jo-mel

I read somewhere (I'm always reading something somewhere!) that the pickled pink Japanese ginger got its color from lime juice, but after reading all the stuff, it seems to be simply something acidic. Barbara Tropp uses a combo of vinegars: To 1/2 pound of peeled fresh ginger, sliced crosswise into paper-thin coins, blanched and placed in a clean,clean,clean glass or plastic container, she pours the hot mix over, allows it to cool, and stored in the refrig for 24 hours. The mix---- 1 1/3 cups unseasoned Japanese rice vinegar / 3 Tbsp. cider vinegar / 2 Tbsp. distilled white vinegar / 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp. sugar / 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. salt. Bring it to a boil over moderate heat until the sugar & salt is dissolved. Gin/Castle's "Regional Cooking of China" uses a ratio of 1 to 1 to 1 of rice vinegar, sugar and water. A little salt and 1 or 2 dried chile peppers. I found this on-line: http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/asia/ja...00/rec0012.html But to answer your question -- I've never pickled ginger. I buy it in tall jars. Pickled Ginger - Meechun Canning Co. Ltd. They also make the red candied knobs of ginger in the same type of jars. The pickled slices are wonderful. (I'm eating,one right now) Slightly sweet, but zingy and refreshing. I usually shred them, put them on a small plate and put them on the table when I have a Chinese dinner.

Goose Mulled cider - heavy on the cinnamon Plum pudding with hard sauce. Vanilla ice cream with hot minced meat sauce on top. (The above are the two desserts I usually serve. One is white on brown and the other is brown on white.) Short bread -- epecially made with oatmeal and brown sugar Chestnuts -- both roasted, or served as a vegetable Brussel sprouts -- sometimes served in a creamy casserole with chestnuts and boiled onions. Apple stuffing for the goose Egg nog made with vanilla ice cream A nutty fruit cake -- not made with those colored things and not the fruit cake that is being passed around the world. A pot of simmering water on the stove with cinnmon and cloves. For aromatic purposes. Oyster stew

You can view the menus, etc. HERE edited to add link I checked ou their menu. Looks good, but I wonder why they only have the Fried Clams on the 'take-out' menu? Have you tried them? Are they the whole clam? Being from Mass., I love Fried Clams. I think they were the first food I had when I could chew! When I married NJ, I couldn't find any here. (That was a looooong time ago) One restaurant offered to fry some for me --- but they used Cherrystones. NOT THE SAME!! I'm pleased to see most summer places now carry them. They are my weakness. On my first visit to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, it was a dank, cold day. One outside stand had Clam Chowder. DH and I ordered a cup each to eat while we walked around and trying to warm up. Being on the Pacific, I thought it might be Razor Clam Chowder, but one sip and I went back to the vendor and asked him what kind of chowder it was. NEW ENGLAND Clam Chowder!!! All the way across the country to have 'home chow'!! (It was good!)

Is it the total grams of sugar? I was in a Chinese store, today, and checked the 3 brands. LeeKum Kee had 21 gms sugar to 2 Tbsp. WOW! Weichuan had 4 gms to 2 Tbsp, if I remember right, and Koon Chun had 3 gms to 2 Tbsp. What a difference from the Lee Kum Kee!

Just don't try tasting the sherry straight from the jar. PJ I have! Heady tasting stuff too!! LOL!

I was whipping up some heavy cream to put on a pumpkin pie, for Thanksgiving -- a few years ago. A couple of nephews saw me and said: "Darn! Aunt Jo-Ann is making real whipped cream --- not using Reddi-Whip!!! In a blind taste test, the real stuff must be the winner over the aerosol can or the frozen stuff. It has more body and you can tinker with the flavor. I like cinnamon sugar. But there is nothing quite like a big squirt from the can -- directly in the mouth. My own four kids used to line up for a shot!!

I hope your 'grocery cart driving school' goes nationwide, and includes little kids with those little carts with the flags! And --- please include the chatterers! When I go down an aisle, I play games with myself, while muttering under my breath. I'll see someone ahead of me, and I say to myself "Watch them go to the middle of the aisle just as I try to pass" --- and they usually do! Or the aisle with two people who stop beside each other at the same time --- blocking passage. I think it is because I expected them to stop at the same place that they did. (not that I'm paranoid. ) Of course, my cart etiquette is above approach!! LOL!

