My dad has an obsession with recreating dishes he remembers form childhood.  This week, the challenge was to make quekiam, a type of Chinese meat loaf/sausage.  There are commercially available quekiams but he isn't happy with any of them.

So faxed me over a recipe, then called me and said he wanted to come to my house to make it.  I said ok.  It was a messy dish (many Chinese dishes are) because it involved a lot of peeling, chopping, grinding, wrapping, steaming, and then frying. It was also very unhealthy because it involved lots and lots of cholesterol--the basic meats were combined with half a kilo of pork fat and then wrapped again in leaf lard (panyo), the stomach lining of the pig, which is again pork fat--how scary is that? 

It wasn't exactly what he was looking for, but it tasted good.  With that much fat, how could it not? 

Ultimately, what mattered most was that we made it together.  As my parents age, I find that the only thing I can give them that really matters to them is time.  So I make an effort, even if it's not always convenient. The results are not always good for the body, but they're definitely good for the soul.