Dejah

South Beach diet dessert: 1/2 cup ricotta, 1 tsp coco powder, 1 packet of artificial sweetner, 1/8 tsp fresh ground expresso coffee( I like more), chopped almonds. I add a little skim milk to smooth it out as it swirls in my mini blender. Hubby likes it frozen; I prefer it well chilled. You can also make it with almond flavouring in place of coco and expresso.

This is a very good rendition of linguine con frutti di mare. I'm not sure there's much more to say about it, except that the seafood was all good. Michael ← Michael, That's a delicious looking dish..................of linguine con frutti di mare. I love all that seafood. What a great finish to our virtual food tour! Thanks also for the glimpse of you. It's always great to be able to match the smile with the food. Lori: Just go into : http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=42329 and read all the other great blogs that have gone before. There's lots of great eating there.

Any suggestions on how to improve this would be helpful. Thanks all. I know you guys are pros at making them. :) ← Check my URL posted above, post # 75. It's a pictorial of how I made my joong. Your process is not clear. It sounds like you were making nor mai gai. You said you cooked everything together? And, how long did you cook them AFTER you wrapped them? Did you boil them or steamed them? I used raw peanuts that you find in Asian stores. These must be soaked over night or they will stay crunchy.

Met up with Ben Hong yesterday for yum cha. I think he was impressed with the quality of the dim sum in Winnipeg's Chinatown, if not with the weather! We had a great visit with another bi-racial family whom he met on his hunting trip here in November. I remembered to pack his joongzi. Now, we'll wait to see if HE thinks I have too much liu in the joong!

Rice is cheap and ubiquitous and tastes like nothing, but plenty of people eat it by choice. I love the mushroom, the texture, the crunch, the earthy flavor. That's exactly why I go out of my way to eat it! ← I love suit yee for its texture. It's like tofu in that it takes on the flavour of whatever it is cooked in. There's nothing more comforting than crystal fungus cooked in a rich chicken stock when you are feeling off, or in the midst of a blinding snow storm You DO have to be careful so you don't overcook it. You want to retain some of that "crunch".

Dejah, you really must try it! Lamb is fairly common in Hunan recipes. One large supermarket in NYC's Chinatown (at least as of when I was last there a few years ago) even carries boneless lamb sliced paper-thin "for sukiyaki"! AFAIK, lamb is never used in sukiyaki (Mongolian BBQ, maybe), but I found it very convenient for my Lamb with Leeks and other Hunan dishes. Beats trying to slice it that thinly by hand! ← Suzy: Our supermarket carried the paper thin slices of lamb around Chinese New Year time for hot pots, along with beef, pork, liver. We eat lamb quite often, usually with a Middle East flavouring, but this stir-fry looks really good. I will definitely try! Pan, that congee...ain't comfort food for me at the moment. Down right uncomfortable 'cos I want some and can't have...too close to bed time. But we will have congee tomorrow. I just bought several packages of basa fillets. Looks like I will make fish congee soon! Have you ever had steamed buns with a filling of chicken, mushrooms, lapcheung, ginger and bamboo shoots, flavoured with oyster sauce? A nice change from char sui baos.

I think tripe should always be a touch chewy...I like that texture. Our family is meeting up with Ben Hong ( New Brunswick, Canadian eGuleteer) tomorrow for dim sum. He's in Winnipeg for a wedding and needed some of my joong... So we will meet. yum cha and hand over the bundle before his flight home. I froze some for him, but they should be thawed in time for his midnight snack! Do you have any favourite dim sum dishes? Pan? Or like any Cantonese dishes in particular?

