Pair "Pork Chow Mein" with "Sea of Tranquility: A novel" and enhance the experience with a refreshing "Lychee Martini." This pairing works well as the book immerses the reader in a seamless blend of past, present, and future, much like the harmonious mixture of flavors in the dish. The tropical notes of the Lychee Martini complement the savory notes of the chow mein, creating a balanced and immersive dining and reading experience.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces chow mein noodles (or thin egg noodles)
- 1/2 pound pork loin or tenderloin, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup shredded cabbage
- 1/2 cup julienned carrots
- 1/2 cup sliced bell peppers (any color)
- 1/2 cup sliced celery
- 3 green onions, sliced
- 1/4 cup chicken broth or water
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Fresh cilantro or green onions for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Prepare the Noodles: Cook the chow mein noodles according to the package instructions. Drain and set aside.
- Marinate the Pork: In a bowl, combine the sliced pork with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, sesame oil, and cornstarch. Toss to coat evenly and let it marinate for 10-15 minutes.
- Make the Sauce: In a small bowl, mix together the remaining 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, and chicken broth or water. Set aside.
- Stir-Fry the Pork: Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the marinated pork and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes until browned and cooked through. Remove the pork from the skillet and set aside.
- Cook the Vegetables: In the same skillet, add the remaining tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the sliced onion and garlic, stir-frying for 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Then, add the cabbage, carrots, bell peppers, and celery, stir-frying for another 3-4 minutes until the vegetables are tender-crisp.
- Combine and Serve: Return the cooked pork to the skillet along with the cooked noodles. Pour the sauce over the top and toss everything together until well coated and heated through. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with fresh cilantro or green onions if desired, and serve hot.
Sea of Tranquility: A novel
A stunning novel of time travel and metaphysics that examines the intricacies of human life across centuries. Emily St. John Mandel brings together the past and future in an intimate portrayal of characters yearning for meaning in an ever-elusive world.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The award-winning, best-selling author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel returns with a novel of art, time travel, love, and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space. One of the Best Books of the Year: The New York Times, NPR, GoodReads “One of [Mandel’s] finest novels and one of her most satisfying forays into the arena of speculative fiction yet.” —The New York Times Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal—an experience that shocks him to his core. Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She’s traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive’s best-selling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him. When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe. A virtuoso performance that is as human and tender as it is intellectually playful, Sea of Tranquility is a novel of time travel and metaphysics that precisely captures the reality of our current moment.
Discussion Questions
- How does the novel's structure, shifting between different points in time, affect your understanding of the characters and their stories?
- What role does the concept of time play in the novel, and how does it influence the characters' perceptions of their lives?
- In what ways do the different timelines and settings enrich the novel’s exploration of human experience?
- How does the novel address the idea of isolation, both physically and emotionally?
- What do you think the author is trying to convey about the nature of reality through the novel's events?
- Discuss how the novel's characters cope with the uncertainty of their futures.
- What impact does the novel have on your understanding of connection across time and place?
- How does the novel challenge conventional notions of science fiction?
- What are the moral implications of time travel as explored in the book?
- Can you identify any parallels between the novel's themes and current real-world issues?
Authors:
Emily St. John Mandel
ISBN: 059331827X
Publisher: Vintage
Published Date: 2022-04-05
ISBN: 059331827X
Publisher: Vintage
Published Date: 2022-04-05
Lychee Martini
The exotic Lychee Martini offers a sweet and fragrant escape into the world of delicate flavors, perfectly complementing the rich and savory notes of a classic Pork Chow Mein. The lychee's floral and slightly tart profile provides a refreshing counterbalance that tantalizes the taste buds with each sip.
Ingredients
- 2 ounces vodka
- 1 ounce lychee liqueur
- 1 ounce lychee juice (from canned lychees)
- Ice
- Lychee fruit, for garnish
Instructions
- Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
- Pour in the vodka, lychee liqueur, and lychee juice.
- Shake vigorously until well chilled.
- Strain into a chilled martini glass.
- Garnish with a lychee fruit and serve immediately.