Homemade Chinese Sesame Peanut Brittle

Our Beijing ayi (ayi literally means “aunt,” but it’s a familiar term given by young kids to any older lady, or to ladies working in childcare, cooking, or cleaning professions) comes to our house once a week to help us maintain a clean apartment (our crazy cooking experiments don’t leave the kitchen in a good state). We love her. Every weekend, when we can be seen running around throwing food, plates, and silverware everywhere and pointing the Nikon at everything, she takes it all in stride.