Dejah

Thanks, Peter and Marlene. The fat I got was trimmed from other cuts they prepared. It's mainly long pieces from steaks, etc - solid white waxy fat. There doesn't seem to be any membranes, meat or anything else on them. From google, some instructions said to dice the fat first. Is that necessary, or can I just stack them into a big heavy pot? Our former IGA stores were changed to Soby's. I like their meat, and always watch for their Sterling Silver sales. A couple months ago, they had a sale on prime rib. I ordered a 6 rib one, several 2 ribs, and single rib. Enjoyed the 6 rib last Sunday, and the single ribs are perfect for the kids cooking away from home. Last week was T-bones on for 4.99/lb. Good eats!

English friends tell me that the best fish'n'chips is deep fried in beef fat. I just picked up 5 lbs from Soby's - for free. Now, how do I render this?

Chris: That's the size of wok we used for fried rice only when I had the restaurant. Lapyuk fat to season - what a waste. With all that work in curing, I'd rather use it to make lap mei fan! My cooks used to season a new wok on the stove too. With the commercial gas stoves, it was much easier, especially when they did it for me. Will look forward to the seasoning report.

Looks great, Robin! When "aromas" stay in the house, I boil some vinegar in water (about 1/3 vinegar to 2/3 water) on the stove. It seems to get rid of all kinds of smells. I use an old pyrex pot. A friend gave me branches of fresh kaffir lime leaves and basil, so it's back to Cradle and Thai cooking by the end of the week. It's been an insane 2 weeks of beef, bison, and lamb during our son's wedding. Need curry and spices to cleanse my system!

Ditto for me AND the nian goh. Amazing the amount of food one can pack in in an short time - when one has to.

Double posting this image in Weight Watchers ( because of the noodles = 0 points) and here (because of the tendons and yu choy): Shirataki noodles, chicken broth, bean sprouts, Thaio basil, yu choy, chili sauce, and dim sum style beef tendons that sister brought from Burnaby. I love it when she visits!

I would suggest using shallots instead of green onions. The fried bits of shallot is lovely to bit into. I used to make my own using fresh AND dried red chilis, even with habanero peppers for extreme heat. I have been using a store bought jar: Saigon Hot Sauce - Oil'n'Chili. It's a product of Vietnam and imported by a company in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I used to buy it in Chinese grocery stores, but I see it is also available in our Safeway stores. It's expensive, at between 3.50 - 4.00 /250 ML, but very tasty.

Regret not taking any pictures, but I just HAD to tell someone! I believe I cooked my best ever prime rib tonight following jackal's slow roast method. The roast was a 6-rib Sterling Silver from Sobys when they had a sale on 2 months back. It was saved for a "last supper" before family went back west after our son's wedding last weekend. I thawed the roast in the fridge for 3 days, brought to room temp, seasoned, then into the oven at the 200F mark in my oven. The process took 6 hours to reach 63F (med. rare temp on the thermometer), tented for 30 minutes, and it was perfect. It was med. rare from top to bottom!

When I have too many fresh tomatoes (is that possible? ), I wash then put them in freezer bags. Frozen whole, they add such a bright spash of colour to the freezer on a dreary winter's day. When I need tomatoes for sauces, soups, lasagne, I just thaw and smush. The skin comes off very easily if you need to peel them. Most of the time, they just decorate my freezer.

Check this link for conversions: http://www.foodsubs.com/ThickenGelatins.html

Chicken stew with vegetable chunks (carrots, onions, potatoes, celery, etc) served with soda biscuits.

I have never used kosher gelatine, but I have used agar agar in place of gelatine in desserts made for my Muslim students. Agar agar is a seaweed. You can buy it in Asian stores, in "leaves" or in powder form. Hope that helps.

Memories of 1958: arrived in Canada from China via Hong Kong - first taste of cheese - Velveeta! Dad had the typical prairie town restaurant, and his grilled cheese sandwiches were made with the square sandwich slices, thick cut-it-yerself slice of velveeta and browned on the big grill. The bread would be golden brown with oozy cheese peeking out on all sides.Yummmm. Then I discovered Velveeta, tomatoe and lettuce sandwiches. These would be made in the morning, kept in my lunch box, and became a googy mess on slightly soggy bread by lunch time. Sounds and looked disgusting, but I actually enjoyed them like that - for a little while. Now the thought kinda turns my stomach. Does anyone remember the rolls of Velveet or Velveeta-like processed cheese? I remember these little round slices served on Ritz biscuits at community wedding showers. Then they came out with the squeezable tubes with the hole on the side. You poke thru' the opening with a knife, squeeze, and the cheese came out in a "decorative" swirl.

