I would start the day in Hampstead Heath with my husband James and our dog, Noodle – he’s a little mutt: half dachshund, half poodle, white with brown ears and a brown eye patch, which makes him kind of look like a terrier. We always go there on a Sunday, which is usually our only day off together.
It’d be autumn, when it’s starting to get chilly and the leaves are turning – my favourite time of year. Noodle doesn’t like the sun; he’s a proper English dog. Leaving the Heath, we’d go home to my parents’ house in LA and spend the rest of the day with my family in Chino Hills. My whole life I’ve moved around, but my parents have finally settled there, as they’re retired. It’s the closest thing I have to a home to go back to.
My parents always travelled a lot, so their home is filled with things they’ve brought back from faraway places. My dad loves Persian rugs and Chinese watercolours, and he also has some amazing wood furniture from Costa Rica. Their home is colourful and beautiful. My husband is also a collector – of cookbooks. We’re turning one of the bedrooms in our two-bedroom flat into a cookbook room. Magazines, menus, napkins with logos he likes, paper cups from really good restaurants – everything food-related he keeps. Our whole life is based around food and wine and Noodle. Even Noodle’s name is food-related, I can’t get away from it…
We wouldn’t need any music. Our whole family is very chatty, so there’s always lots of lively conversation. There’d also be a television on in the background, for my nieces, who are addicted to Nickelodeon.
My husband and my mother would cook for me. James is a chef, and my mother is even better. To start, we’d have a huge platter of spicy Mexican sweetcorn, which James always makes whenever we have a barbecue. I’m obsessed with corn. Corn soup, popcorn, grilled corn. It’s an addiction.
Then we’d have grilled steak. James does the best steak; he knows where to get the right cow. He always cooks the steaks on a really high heat on each side, nice and charred, then lets them sit to rest for 20 minutes before adding a little salt.
I’d want my mother to make me fried rice. We always look forward to it more than the fresh stirfry. It’s the perfect leftover use-up. We’d also have more corn; sauteed sweetcorn or a corn puree or corn pudding: juice the corn kernels, stir on the stove until a pudding consistency forms then add a sprinkling of salt.
To drink, we’d start with champagne from Jacques Selosse – his Cuvee called Substance, which would pair well with the corn. For the main course, a Gaja Barbaresco – an old vintage. It’s one of my favourite grapes; when nice and aged, the tannin gets really soft and reminds me of dried rose petals or walks in the forest over dead leaves. A wonderful, warming sensation.
I’m not a dessert person, but I would have a huge chunk of Comté, aged about 24 months. No bread, just the cheese. And a bottle of Jura white wine.
Sandia Chang is a sommelier, and runs Bubbledogs and The Kitchen Table restaurants with her husband, the chef James Knappett.