LOL! I'm probably too organized for my own good, but I, too, have foods in groups and certain things go in certain drawers, or stacked with like things. I use those little lazy susans so that I can keep organized. God help when DH puts the milk where the juice belongs! I have so darn much in the refrig, that I have to be organized. What was that movie, where the family put things away by color? HeeHee ---at least I don't do that!

Arise! Arise! (LOL!) I can't take credit for it. I just read it somewhere, too! If you use it alot, then the unpeeled garlic won't darken. But after a time, it will. It's just the color from the peel leeching into the wine. I usually slice mine, but I am going to do one whole and unpeeled, as you did, also. One time I had no sherry, or ShaoXing, or Saki wine, and a recipe called for it -- as well as ginger. I used the sherry from the jar of ginger, and got both flavors at the same time. Real heady smelling stuff!

When I first bought ginger, (years ago) it wasn't a staple in the stores. I put it in the refrigerator, hoping it would keep -- and it didn't! It turned moldy very quickly. If the ginger has any mold on it, but otherwise is still firm --- then the mold can be scraped off. Then I read about peeling it and slicing it into sherry, in a jar, and refrigerating it. This is fool-proof, and it lasts for ever. If you are going to use it within a week, then the crisper in the fridge is fine. But for a longer term of 3 to 4 weeks, you can place it into a small paper bag or a paper towel, and put it in the crisper of the refrigerator. No crisper -- put the paper bag or paper towel in a plastic bag. The paper absorbs the moisture that causes the mold, and the plastic keeps the moisture in. (figure that out!) Since it is available just about everywhere, now ---- I just buy it when the old one is starting to look less than fresh. I keep it in an airy, dark drawer with my potatoes. Freezing it and using when needed is very handy, and always available. But this is good only if you use grated or pureed ginger. Freezing makes it mushy when defrosted. If texture is important, as in needing shreds or slices, then freezing is not a good idea. I planted it once -- like the Martha S. idea. Pain in the neck!!! It made an interesting plant when I didn't dig it up.

Food shopping, itself, is pleasure. Putting it all away is drudgery.

That jiggled a memory! Can't remember where, or when, but I'd heard that there was a time (long, long ago) that duck was allowed on Catholic meat-fasting diets. This was before duck were farmed raised. Their diet was mostly fish, their flesh tasted like fish, so they qualified as 'fish'. (Trivia lesson for today)

Isn't there a current TV ad/promo on Wal-Mart and satisfied jobs with Wal-Mart ---especially women in managerial positions?

I have to confess that I really don't know what a Wal-Mart is. (not a Paris Hilton confession) I live in NJ, and I guess there is one here, but I've never been in it. Is it the sort of mega-store for "one- stop-shopping"? Where you can get clothes, food, housewares and appliances? Is a KMart part of the system? From what I've read here, I don't think I'd like it. But then -- I'm not shopper and stay away from places with over-sized shopping carts, and parking lots that need a shuttle.

That is some fishie!! Bet it has great cheeks. They could almost be 'cheek steaks'! May I ask where he caught it? I assume the shore --but where?

Some of the supermarkets have learned a lesson from Fresh Field/Whole Foods in my area. When Fresh Fields moved in, all of a sudden you could find organic produce sections in the larger markets. This extends to other packaged products as well. Fresh Fields, at one time, had so many samples of breads out, that you could make a meal of it. It is less so now with Whole Foods, but the samples are still there. I prefer the samples without a monitor, with a dish of toothpicks and a discount coupon to dole out. The supermarkets that do this, turn me off. I prefer to taste and make a decision on my own -- as they allow in Whole Foods. And yes--- having samples of lesser-known foods might awaken palates who buy the same old, same old. The mega -markets do have one positive feature. The room to add things you would not normally have in a smaller market. Case in point, a Shop Rite frozenfood section had tiny Maine blueberries. I was so astonished that I bought half a dozen packages and pigged out on blueberry sauce and muffins. I've never seen them anywhere else, not even in the smaller Shop Rites. Supply and demand will determine what sells. Just as an example, look at the increase in lo-carb products, and the increasing labels with "no added sugar" prominently displayed. The deli sections have enlarged to accommodate busy people, and large supermarkets have both checkers and baggers to get you out of the store quicker. I'd heard that many shopping malls are losing customers who are returning to their own towns for shopping. Don't know if this is a trend, but the lack of assistance from lack of store help, on the floors of department stores is a turn down. Some people prefer the one on one assistance you get in the smaller stores. Maybe they should get a clue from the food stores who try to please everybody. In a couple of the supermarkets, the fish men and I are almost on a first name basis. There always seems to be someone on hand when you need help. I may frown on what the person next to me has in her cart, but I like the fact that there is a choice. The little neighborhood store can't do this.

