Dejah

Toisanese tradition says you should eat chicken today - and on your actual birth date. I'm "killing 2 birds with one stone" - making curry chicken stew to feed my curry craving and to follow tradition!

They're the same wok and the same "original price" at our Wal-Mart here in Manitoba, I should have checked while there today to see if ours are on sale - like I need ANOTHER wok!

Wow! Those who came were in luck! What a treat! Is this a custom done once a year in CNY? ← Jeeze, Tepee! I'm tired just from reading the menu, never mind thinking about 100 or so guests!

Does using Coca Cola add a distinctive flavour to the chicken? Would diet Coke work the same? That was pretty sneaky - the breast meat under the drumsticks. Did your better half eat the "oily, cholestrol-ladened carb" with the lapgnap/lap cheung fan? I am teasing. Of course she did! How can anyone refuse?!

Ah Leung, My father also collects Coca-Cola cans. ← For those interested in Coca Cola memorabilia, here's a Coca Cola Christmas my hubby put up and adds to constantly: http://www.hillmanweb.com/xmas/xmascoke.html It focuses mainly on the Santa image rather than the cans tho. Ah Leung: Why does the label on the duck leg package say" Pork Blood?!" It seems Coke is collected by a lot of people. A friend of ours in Chicago has his whole basement decorated in the Coke theme. He has everything, and done up like a soda shop. http://www.tarzan.org/dumdum05/1430f.html I always drink diet Coke with Chinese food IF there is no accompanying soup. Does anyone like the diet Coke with lime? It doesn't have quite the zip the "other" brand has. Ah Leung: Why does the label on the duck leg say "Pork blood?!" That "simple dish" - I can smell it! I have a whole lap gnap here, but hubby says we can't have any until we lose a few lbs.

There's a Japanese-run fish and chips shop I know of in San Diego which is also very good. They make battered fried zuchini that is to die for. You know, I too have a long-standing pipedream to get an RV and hit the road. Myself, I was contemplating a much more modest vehicle--more likely one of those truck insert campers. But the intent was similar--head cross-country and do foodie stuff. Along with a whole bunch of other stuff, of course ... hey, we could have one of those RV camping jamborees! ← I used to have a chafer of deep-fried battered mixed vegetables: broccoli florets, stalk, carrot, onion, zuchinni, potato chunks - buffet filler. I loved the broccoli florets the best. There's a tiny cafe attached to one of the "not-so desirable bars" in Brandon. It's runned by a Newfie, and his fish 'n' chips are really light and crispy. Wish he could make them lower in calories and cholestrol! There are Good Neighbor Sam Jamborees, Wally Byam Jamborees, etc. We can have an eG Jamboree. Or, if we're set on Chinese food - eG Wokkers! When Wally Byam had their jamboree in Brandon, the city prepared a farmer's field for them - with water and electric hookups. There were over a thousand silver bullets - quite a sight especially if you were flying over. I can just see the eG jamboree now - high-power burners, portable stoves, international flavours wafting up over the city. Yum! We travelled a great deal in the 70s, 80s, in first our Volkswagan camper, then a Ford MiniVan conversion (still at our country home). I often cooked one pot rice dishes on the camp stove, or on the interior stove if it was windy or rainy. "Roll 'em out! eGulleteers!"

That's the only time I use my ceramic steamer - for "go lai tam" - Korean ginseng "tea". I use thinly sliced portioned ginseng root in water, and steam it for 4 hours for the tonic. Gastro - your mom was really strict. It was 24 hours without root vegetables and "yeet hay" foods for me. I have heard of people steaming a small chicken with some ginseng - a strength building food for some one convalesing.

The A choi in the picture looks like heart of romaine. I like this lettuce stir-fried.

Other than the beautiful horse statue, and the exterior of the building, the new Safeway down the street from me is exactly the same - right down to the layout of the produce, where the customer service counter is, meat section! We don't have the wine section because of different liquor laws. I love my Safeway, but you really have to know your prices. Starbucks in the store had a clearance on acouple of their coffees - Columbia Medium - $4.49/8 oz.-regular $8.98/8oz. The sushi they sell is sent over several times a day from a Chinese restaurant but made by their Japanese chef/s-i-l. I quite often pick some up along with their BBQ chicken for quick lunch enroute home. Our driveway can accommodate that "Greyhound" - so I'm expecting you to come "wok 'n' roll" with us!

Is mung bean noodles a Toisanese tradition as a CNY dish? I saw the very same thing in my MIL's kitchen last night. ← Yes. Fun see is a Toisanese tradition for CNY, birthdays, other times of "offering". Noodles is more common for birthday banquets, but fun see is always for CNY. Our university Chinese students association is having a big celebration on March 3rd - the last day of the festivities. I got invitations, but they are "wishing that I might donate a dish of something", so I'll make a big chafter of fun see with maybe BBQ pork. ETA: Fun see can be difficult to cook properly- must be presoaked, and enough stock added to it in the wok. Not enough liquid, it will clump and burn. The fun see really soaks up liquid.

And rightly so, says Dai Gah jeah Dejah who is a Rat. I went early enough to the bank and got new bills with sequential serial numbers. I actually didn't notice them until I was trying to separate them. In the bag of fruit I took to my mom's I remembered to put in a "huon bao". In return for "jak lam" my Mom put in another huon bao with a larger denomination bill. I am still in the hole comparing what I had to give out to nieces, children and grandson, and what I received!

