On Fried Nian Gao and Letting Go

Happy Lunar New Year

Every year during Chinese New Year, one of my aunties makes fried nian gao the way my grandmother liked it.

The rice cake is sliced thin, dipped in egg, pan-fried until the edges blister and caramelize. The kitchen fills with the smell of oil and sweetness— that familiar, slightly smoky fragrance that clings to curtains and sweaters long after the pan ha…