Hank Falkenberg spends most days piecing together the past, restoring building facades and interiors. He specializes in salvaging, repairing and replacing shiny glass Vitrolite tiles, first popularized in 1930s art deco buildings.

Weekends, he puzzles out the recipes he remembers cooking with his father, Indonesian-born Henry (Honey) Falkenberg. "My sisters and I each make slightly different versions of Dad's recipes," Falkenberg said. "Dad came to St. Louis to open the Islander in Clayton, cooking his Cantonese and Indonesian recipes. He was a natural, talented cook who worked in kitchens his whole life. In 1984, when he died, we closed his last restaurant, Henry's International Kitchen at Newstead and Laclede."

The family has collected Honey Falkenberg's recipes in a tattered book, but his dad's hands-on teaching is what Hank Falkenberg remembers best. "When we kids first showed interest — I was 7 — he brought us into the kitchen. I remember making Cantonese egg rolls and half-moon pastries by the hundreds for his catering jobs when I was 10."

Today, most of his cooking is done for his family's biweekly Sunday dinners. "We take turns cooking, and Dad's influence comes through at our meals," he said. "I sometimes cook fish Indonesian-style. I'll dig a hole in the ground, heat up some charcoal, wrap the fish and seasonings in foil. You put the fish in the hole, cover it with coals and let it bake. I'll make blue crab stuffed with cabbage, crab meat and black pepper."

His sons, Steven Falkenberg and Justin Grigery, learned to cook following Hank's example and Honey Falkenberg's recipes, a sure-fire combination for interesting Sunday dinners and family time.