Exciting Tastes and Smells Came From Taiwanese Cooking Classes

American Chinese cooking can be likened to the French word potpourri. It comes to us with a blending from many different regions of China. The seasoning ranges from hot and spicy to somewhat bland. However you like it, Chinese food is full of veggies and generally packed with healthful eating.

Taiwan is a small tobacco shaped island, a scant 100 miles from mainland of China. The tiny country wishes to be known as the Republic of China. During the two-years my family and I lived there, we resided in central Taiwan, in the town of Taichung. It was the experience of a lifetime.

My two children attended Morrison Academy, a Baptist missionary school in Taichung. Most of the teachers at Morrison were young American women who came to teach for a year or two before returning home. They arrived eager to experience life in a different culture. Few were disappointed. I was there due to my husband's job assignment, but for me, it was the opportunity to live the pages of National Geographic every day.

Through a friend who was a teacher at Morrison Academy, I was invited to attend a Chinese cooking class that the school's Chinese cultural teacher, a native of Taiwan was offering to the newly arrived staff that fall. My friend asked if I would be interested in joining the group. Would I? You bet I would. Allowing me to join them was like a gift. I felt privileged.

For a small fee to cover the cost of our food and supplies, we attended cooking classes every Saturday afternoon for six-weeks in the Morrison High School home economics classroom. The best part of the course came at the end of each class. We sat down to a gourmet lunch that we helped prepare, sharing the camaraderie of young women living abroad and the exciting experiences each of us was uncovering. Not only new sights and smells, but sharing where to shop and what not to miss seeing during our time living here.

Before dismissing the class, our cooking instructor gave us two different printed versions of each recipe we learned to prepare that day. One version listed fresh foods that could be found in the outdoor markets of Asia. The second version she had adapted the recipes to what we might expect to find in the supper markets when we returned to the United States.

The instructor's adaptation of her recipes offered an excellent primer in the art of Chinese cooking. By sharing her recipe for Egg Rolls, I hope it opens your world to exciting tastes and smells and you too might feel that you are gaining a glimpse into living the pages of National Geographic.

Egg Rolls

? lb. ground meat

6 eggs

3 Tbsp. soy sauce

? tsp. salt

? tsp. salt

1 tsp. cornstarch

Some ginger

a little bit of water

Egg wrappers

1. Mix first 4 ingredients together

2. Break the eggs and add salt. Use chopsticks to beat a little. Then put water (about a tbsp.) with cornstarch and beat a little more.

3. Heat a pan and add a little bit of oil to fry the egg wrapper.

4. place the egg wrapper flat, put some of the first mixture on wrapper. Roll them. Then place on a plate to steam about 5-minutes

5. Take out and cut them on the plate ready to serve.

Kathy Manney is the nationally recognized author of autobiographical, lifestyle and travel articles and the travel columnist for "The Vegas Voice," a monthly regional senior lifestyle newspaper.

She was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and has spend her adult years living in Asia and through the United States.

Kathy is open to freelance work in the fields of non-fiction writing and editing.