Ariel Lin cooking for mom on Lunar New Year’s Eve; watches and learns from TV

Ariel Lin’s been blessed with fortune twice last year – winning a Golden Bell Award and moving into a new home – all this seem like a dream up to now. This year, for the first time, she’ll be spending Lunar New Year’s Eve cooking in her new home for her mom who’s supported her all these years.

Ariel loves watching cooking shows. If she sees anything that’s delicious and uses simple ingredients, she immediately jots them down. The first dish that she’ll be preparing is “a very delicious pork dish” that she saw on “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” The second dish is “noodles mixed with toona sinensis sauce*” (see first photo) -- which includes different types of mushroom and noodles mixed with toona sinensis sauce – a very healthy option that’s good for her mom who loves to eat meat and noodles.

Ariel doesn’t usually cook so she’s not that adept at the kitchen. She’s afraid she might mess up the LNY’s Eve dinner, so she’s asked for some help from Mr. Jia, the owner of Shang Fang restaurant*. Health conscious Ariel tries to avoid stir or deep frying. “My new home has an open, country style kitchen with white as the dominant color. Mom has ruled that only broiling, stewed, mixed, steamed dishes will be allowed; otherwise, it would be hard to clean up.”

Mr. Jia’s tips on cooking: Think only that you’re cooking for the person that you love and you’ll be able to produce the fragrance (flavor) of love.” Ariel agrees. “If it was a man I love, even if he wakes me up in the middle of the night to cook dumplings, I would.”