up and move on in life. Learning dishes from a Chinese person whose first language isn't English is a bit of a challenge, as I can't just ask for quick and easy write-ups and my mom only knows the Chinese names of many of the ingredients she uses. However, I'm up for this challenge and want this to be a chance to not only preserve my heritage, but to spend precious quality time with the woman who gave me everything I have today. My boyfriend's cousin also had a brilliant idea to take photos for reference and start a blog to document the recipes. (Shout to Ryan and Andie for being my initial supporters of this project, and Amy for the name of the blog.)

Meet Keli, master chef (in my house, at least), my best friend, my mom. This is Keli's Kitchen.