This is form "Rules of the game", by Amy Tan.
"In the early morning, when the alley was still quiet, I could smell fragrant red beans as they were cooked down to a pasty sweetness. By daybreak, our flat was heavy with the odor of fried sesame balls and sweet curried chicken crescents. From my bed, I would listen as my father got ready for work, then locked the door behind him, one-two-three clicks."
The senses really activated by this passage are smell and hearing. The description of what she could smell and hear from her bedroom makes the case for a realistic story.
