When I was learning to cook

I remember when I was 12 or 13 and my friend was "teaching me how to cook." This consisted of opening a can of mushrooms, chopping up half an onion and frying it all up with soy sauce. It was quite yummy at the time when a gourmet lunch was opening up a can of Campbell's Chunky Soup.

Until I was in university, I made lots of stir frys. I had access to an unlimited number of sauces from the local Asian grocer so I experimented with some different flavours. I eventually learned that I could use fresh ingredients too, like broccoli and chicken. Wow, what a difference that made from the can of salty mushrooms!

When I saw a cashew pork recipe on What's Cookin, Chicago?, it really brought me back. The cashews sounded yummy and I looked at the calendar to figure out when I could try the recipe out. When we sat down to eat it, wow. What flavour! It was just the right mixture of sweet, salty and spicy.

Recipe: Fried Pork with Cashews

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