Gas on top of rich spicy food can made you feel nauseous. Hope you can clear your system up quickly. Can't do that with Metamuscil tho'... ← Yeah, I think that a lot of this is really a reaction from the gas. Even though the gas is gone, my system is all screwed up. I'm not going to be up to going to tai chi this afternoon, and I have no idea when I'll be able to sleep. ←

chocomoo, You're right, "siu yook" probably does not mean "suckling pig". "Siu yook" does mean crispy skin roast pork. I doubt any individual will be wanting to buy an entire suckling pig and still think you'd get a blank stare from most vendors in Chinatown if you literally asked for "suckling pig". ← Suckling would indicate that little piggy was small enough to be still at the teat? That would be around 15 lbs? The one my Mom roasted (years ago now) was about 2 feet long (60 cm). It barely fit into the restaurant size oven! The one we ordered for my brother's 60th bday must have been a young adult...It fed a crowd of 100 with the head left over. Ben mentioned pouring boiling water over the skin to get that crispy texture. I seem to remember Mom rubbing the skin with gan sui - lye water - to get that texture. I remember the skin blistered, had a beautiful colour, and was crispy. Must ask her later. Great to "see your face", Tepee.

If Pan were to take the leftovers home, we wouldn't get to "eat out" as often! That mapo tofu is exactly the texture I like. In the Chinese forum, there was much discussion as to what kind of tofu to use: silkened, soft, med. firm, etc. That tofu looks like it retained its shape. Was it "browned" at all? I usually cook the cubes in oil after they've drained, cook the rest of the ingredients, then add the tofu in. Some seemed to think that was not the thing to do. I have never stir-fried with lamb. Now that I have seen your pictures, I will have to try as that looks delicious! One of my students made garlic blackbean eggplant for our potluck last week. Another thing I haven't cooked myself. What else was in that dish with the eggplant? You are introducing lots of new Chinese food to me, Pan! Thanks. ACK!!! I hope you opened your windows before trying to light your stove! Or are you trying to salvage your eyebrows at the moment? Gas on top of rich spicy food can made you feel nauseous. Hope you can clear your system up quickly. Can't do that with Metamuscil tho'...

Mind you, lotus root will go quite soft if cooked for a long time. Takes on the texture more-or-less of boiled taro. I've never actually timed it, but I think somewhere between 20-30 minutes of cooking is the point where it starts going soft. ← Actually there are 2 "kinds" of lotus root. The ones with round segments will soften with long cooking time, whereas the roots with more elongated segments will retain more crunch even when cooked for the same length of time. The rounder roots are called "fun lean gnow"...flour lotus root. My kids called lotus root soup "fiddle bridge soup". A semi circle slice of the root looks like the bridge on a fiddle or violin. Do you like the candied lotus root sold around Lunar New Years? I've always enjoyed your posts in the Chinese Cuisine forum, Pan. It's great having this virtual tour of your eating style!

Or in stir-fries. There are 2 different ones that I use. Mook yee = wood ear is thicker. When dry, it is black on one side and off white on the other. Wun yee is a thinner fungi, black and more transluscent when rehydrated. I prefer the wun yee stir-fried with lotus root, snow peas, etc. The white fungi is so pretty in its dry state, like coral or a flower with ruffled petals. I find you have to really rinse them off well as tiny particles get lodged in every crevice. Cut off the hard orange coloured stem and you can use it in a savory soup with chicken stock, or in sweet soup made with Chinese rock sugar. Po-Po says this is good for "guen fai"...the lungs

Adding gou qi zi to muffins, that's very interesting! I'll have to try that. I know my kids used to eat them right off the bush. The bush is about 3 feet high, just the right height for toddlers. They are juicy and sweet fresh. I'm really enjoying your blog, Pan.

Mudbug, in case you missed the Dan Tart Cook-off, click here. ← I've been meaning to get back to this topic. Wesza! Where is your wisdom on the dan tart pastry?? With all your experience and connections, you must find out or know the secret! My classes are finished next week and I'd like to try my hand on this pastry again. My Chinese students will be my guinea pigs, as usual

In nor my gai AND joong, I was taught to cut the poultry up WITH the bones, a la Chinese style. There is a lot of flavour in the bones. Remember, BBQ duck is cooked with a marinate inside the bird. I like chomping on bones, but my hubby and kids prefer that I use just the meat. 39 years and I still don't have him trained.

