Songs of Willow Frost

Our book group choose Songs of Willow Frost for the May/June book. This is the 2nd book from Jamie Ford. I was excited to read it because it is set in Seattle and I always love reading books with a little local flair. I found the story to be so sad. A Chinese -American orphan in the 1940's is looking for his mother. The story goes back and forth between his search and her early struggles that caused her to give him up. Really well written and interesting. But not a book to read if you are already a little depressed. I gave it 4 stars out of 5 mainly because it is a story that moves quickly, keeps you interested and leaves an impact on you. I often think how difficult life must be for immigrants even today as they try to fit into our culture. But back then it was much much worse. A few years back I read a book called Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok. That was one of the best books I've read about the struggles of fitting into a new country. The hardship for that young girl and for that family stuck with me for a long time. They live in extreme poverty in the US and work in a factory. It is modern day which is jarring as I sometimes forget that things haven't changed as much as we want to believe. I haven't really cooked much in the way of Chinese food. I joke with a friend at work that until I went to college I thought all Chinese food was Chow Mien in a can. I decided to create a Chinese Chicken Salad. I don't really think that is at all Chinese! I looked up the history of Chinese Chicken salad and it said it was a Western Dish inspired with Asian ingredients hence the name. I think the only thing Chinese about my version is the fried won-tons! But here it is; 1 bag of Cole slaw mix a few leaves of green lettuce Red pepper Green onions Sugar Snap peas Cucumber Peanuts wontons Chickens I bought a roasted chicken and picked it off the bone so I didn't have to do the entire thing from scratch. For the fried wontons, I bought a pack in the grocery store and fried then in a little bit of canola oil. Just enough to get them dark. I made a dressing with a little bit lemon juice, white vinegar, Asian sesame oil, sugar and salt. Pretty simple recipe and I made enough for me to have for lunch most of the week. Of course after 3 days, I was done with it. Super simple and super good. But not really super Chinese!

the finished product