Her marriage may have failed, but Cally Kwong is discovering some unexpected

HOW to fry black pepper crabs is hardly a subject I expect to be debating with Cally Kwong Mei-wan, but there we are in her expansive kitchen, discussing the finer points of the art. In fact, cooking is the last thing anyone will expect Kwong to claim an expertise.

The former beauty queen-turned-singer and actress has always appeared more at home in glamorous gowns and 10-carat baubles than in an apron brandishing a ladle, but she cheerfully admits that cooking is just one of the benefits of her failed 18-month marriage to actor Ray Lui Leung-wai.

Although she had decided not to talk about the reasons for the divorce, she says of her marriage: 'Before that, there had never been any need for me to cook or learn how to because there was never any incentive. After I got married, I wanted to be a good wife and my ex-husband liked to eat abalone and other dishes, so I learned how to cook those dishes. The interest just grew from there.' Her efforts to be a good wife saw her practically drop out of sight in the entertainment world as she made few appearances and almost halted her recording work in Taiwan.

Although she was keeping a low profile, the former Miss Hong Kong runner-up kept busy and took four months to finish writing a book on beauty and grooming called Cally Kwong's Book Of Beauty, which offered tips on 'top-to-toe' grooming.

The book, which will be published in Taiwan in September, also features forewords by some of Hong Kong's top stars, including Jackie Chan, Jacky Cheung Hok-yau, Andy Lau Tak-wah, Rosamund Kwan Tsz-lam and Alan Tam Wing-lun.

Kwong - whose nickname in the business is 'Mei Yan' or Beauty - laughingly admits she does not know how much the book will be selling for.