Taiwanese author Jewel Tsai moved to Hong Kong after marriage. In the past 15 years, she fell in love with southern Lingnan cuisine, especially with Hong Kong ingredients that she had never encountered before.
Jewel Tsai’s kitchen is a world of the senses: She decorates it with colourful flowers -beauty for the eyes; the scent of fruit of different ripeness gives off different shades of smells –fragrance for the nose; She plays Miles Davis when she cooks French dishes, Leslie Cheung when she makes Thai food and operas when she makes Zhongzi- music for the ears. To Jewel Tsai , only fulfilling the palate is a waste. Appreciating food is about opening up all five senses.
To her, food can also be a source of sorrow. Her uncompromising attitude towards food derived from an unhappy childhood memory.
This winter, Jewel Tsai will be hosting a dinner party at home. To her, the kitchen can also be a battlefield and preparing for a dinner party is just like going to war.
台灣作家蔡珠兒婚後移居香港，十多年來，她不僅愛上嶺南飲食文化，尤其鍾情過去自己從未接觸過的香港地道食材，令她的作品全部都與飲食文化有關。
蔡珠兒的廚房可說是一個感官世界：利用五顏六色的鮮花點綴，令人賞心悅目，那是營造出來的視覺效果，給眼睛欣賞的；廚房裡擺放了很多水果，水果由生至熟透出不同的氣味，加上食物的味道，使廚房裡常有暗香浮動，那是為了滿足嗅覺，給鼻子欣賞的；做菜的時候播放音樂，煮法國湯聽爵士樂，弄泰國沙律聽張國榮的歌曲，包粽子聽西方歌劇，那是滿足聽覺，給耳朵欣賞的。對蔡珠兒而言，做菜從來不只是滿足口腹之慾。她認為只貪圖口感，對食物是莫大的浪費。她會開放全身的感官，去領略食物帶給她的各種感覺。而她對飲食的這種執著態度，其實源自她童年時的一段遺憾。
踏入秋冬，蔡珠兒打算在家中舉行一次朋友聚餐。對她來說，廚房除了是她的遊樂場之外，也是一個戰場，她會形容開家庭派對就如打一場硬仗。七日之前，她就要開始積極備戰……
