Dejah

Ok, if we're going to torture with more baking, snacks, etc. . . how about gai jie bang, huh? Huh? I love those...chewy, slight salty, sweet, nam yui? I think I had a picture of one in my foodblog from August.

Well... We get to do it all over again on Saturday, stay tuned . btw: I realised rather belatedly that I posted this exactly 13 minutes before midnight in Beijing. I should have waited and made it symbolic :P. Anyway, Happy New Year everybody! ← GRRRRRR What a wonderful feast! Good thing you didn't get a lot to eat. This way, you can handle another binge!

If it is "lowh po bang" then it means "wife biscuit". It is not really a biscuit, more like a round disk of winter melon paste wrapped with some flaky pastry. They are so good hot out of the oven..... It is not to be given during weddings, it got its name from other places. ← Lo paw baang I know. I was thrown by the "ho" in front. ← I thought "ho lowh po bang" was given out to the groom's side? and " ga nui bang" to the bride's side? I may be making this up. I know "lowh po bang". They are great even cold . . . hzrtw8, are you sure about the cheongsam and Kay po? In Toisanese, chune-sum was for the women and chune-po was for the men. Kay po was the old traditional "one size fits all" type worn by the actors in Crouching Tiger? Man! Am I butchering phonics!

Gastro, You are a gem! Great pictures. . .yum! I wonder if the gai loong is the same as ham gok? I love these...chewy, oily and savory! I made my gnow lahn yuen last night. They are so boring to look at that I decided to post a pic when I stir fry them with other ingredients. They tasted good tho' when they first came off the steamer, dipped in soya and sesame oil with a bit of mah la yow.

I have some gold paper wrapped chocolates shaped like the gold ingots of old. I'll be giving those out in hun baos to my students on Wed. Ben, can a man be "mui geen"? Gee, if this match goes through, how will the family manage "pang tay" for all of us on eGullet? That'll be another food thread . . "ho lowh po bang" and "ga nui bang"!

Aunty used 4 cups all purpose flour. Enough hot water was added to make a stiff dough. Then she poured 5.5 cups warm water over the dough. We kept working and squeezing the dough until all the gluten was extracted. This took about 15 minutes of squeezing to get the wheat starch. She then strained and discarded the left over mass. We used a deep frying pan for the "steaming", and 8" teflon cake pans. The pans were floating on about 1" of boiling water in the frying pan. One soup ladle of "gluten milk was poured into the pan and the filling sprinkled in. The frying pan was covered and cheung fun steamed for 2 minutes. The pans were then floated on cold water. The cheung fun was rolled and lifted out for devouring! itch22, the cloth tied tight over a steaming pot was how my sister used to do it . . . double thickness of cheese cloth. The water has to be really boiling so that the thin batter will set immediately. I think I'll continue to buy!

You are VERY hungry and envious as am I! Teepee, would you please describe what was in the Yee Sang? In the mushroom/veg dish, was that creamed seafood, scallop, on top? Everything looks wonderful! Thank you. Gung Hai Fat Choy!

Thanks! Yetti. I wonder if I can just use a bit of the ham ha to flavour? I'm off to Winnipeg for a conference soon. Maybe I'll pick up some Trassi and some more leaves. Looking forward to making the lemper ayam!

Of course, there's chop suey with green cabbage, celery, onion. canned sliced mushrooms, AND, wait for this: canned bean sprouts! This was in a rural community on the Canadian prairies, and before my parents sprouted their own. We used to sprout the mung beans in big stainless steel pails, holes punched on the bottom, burlap covering the bottom and on top of the beans. There were 3 of these pails, started on different days. Each pail had its own sprayer set to a timer to keep the beans moist with tepid water. The sprout room was kept warm and dark. Once they reach usable length, the sprouts would be put into a huge laundry tub of cold water. The hulls would rise to the top. My kids hated the job of cleaning off the hulls. The sprouts would be drained and put into the cooler for daily use. It took many years before Chinese vegetables became a familiar sight in stores. I am doing an interview on Monday with the local chef and culinary instructor for the city magazine. He wants to know about the first appearance of Chinese food on the prairies, AND the recipe for chop suey! I could give him so much more . . . but chop suey is what he wants . . .

Those were a favourite in our house. They'd come in a big jar. The ones with lycee and mango were the best. They don't come in mini-size now for the reason Shalmanese stated. They come in a cup about 3" x 1/2 inch size. Kids can't pop them now. I have a tiny coffee spoon for my grandson to use.

