Dejah

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.

I didn't know you eat the bitter melon leaves, tho' I've eaten lots of bitter melons. U toy / Yu choi is a variety of Chinese greens. They are wonderful quickly stir-fried with chopped garlic and ginger, and drizzled with oyster sauce or sesame oil just before serving. I also like them blanched and eaten with noodle / wonton soup. Green beans that look like crab apples? Were they mis-labelled and are actually Thai eggplant?

I think foil was used because it was cheaper and easier to find than parchment / cellophane paper? At least, that was the case with my own restaurant on the prairies.

Dry ho fun = gon chow ho fun. I'll have to take out my splatter screen and try the crispy ho fun. Have never heard of that but it sounds good! To add to the confusion, I grew up with a soup noodle dish called "Yut gah mein". The noodles came in dried form. Once added to the broth, it softened into chewy noodles. These were white which makes me think they were made without eggs? I am almost certain they were made with wheat flour. Wish I had a box to check but it's one of those items that you tuck away in your memory to be pulled out by threads like this!

Well, of course you did! Where else would you sit? When I was growing up, the place with the pu pu platters was the Moon Palace. I remember breaded shrimp and spring rolls and some beef on a skewer that you had to finish cooking over the flame. I don't remember what else was there - but something about the sizzle and the char was very enjoyable. The Moon Palace looked nothing like your Kowloon. It was a modern space in a strip mall. I imagine it would have been even more enjoyable if they had a Volcano room. ← Pam: Did you ever go to the Beachcomber on Carlton? It was located in the Carlton Hotel. May well be before your time. The interior was Polynisian, not quite as elaborate as Kowloon, with a waterfall in the centre of the dining room. The bar was like a grass hut, with bamboo stools, tropicial flora everywhere. Guests walked across a bridge and stream going into the dining room. I don't remember ordering a pu pu platter there, but most of the menu was Cantonese, and Polynisian if you ordered ones with "pineapple or lichee nuts". They also served steak and lobster, etc. I was most impressed on a date when the waiter brought me a fresh gardenia with our menu. They served drinks with an umbrella. The first time I encountered pu pu platter was in Nashville, in 1975 at a Chinese restaurant called Choy's next to Opryland. The platter looked like Chris's Pennisula Platter. There were four of us eating from it, and we could hardly eat anything else after. I remember BBQ ribs, chicken wings, egg rolls, wontons, and I'm sure a couple of other items. On our menu, we called this the appetizer platter with BBQ pork, BBQ chicken wings, wontons, and egg rolls.

Markemorse, Your incredible blog is right up there with Chufi's! I learned quite a lot from her about Amsterdam before visiting in the spring; unfortunately, I wasn't there long enough to be adventurous food wise. I am learning about a whole different world of food reading through your week here. So fascinating to see the blend of cuisine from the colonies. We hope to be within reach of Amsterdam again next spring. I will be more prepared to venture into the foods you and Chufi have introduced. As for the "fo lam" - you said spit roasted pigglet. I'm wondering if it's the same as siu yook where the skin is blistered and crisp? Typically, the seasoning is nam yeu (fermented tofu), brown bean paste, 5-spice, etc. I can see where that would be perfect in a crispy roll with its layers of fat and lean.

Definitely messy, juicy, chewy, lip-smackin' goodness. Well done!

For me, I'd leave the meat on the bone, then get all sticky and messy gnawing and chawing. That's half of the flavour!

Braising Chinese style with soya sauce, star anise, ginger, palm sugar, etc Or, I would even attempt beef rendang if you don't want a stew or soup - just finger licking spicy sticky goodness. Both of these methods require 3-4 hours of slow simmering that would allow for "slurping from the bone"

Very cool to see you outside the Chinese cuisine forum, Kent! I used to cook oxtails and collard greens for acouple of southern basketball players attending our university. Not quite like their mama's but close enough to fill the void.

Oh, that looks so delicious! Do you think they would survive in the mail? ← It would survive FedEx, but it won't pass Homeland Security!

Not sure where to post these as joongzi season is over, and this is what we've been eating the last couple of days. I finally made my annual supply of joongzi this past weekend. To my traditional Toisanese fillings, I made some according to Tepee's Malaysian style with beef rendang. Didn't take any pictures of the tradtional ones with salty pork belly, lap cheung, dong goo, onion, peanuts, and salty duck egg yolk. But it was more work this time as the only eggs available were cooked duck eggs! The flavour was excellent, but it was a pain having to cut them open just so, then scoop out the yolk with a small spoon. I had A LOTof egg whites, so I distributed them to all my Chinese students. Here is a picture of the pork belly after curing for 3 days in coarse salt. This is one with beef rendang: Soooooo Good!