Tepee

Golly! Those bakeries look so "lo-chiu-pai"! The Eastern one especially looks so ancient; are they manned by ancient-looking staff too? BTW, what are their opening hours? Roughly.

Somebody has been eating at a lot of interesting places recently.... Having never gone to Chow Chou, China, I can't vouch for the authenticity of those dishes. As the spouse of one Teo 'Jew', the local Teochew dishes I'm familiar with and off my head are: Loh Ark (braised spiced duck)- usually served during festive occasions. Mue (thin rice gruel which is very different from Cantonese jook. For Teochew porridge, the fire is switched off when the rice grains 'flower'). Eaten with many, many side dishes. Fish Ball Noodles - clear soup with some kiam chye (salted veg) in it. Fish steamed Teochew style - fish is steamed together with kiam chye, tofu and tomatoes. Vegetable Dumplings - there are various, but you can find the one filled with jicama easily. I prefer the yam/taro one. Or chien - omelette fried with small oysters. Oh nee - yam/taro paste with gingko nuts. I'm surprised to see the satay sauce noodle, because Teochew food is supposed to be one of the lightest (except for the Oh Nee) and healthiest in chinese cooking, and satay sauce seems....off.

Looks like our fish paste is getting a bit mashed up here... Our friend, hz, said the cantonese style YTF seems very similar to the Hakka recipe posted. "Can't be", says I to myself, because the cantonese style YTF in Msia tastes 'cleaner' sans ham yue and spinach. Note: I'm being very careful here not to generalize about cantonese style YTF being the same in HK, Msia or anywhere else.

Perhaps, you read it too 'intensely'? 3rd ingredient - 1 Tblsp Ham Yue...not exactly an amount to 'jump' at you. Over here, the cantonese-style yong tow foo doesn't have spinach or ham yue in them. Well, cantonese cooking is all about 'clean' taste, isn't it?

Hz, your dinner sounds really GOOD! Will have to check Zen out in Mapquest to see if we can make it there. Don't you want to see the layers????

Yes, it does, Jo-mel. The dish came with a completely full glass. We tell the kids they'd better take what they want before they can't from all that toddy. Very interesting and flavorful soup. Oh...I forgot to tell I've got Round 2 (this time with my in-laws) coming up next week on top of my sis's bday dinner. I'm trying to sell DH the idea of Poon Choi to sell to his family.

Chili padi in Malaysia.

Now...CUT THAT OUT!!! ← Oops. Let me rephrase that. "Do post yours....for those who celebrate the Mooncake Festival." For those who are unable to do so feel free to vicariously partake in the food and festivities. Duh. Somehow I feel that doesn't make things any better.

Hey, Krista! It was our pleasure to initiate you and James into Msian hawker food. Like Michael, I'm sure you'll be doing a lot of comparing when you eat Msian food in NYC in future. No rush for your pics...tho, we'd love to see them...you'll need some rest after clocking all those miles.

Our family had ours early this year. My gallery space is getting a bit tight, so I've to make a page for it. Please click. Do post yours.

Another popular way to use ham yue (heheh...Sue-On and I spell it differently) is to add it to yau mei fun (tasty rice) together with pre-soaked dried scallops and other stuff.

Bad. All this ham yue talk is bad for me and my on-the-high-side cholesterol level. But since my fav sook-sook likes mui heong, here's a recipe in the style of Fuichiu Hakkas (my stock). My paternal grandfather taught my mom (a cantonese) how to do it this way, and we don't want it any other way...cantonese style (ducking head) pales beside this. Even better eaten the next day. For the harder textured ham yue, we chop them into tiny cubes and do like what Ben-sook describes.

Did I say I'll wait 3 days before eating them? The reason why one recipe makes 8 mooncakes (assuming you're one to keep all to yourself like some gourmand gentleman we know) is so that you can end up with at least one or 2 for the festival itself. But, out of curiosity, how much is left in your gift stock now?

Thanks, mflo, from a nyonya food fan. We've been known to travel to Penang and Malacca at the slightest excuse just for a solid nyonya fix.

Would also love to hear about the (subtle) culinary differences between the different groups of Peranakans. Tks.

No fair! Two against One! Methinks all of us need a nice trip to Tong San not only for language refresher classes but to satisfy other more innate needs. BTW, hz, whom do you practise your 25-years-ago Cantonese with? Your toisanese other? 25 years is a long time....

Good one, Michael! Spot on, I must say. A really mashed and mixed (with flour, eggs, baking powder) banana!. Lempeng pisang is a banana pancake. Edited: Missed out the VITAL word 'pisang'.

A thousand apologies, hz, while I crush your small note like a tau see. Msian/Sporeans tend to spell it with a 'T' rather than a 'D'. After all, the sound is a cross between the 2. When we spell it with a 'T', we don't say the word through our teeth like an actual 'T' sound, but rather with the tongue behind the top teeth. Blunt sound. A 'D' sound would be placing the tongue too far back. Another kinky example is the confused spelling for words which is a cross between B and P sounds, like 'white' in cantonese. It's not a clear-white 'B' or 'P' sound, is it? This is getting to be too funny! Talking chinese in english! We're all turning into bananas, if we're not one already!

Nah...we can all fit into 1 tin, 4 of us are real mini's.

Yes, you have to season them. Just pour some oil over the mould and leave for 2, 3 days, then rinse and thoroughly dry.

Yeah, nothing like a lot of bing bing bong bong to bring on the festive atmosphere! But, seriously, if you plan to do the traditional mooncakes, you can't eat them on the same day you make them. They have to be rested for 3 days for the oil in the skin to distribute and soften the skin. Why wait? Make them today - and post here!

Thanks, hz... I loved reading that.

Sure. Get us through immigration as your adopted family and you'll get 5 for the price of one.

Sue-On, do you feel the tingle of a cook-off in your finger-tips? Welcome, mflo!

LOL, I do remember 'getting' a lantern or 2 burned too. And, now, it goes on to the next generation. I like lanterns made out of glass paper and the colorful Japanese style ones too. But, these days lanterns are catering to children brought up with a diet of Powerpuff Girls and Doraemon among other cartoon characters. The ones which grate the most are those which come built with a piercing macarena number. We are fortunate that in Msia, despite the popularity of computer games and non-traditional lanterns, we still find families lighting up their gardens with lanterns during this period. Truly a warm and lovely sight to behold as you drive home at night, to see generations come together to reminisce, decorate the place and eat mooncakes, steamed baby yams, pomelos and a black nut which looks like a bull's head (don't know the name).