I was talking to my Mom and she said the leaves will be bitter if it is too mature - or if it has been boiled for too long. It is best used when the leaves are young and tender.

I added frozen mixed vegetables into hamburger soup and to chicken pot pie topped with puff pastry.

Definitely mapo tofu can be made without szechuan peppercorns. I like the numbing but not the flavour, so mine is always made without Szechuan peppercorns.

If the greens were more bitter and acrid than fu gwah, then you were probably eating from the berry bush rather than the soup green type. Most older Chinese ladies grow them in their "backyards."

Toisangirl: Welcome also from me, another Toisangirl. There are two varieties of the wolfberry plant: one is more of a bush and grown mainly for the wolfberries (gow gai gee). The other is grown for the leaves where the gardeners usually cut the stalks when the leaves are big enough to be used for soup. These leaves are more round in shape whereas the bush leaves are more elongated. I am usually given bunches of the latter for soup - my favourite from the time I was a child. I love it with acouple of salted egg yolks and egg white in the soup.In my country home, my former garden is overgrown by grass now, but the wolfberry bush still lives, and produces the berries. The fresh berries make a wonderful soup with just a bit of chicken or pork. My kids used to eat them right off the bush. If you want to dry the berries, make sure you pick them with the stem intact. Dry them in a single layer out of the sun to maintain the lovely red colour. Edited to add: I've never seen it sold in stores but my sister said it is now availabe in Vancouver.

From the pictures in Andrea Nguyen's book, I wonder if the ones on the left could be wild betel leaf. From the long-leaf shape in the right package, they could be sorrel OR "hung" a variety of mint.

Thanks for all the enticing photos of your part of the world, and of the food. I dipped my big toe across the border to Maine while travelling around the Maritime provinces years ago, had a taste of the deep fried clam strips, and vowed to make a trip just for Maine one day. You've got me pulling out the road atlas for next summer! I noticed that you like to have certain sauces, condiments on a "red plate" close at hand when cooking. What works well for me is a plastic Lazy Susan. I had one of those 5-separate-dishes serving platters that sat on a Lazy Susan. One of the compartments broke and I wasn't able to use it. While shopping at a second hand store, I saw another set with exactly the same dishes, and missing one. I was delighted now that I not only had a complete set for serving, I also had 2 extras! But, what will I do with the extra "Susan"? It works perfectly to hold my most used spices and sauces by my stove.

Hard to tell - try comparing the leaves with pictures of basil or perilla on Gernot Katzer's web site. ← The centre one is perilla. The one on the right could be basil.

There was until recently, but I wouldn't have dignified the thing they served with the name hamburger. They were truly awful. ← The Wimpy burgers were truly terrible. I remember wanting so badly to try one when we were in England - 1976. The ones we had were made of pork. I wonder if they used old discarded cardboard as in the "bao story in China", 'cos that's exactly what they tasted like! Didn't see any Wimpy restaurants this spring when we visited England. On the Canadian prairies, we had the "nip". That's what they were called in the 50s, 60s. Now they are called burgers with various names, except for Salisbury House restaurants. They are still called Nips, but not as good as they used to be - at least in my memory. Is /Was "nip"a common term in other parts of Canada and USA? Perhaps Pam R would know if Salisbury House is only on the prairies. Burton Cummings of the Guess Who fame has lent his name and finances to one of the newer restaurants in Winnipeg.

I really don't think so if this dish was served in a Chinese restaurant / take away, 'cos cream of mushroom soup would not be cost effective Having had my own Chinese restaurant, I would bet it was the cheaper way of cornstarch slurry and stock and not cream of mushroom soup. BTW, were there mushroom bits in the sauce?

Not a movie title, but how about the line from Bogey: "Here's looking at YOU, Kid"

That's what I was thinking. ← Noooooo....... Anna and Suzi have the right combination. A little soya or oyster sauce would lend more of a cream colour. It's more like an opaque sauce rather than cream coloured, I'd think. You could add egg white but that would give a "thread - like" appearance.