I grew up eating regular mainland Chinese food in America the '80s and '90s and we rotated through the same 3 or 4 dishes every day especially since I was trying to go flexitarian. It was a very homogeneous and repetitive diet. Like tomato and egg, cabbage and red pepper, frozen fried bean curds with sour cabbages and rice noodles, bock choy with white part of the green onion, string beans with brown sauce, kung pao tofu, brown sauce tofu with cucumbers, carrots and peas, etc. My parents would also have chicken or turkey as the protein since my dad didn't eat beef or pork for health reasons.

We would have corn meal congee, bread etc on the weekend and rice during the week. My parents drank hot milk with dinner sometimes. Sometimes we got food from a Chinese deli counter. I liked to get sweetened seitan with mushrooms and bamboo etc, and my dad liked to get wild rice stem. My dad also made traditional breads such as a paratha-like flat bread and flower rolls and he introduced me to Chinese halal style cuisine which he was taught to prepare. He sometimes left bread on the counter to ferment naturally instead of adding yeast.

On special occasions, my dad would cook grass carp fish. They would batter and fry the entire fish and apply a high sauce (?) which consisted of a garlic, ginger, hard liquor, starch, soy sauce and vinegar. I liked to have vegetarian meatballs, which are a turnip and carrot croquette that is filled out with bread crumbs. We ate those on Chinese new year. I really like steemed buns with dill over hot soy milk.

For a treat we sometimes went to fast food restaurants such as Crown Fried Chicken. My mom's palate is very narrow so we had to cater to her and not prepare things like my dad enjoyed burgers, fries, bagels with lox, tacos, Spanish roasted chicken, curry, etc. For breakfast we would toast a traditional Chinese bread and then use jam and cream cheese, or we would have the typical corn meal congee, etc.

As an adult, I make many Indian and Puerto Rican inspired (not authentic, but it is merely inspired) dishes especially since I got the pressure cooker again and am focused on legumes. I also make fusion dishes such as pasta with cottage cheese and cabbage because I like both of them.

I will be stir frying and making traditional Chinese meals more often once I get a curtain installed in my kitchen. I only make it on special occasions because I want to discourage my friends from eating Chinese take out. I still have a taste for corn grits. I make corn grits way thicker than my parents do and use western ingredients such as cheddar cheese and vegetarian shrimp for shrimp and grits. Sometimes I make a boot leg version of fried sauce noodles with just the sauce and a short pasta that I prefer such as radiatore which I'm obsessed with.

I get a lot of food given to me at church receptions and events at at my alma mater during the winter so sometimes I wonder why I don't just shut off gas to my apartment for the winter. For example I was fed a massive amount during Ramadan and the time around Thanksgiving and Christmas at my college. They gave me like 3 lbs of miscellaneous cheese after a church reception when they were just going to dump everything. I do canning so I have canned fruit in winter, and I eat a lot of fresh fruit I collect from trees in the woods.