Yetti, I just checked out the recipe for the chicken and rice wrapped in banana leaves: Lemper Ayam What is Trassi? As I won't be able to get any here in Brandon, is it crucial for the taste? Is there anything I can use as a substitue? I have cooked whole salmon fillet in banana leaves with lots of lime slices, Thai chilis, cilantro, ginger, scallions, lemongrass, salt and fresh ground pepper, splashed with olive oil. These packetsFoil can substitute, but banana leaves are much better! Carolyn, Thanks for the method for the pork butt! I have a steamer like that and this will be a nice change from the usual pork roast!

Ooooh! I would love to have hear the Madame sing! ← Yup. . . It was all over when this "fat lady sang".....

Yeah, Gastro888! Let me tell you, from what I've seen, Herb is cute! ← Well, he enjoys food . . That's important!

This URL may be of interest : A Chinese New Year Dim Sum celebration at my restaurant in 2001. Every year, I swore I'd never do it again. Every year I buckled under customer pressure! http://www.hillmans.soupbo.com/soos/sum0101.html

I am a proud Toysanese . . .and yes, much, much younger than Dai Gaw Ben. Ben does have a great store of knowledge, about our area, the history, people, and the food! Will your family "buy sun" on New Years Day? What will be on the table for the offering in the morning? This festival coming up has brought a wonderful opportunity for the young'uns to read about old traditions. I will have my simmered WHOLE chicken, dried squid, crispy pork, fruit and tay doy on my table early in the morning. There will be incense burning in my special urn. This is not nearly as eleaborate as what will be happening at Mom's. I will have a picture to post of her morning ritual. My brother Ken will take the picture as I am not allowed to make my visit until the 2nd.

That film was pretty cool! I have been thinking about how aunty and I steamed the cheung fun. We used teflon coated round cake pans. The pans were set on a wire rack with water up to the bottom 1/3 of the pan. This way, the cheung fun cooked from the bottom as well as from the top. A lot of work but got a good facial out of it!

Oh Yeah! " How long can you hold off before the first crunch"! There's another red one, not like the ones browniebaker posted about...Can't remember what they were called. How about the licorice flavoured olives? Some lemon flavoured as well. Or those peanut and sesame bars? I had a candy from Trader Joes when we were in LA. They were black sesame bars with cumin. They were great!

WHOA! And you are still able to sit and post!?

Actually this clears up the what bing ting or wong tong is for my wife. She knows what to search for now. As for Po po. I know exactly what you mean, Ben. I fell in love the instant I saw her. Where would I be without my maman as a chef? I'm sure she and Dejah's Po Po are about the same size too! ← You are absolutely right, Ben! I had the wrong "tong" BUT, bing tong ain't pebble size... they are more fist size! Po-Po is actually my mother. She is 95 and still directs with a loving but firm hand.

I'm sorry, but I don't know the name of bing tong in Korean. Not sure if you caught the link for lobak goh in the China thread, but here it is again: http://www.hillmans.soupbo.com/soos/lobakgoh.html

This was today's preparation for Chinese New Year. http://www.hillmans.soupbo.com/soos/seedball.html

Ok, here's the latest effort in making "tay doi" or "Chee jie" for New Years celebration: http://www.hillmans.soupbo.com/soos/seedball.html The method here involves one extra step when compared to Grace Young's. We made up and cooked some slurry before adding it to the flour, whereas Young just adds cooled sugar syrup to the flour. Mom said we don't blow air into the pockets now for sanitatary reasons. Besides, she said she doesn't want to because of "old people's breath"! Unfortunately, these balls collapse when they cool down. But she assures me that's what they are supposed to do! I snuck one to taste. Regardless of how long I drained it, there was still a lot of oil in the pastry. There was a very thin layer of crunch on the outside. The rest was sweet, soft, and chewy. We used only diced sugared lotus nut for filling. These will now be kept safe from tasters until after the offering on New Years Day. I think we will make gnow lan yuen tomorrow!

I echo Yetti's sentiments! We were ready to send out an APB. Those pictures look wonderful. I wish we had virtual taste capability on computers, even virtual scents would be acceptable!

I love being a virtual gourmand! My son was in Amsterdam backpacking lin 2003 but he didn't think to take pictures of food! I am looking forward to another wonderful blog!