The Kitchen God's Wife....

I've had this book for quite a while... actually it has been years since I last read it... I was leisurely looking for something to read while waiting (I was burning dvd's for drama episodes I've recorded.) and I randomly picked up this book off my book shelf. It is a book written by one of my favorite authors, Amy Tan, which also by the way is the writer of the Joy Luck Club, which was also made into a movie.

Most of Amy Tan's books are Chinese oriented... or should I say Chinese themed (?) I've always been curious about this culture since my mom is partly Chinese, (eventhough, she was born in the Philippines, Masbate to be exact, where Grandpa Oya settled, I never had a chance to meet my grandpa on my mom's side, or even if I did I was probably too young, practically a baby, I guess.) Reading her (Amy Tan's) books enlighten me of my chinese heritage, from it's customs and traditions and sometimes even it's history and together with watching chinese dramas (thank goodness to dvds with english subtitles) I get a glimpse of the culture that I was supposed to be a part of but don't know much about, since I grew up 101 % Filipino since my mom wasn't raised the chinese way either.

The Kitchen God's Wife is about mostly chinese customs, traditions and supertitious beliefs within chinese families, in this case, they're already living in San Francisco, CA. Pearl (the main character) is born of old fashioned Chinese parents, while she (Pearl) appears to be already "americanized" although the book didn't specify if Pearl had been born in the US, it did say she married an American with two daughters, But basing from the context of what I've read so far, Pearl isn't familiar with most of their chinese customs and tradtions can't even read or write chinese characters so I'm assuming she could have been born here or if not she grew up here...
Pearl's mom believes in superstitious beliefs in almost every aspect in life, which of course drives Pearl nuts!

The Kitchen God's Wife is basically giving me an overview on how it is to be in a chinese family and keeping up with it's old customs. Basically a good read for those who are curious of how being chinese really is and how and why they thrive on their customs, beliefs and sometimes just plain superstitions in their daily lives.

Angel Locsin

SIDENOTES : I can't wait to watch Maalaala Mo Kaya tomorrow with Angel Locsin as guest. I'm not really a fan of hers but her acting has been remarkable since Lobo, (her last drama series) and this time around she plays an insane homeless person roaming/living in the street.