Journal #3: Plans for the Project

1. The food that is special to my family is gau. Gau is a type of sugary-sticky dessert. It is, in some ways, a chinese version of mochi. Usually it is made for special occasions such as (Chinese) New Years. Although gau is traditionally made by steaming ingredients together, my dad uses a passed down recipe to make gau by microwave.

2. To learn more about how to make gau and why it has significance to my family, I am planning to interview my dad and my aunty. I will interview both my dad and my aunty sometime between August 27th and 30th.

3. The following will be among some of the questions I will ask during my interview:

- Does it have any symbolic meaning to the chinese culture?

- What does gau mean to our family?

- What is the history of this chinese dessert?

- Where did you get the recipe for gau?

- Is this food a tradition in the family?

- How do you make it?

- What are the ingredients?

- Did your parents make gau for you when you were young?

- Ask to define certain words... (e.g. what does "gau" mean in Chinese, ect.)

- Is there any memories that were because of making or eating gau?

- Do you have your own opinions about the recipe, or even the dish itself?

- Did you ever try to add and extra ingredient that wasn't on the recipe, maybe just to try it out?