Often I research a recipe from several books before I decide how to make it that particular time. (Similar to what someone wrote earlier) Of my 300+ books I probably use 10 regularly - if that many. But I refer to many of them often -- not for cooking, but for information.

Great picture ----- looks like my place. The only things not gilded with snow is my little bamboo patch. They have been swaying all day making their own shower of snow. I think I'm the only one feeding birds in this area --as thay are ALL in my back yard!!! I've got some good ones, but also some pesky ones who need birth control. Dinner tonight will be chili. I'm not big chili fan but it seems kinda 'stick to the ribs'. I have a bread in the machine. It may not go with chili, but it sure smells good right now. Battered and deep/fried Mac and Cheese? Will that work on the South Beach Diet? LOL!

(Hmmmm, I thought I replied to this last night, but I guess I never pushed the 'post' button! LOL! Lets see if I can re-do it.) If you look at the last picture in this link: http://www.digsmagazine.com/nourish/nourish_dumplings4.htm you will see the dumpling 'standing' on the cook's hand. If the wrapper had just been folded in half, the dumpling would fall over if placed with the arc on top. By pleating one side, you change the balance, and if you look closely, you will see the concave side of the dumpling ----made by pushing gently on that side, causing the other side to bulge out -- like a back-pack. The dumpling will now 'stand' firmly with the arc/arch on the top, and the full bottom flattened. Clear??

Because my DH accommodated me twice this week -- by eating microwave stuff in his office, ---tonight I treated him with Lobster Stew. (made from lobster tails) Wasn't bad. A good night for soup. Forget the stores today!! I went out, but to get birdseed at Plocks. More important today, than bread and milk!

I do realize you were pointing out what you saw on the menu. Quite varied! Not many places have Three Cup Chicken. What were the pre-ordered dishes for the party? (aside from the shrimp with coconut milk)

Last year I wrote to 'worldspice.com' about the ban, and have been in contact with him from time to time. I asked him what the latest news was, and this is what he said today: (I think a trip to Vancouver is in my future!) "No movement on the sichuan pepper front and honestly, none expected. You're jousting with the citrus lobby in DC on this one and there just isn't a strong enough coordinated effort to change it. Any that you find, and I know the sources you speak of, is most definately illegal. The only way it's allowed into the country is "roasted and ground" and that completely destroys the flavour. If you find it whole, or see it on the net, chances are it's not real sichan pepper or the USDA is already en route to their doorsteps. With the homeland security money up for grabs, every agency is making efforts to prove their worth, hence, stronger enforcement. I believe that the first discovery gets the product confiscated, the second, a fine in the thousands of dollars range. Personally, I'm not willing to risk it. Good luck to you, enjoy some next time you find yourself in Vancouver at Sun Sui Wah. :-)"

I also thought the selections were interesting. A little mix of traditional with untraditional. Sounds like the kitchen is thinking and not just dishing.

It's called Chinese Barbecue Sauce, but it's not the sort of sauce you find on ribs. It is similar to Satay sauce and can be used as a glaze or added to a stir/fry. The ingredients usually include ground peanuts, some sort of dried fish &/or shellfish, spices, maybe sesame. It is not red and glistening as other BBQ sauces. How was the dish, that you had, served?

Are we there yet? With Christmas and Hannukah gifts, you should get a few miles! LOL!