Dec 2022

During time at CMU, I often ate at a Taiwanese restaurant named TW Kitchen. It was owned and ran by a lovely Taiwanese couple, with the owner named Steven being around 70 years old. I often chatted with him while I ate my meal, and one day during my Master’s he told me that he was thinking about retirement soon and did not have a son to teach cooking to. I’ve always loved cooking and loved his food. So, this marked the beginning of a chef’s apprenticeship where I worked for him (for free).

For the first month, all he did was make me cut onions. He told me stories of how he grew up, working on a ship in the Taiwanese army, and advice for me growing up and learning Chinese. He shared with me his recipes of how to make Lu Rou Fan, Niu Rou Mian, Fried Pork Cutlet, and different stir-fry dishes. I worked there 3 days a week, and every day I would practice cooking the dishes at home. I would bring him the final products the next day and he would always tell me it was terrible.

The end of the semester when I had to leave Pittsburgh marked the end of our time together after 3 months, and I made him these videos, which kind of paint a picture of our relationship:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZzfiYh2gF4

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4UAq39vdi2w

I’m not sure what else to say about this, but I miss Steven and working at the restaurant a lot. Thank you, Steven.