A teen, a wok and stir-fries for school

I should count myself lucky.

- SAMAR HALARNKAR

A quick fried rice can be played around with various ingredients.

I should count myself lucky. I've heard enough about teenagers indifferent to food, but we have an active and amiable 15-year-old who enjoys eating, likes variety, and can usually identify the ingredients on her plate. While she'll eat almost anything when we're out, at home she's intolerant of food made without a spark or flourish. The visual appeal matters—“aesthetic,” as she calls it—but she'll abandon presentation entirely if the food truly tastes good. Conversely, if something looks promising but the flavour disappoints, she makes her feelings sharply known. This much I've learned over the years.

I cook almost every day for my daughter, a process that keeps me challenged and thinking. Often, when I'm in the shower, running, driving or trying to fall asleep, some part of my mind is occupied with recipes to create, tweak or rediscover. And nearly everything I make has to be quick because there's always so much else to juggle, including my day job. Quick, creative cooking has been this column’s credo for 16 years (yes, it’s been that long).

On weekends, if the mood strikes, I'm willing to abandon the “quick” bit. But on school days, there is little alternative. After years of experience, I can safely say that Chinese—at least my version of it—is the best route to achieving the quick-and-creative goal before or after the day’s defining moment: the departure and arrival of the schoolbus.