Use a needle, plain sewing needle, to "score" the green part of the scallion. Put these into ice water, leave for about half an hour. You can cut lengths of scallion, including the white part and score both ends with a solid part in the middle. This will produce curls at both ends. For the green stalks, slice them lengthways into thin strands of different lengths, soak them in ice water, and they will form lovely curls to toss randomly on top of dishes.

Ahem: Ah Leung is beyond coat hangers! That chicken looks perfect. Bet M-i-l was very happy. Reminds me that I need to make it again. ← Oh no! I loved the coat hangers. What's different? I haven't been able to follow the forums for a few months... *hides in shame* ← I think Ah Leung fashioned S hooks from coat hangers used in the "drying process", and used large skewers in the roasting process in the oven. I used fatt choy that I received as a gift about 30 years ago! I just found it stored in an old cracker tin at our country home. I assume that it must be real as we still live! ETA: I actually prefer the drier oysters, which are usually darker in colour. The drier ones are more intense in flavour. I use these in soups. The lighter coloured and softer ones are good for other dishes. I love foo jook oyster soup.

No problem with these "thing of horror" when I remembered the delectable dish made from these. Why were they hanging to dry? Would sheetz's chicken be the one and only real"nor mai gai"?

Ahem: Ah Leung is beyond coat hangers! That chicken looks perfect. Bet M-i-l was very happy. Reminds me that I need to make it again.

Those twigs are so big they look more like the actual trees? I think the "Shui Sin" is known as "paperwhites" I have forced them before in time for CNY, but I don't like the fragrance. It gives me a headache. It makes me even sadder to see all those beautiful plants standing OUTSIDE while my trees are nekkid! ETA: Ooopsss...Kouign Aman beat me to the paperwhites. In addtion to strawberry flavour candies, the package I bought this year were coconut flavoured in assorted coloured foil wrappers. They were a nice change. Instead of gold coins, I bought gum fah sung (golden peanuts) for my grandson. The chocolate they use is terrible tho'.

Made our CNY visit to my Mom's (Po-Po), brother and s-i-l's home with a big bag of perfect apples, tangerines, New Year's candies, and malai goh. They had made the offerings already and we got to enjoy the feast: silky poached chicken siu yook braises mushrooms fun see mixed vegetables with see goo and foo yook and ho see tong. Burp! ExCUSE me! Peony: I'll have some of your cake, please.

Hey if you can't afford it, how about a discount and just get me over there? I know I am less experienced but California is much closer to Malaysia... airfare much lower! ← Actually, I think Ben and I should hit sheetz's, then Ah Leung's, THEN Tepee's! Let me see, who's in between that we've missed? Come on - give up your locations! ETA: Right now, hubby and I are going to Po-Po's house for lunch!

Ok, you can go to tepee's this year. I'll go to sheetz's 'cos it's closer than Malaysia! Besides, I'm younger than Ben Sook and can handle the snow and cold.

I'll let you know as soon as I can when this Dai Gah Jeah will be arriving for " the small banquet".

Sheetz! That chicken is the most beautiful dish I've ever seen! Congratulations for showing up the rest of us. This is what's so great about the forum - we get to see dishes we've never cooked ourselves - but may be inspired by others to try something different.

There really is quite a variety in wonton wrappers. I prefer the thinnest ones for soup wontons, and the thicker ones for deep fried wontons as they are sturdier. I also use the thin ones for siu mai, after I trim them into circles with a scalloped-edged cookie cutter. The thick white ones are usually round in our part of the world. These are used for jiaozi.

Very true. For Chinese food though, most households in China - especially those in the rural areas - would do away with a close-to-rusty cleaver, a almost deformed chopping block, a bowl, a pair of worn wooden chopsticks, an iron spatula and a well-seasoned wok. That's about all they need (and to some, all they can afford). For example, no fancy tongs in China that a pair of wooden chopsticks and a wet towel can't do. We are the minimalists, utilitarians. ← Ah Leung: Do you mean they would do fine with....? You KNOW we would never do away with a close-to-rusty cleaver, an almost deformed chopping block, etc.

Tepee! YUM! All looked delicious. Thanks for the shrimp dish. They look like something was tied around each one? The arrowhead dish your eldest SIL contributed: was it stir-fried? Mine are still in my fridge. I can just taste that vegetarian mix, wrapped in a fresh lettuce leaf. Inspite of your warning about fatt choi, I added some to our stir-fry, made sure my elder son had a good helping so that his business will prosper!

If I may, while Ah Leung is sleeping off his sumptuous meal from last night, I will chime in with a Toisanese answer. Ah leung is from the Canton area as opposed to the more northern areas, so dumplings as most would imagine are not traditional at the CNY family dinner. The only dumplings we have as a CNY meal would be balls of glutinous rice in bowls of rich stock, augmented with shredded daikon, pork, rehydrated baby shrimp or scallops, etc. This is traditional in my Toisanese family, on New Year's eve. We DO make other dumplings, such as ham sui gok, chang tay, etc, but they are eaten at times other than meals.