The Star MetroSunday February 14, 2010

Why Angel flies home

Story and pictures by GRACE CHEN

Come Chinese New Year, you won’t find Angel Wong in front of the cameras hosting anyfestive countdown shows. It is the time she finds her way home to mum’s cooking and bondingover the mahjong table.

HOME is where the heart is and that is where TV host Angel Wong insists on being every Chinese New Year. No matter what the expectations of her bosses or her work commitments are, she makesit a point to usher in the lunar New Year in Hong Kong with her parents and sisters.While Malaysia is the work base for this host of the TV food programme

1 Day 5 Meals

, which iscurrently in its third season on Astro Wah Lai Toi, Wong always makes it home to Causeway Bayfor at least a week.

In her blood: Angel Wong, host of the TV food show 1 Day 5Meals, which is currently in its third season on Astro Wah Lai Toi.This food critic gets her sensitive taste buds from her father,George, a former chef who used to cook for royalty.

“I spend about eight to 10 days in Hong Kong and my mother picks me up at the airport,” saysWong who tries to make it home at least two days before the reunion dinner.There is, of course, some “gentle pressure” from her bosses to appear for countdown shows due to

her popularity but Wong, who is in her mid 30s, remains firm. “I simply tell them: ‘Thank you, but Iwant to go home’,” says the actress and television personality. Nothing will make her miss this occasion with her family, not even her three dogs whom she leavesunder the care of a good friend. One emceeing job away from home on the eve of Chinese NewYear was enough to put her off doing it again. “I felt terrible,” recalls this Taurean.It is not so much a matter of missing her mother’s Shanghai-influenced cuisine or time with her family as she sees them four to five times a year. It is the significance which matters to Wong as shesees the occasion as the end of all things past and a fresh start.Certainly, the food that her mum, Janet To, 59, prepares for New Year is worth making the triphome for. Her favourite dishes are chicken gizzard and pig’s tongue preserved with Chinese whitewine (which is eaten as an appetizer) and drunken chicken, served cold, steeped in a mixture of Chinese herbs for a few days. Of course, there will be the traditional hot pot, too.

With her slim, toned figure Angel can certainly afford to indulgein all the festive goodies.

Wong’s timing is such that by the time she gets home, all the food preparation would be finished!But Wong is not without her own culinary skills, too. Her forte is egg skin dumplings, a recipe shegot from her mother.“It looks like

sui kow

except that the skin is made from egg. To make the skin, beat some eggs and pour in a little oil. Heat the pan to medium and spoon the mixture into it with a tablespoon, turningit around to form a round skin. Then spoon in some mince meat as filling and quickly seal the edges before the skin is thoroughly cooked,” shares Wong.With such delicacies on offer during the lunar New Year festivities, it is no wonder that Wong fears