Sorry you weren't able to get thru' on your call; the 1-800-Dejah line has been busy all day... I tied several packets with the grass instead of string. Won't do that again as I lost one joong when the grass came loose in the boiling. Made a mess as well as losing all the goodies. I made the ones for our son who doesn't like mushrooms. This last batch, his, I double tied with regular string, but left the grass on for identification. Looked authentic tho'...

Finished my second joong session...Whew! With my big stock pot and turkey fryer, I am able to boil 3 doz at a time. Had some for supper. By God! They were great! Didn't take pictures today but the packets were bigger than usual because of the amount of liu. You should have seen them this time! hzrt: BBQ duck, salty pork, lapcheung, egg yolk, chestnut, peanuts, onion, dried shrimp meat, Chinese mushrooms, and rice. The second batch is boiling now...in a thunderstorm! I have to top it up with a kettle of boiling water every half hour. In one of the packets of leaves, I found a bundle of grass string. Mom was quite excited about them as that's what she used in China. She told how as a young girl, their job was to shred these long pieces of grass into thinner strands, tied them together and wind the one long piece into a ball like yarn. Then they'd use it like I use my cone of string. She also told how she learned to wrap joong by collecting discarded leaves, using sand for the rice, and practising the technique until she was able to do them properly.

Dejah: You sure use a lot of "liu" for your joong. No wonder that you need to use 3 leaves to wrap it. ← That's why everyone wants my joong! The proportion is still about 1/3 liu to 2/3 rice. You just can't see the back part of the joong, which is all rice. My sister will take 3 doz back to Vancouver with her because of the liu. Uncle Ben will get some when he comes out in July. Maybe he'll give a report after he gets home as to whether there is too much liu. I believe he said upthread that he was a connoisseur of joong. If I want lots of rice, I may as well just cook a pot of rice with acouple of lapcheung. I put hours of prep. and TLC into these suckers, so I want to make my eating worthwhile.

Here is a sneak preview of my soon-to-be joong2 webpage. This was the how-to session on June 11 with my international students and friends. http://www.hillmans.soupbo.com/soos/joong2.html I promised hubby that I will put up comments/instructions for this page.

I think that looks more like puff pastry? I buy puff pastry sheets and cut them to whatever size I want the pastries to be. Easier than from scratch. Phyllo would make a crisper pastry. That would be great too! I have made the filling with ground chicken or beef...with the addition of curry powder or paste, chopped onions, garlic, and mashed potato. The potato makes a nice binding agent and gives the filling a better mouth feel.

No... but we did have what this restaurant called Peking soup... very good. ← Which restaurant, Pam? Would you recommend it?

I like your tradition! Did you have Peking duck like the movie "A Christmas Story"?

We pampered hubby/Dad here at home. The kids and I bought Bill a new 17" LCD flat screen monitor. Son Robin had it set up with a Happy Father's Day greeting on it. He had to close his eyes as I led him towards his computer desk. Older son and his family came over and we had waffles, bacon, eggs and fruit for brunch. The only Chinese food we had was spinach soup with pork tenderloin slices. The rest of the supper was BBQ bison striploins, and skewers of 2 oz.lobster tails with chunks of peppers, mushrooms, red onions and zucchini. Oh, wait, we had persimmons for dessert! Does that count...even if they were imported from Chili?

It' called Shanghai bok choy here in Canada...about 89 cents a pound at the moment. I like it quick stir-fried with ginger, garlic and chopped chilis, and drizzled with sesame oil. I can eat it everyday and not be sick of it.

I stir-fried everything, (except the pork and lapcheung) separately, with salt, pepper and MSG/sugar mix. I don't "cook" with green onions. I may add them at the last minute, otherwise, they basically disappear in other flavours. Spanish onions are different. I cut them fairly thick and they maintain their flavour even after boiling or stir-frying. I also season my rice with salt, MSG and sugar. For every 8 cups of rice, I use 2.5 Chinese soup-spoons of salt and 2.5 ssp. of a mixture of half MSG,half sugar.