Years ago, my husband and I discovered Szechuan Restaurant, which for a long time was my favourite restaurant in Calgary, and I would still say that Szechuan Restaurant makes, hands down, the best Sichuan food in the city, if not the province, or all the prairie provinces, really. I remember that the mapo tofu was a revelation; my mom has always made hers using the Lee Kum Kee mix, and this was completely different—it was salty and spicy, with the distinct floral, numbing flavour of Sichuan peppercorns. Over the years, we've tried techniques/ingredients from a few different mapo tofu recipes, including The Paupered Chef, Asian Tofu and Power Vegetables (a Lucky Peach cookbook) and we've come up with our own. We love this dish so much, we make a double batch at least once a month, and I dare say, it's better than the one at Szechuan Restaurant.