Dejah

When is your bday? Gary? Did Ju Ju throw a big 60th bday party for you? That is considered an important one for Chinese people. When my brother turned 60, we held a big party at a dance hall that he owned. We had a whole Chinese BBQ pig, apple in its mouth, etc, etc. We special ordered it from the BBQ shop in Winnipeg. It was eating, drinking and dancing all night. My brother and s-i-l are great dancers. For hubby Bill's 60th, he didn't get suckling pig as he is gwai lo I was managing a laundromat for my brother at the time, so I held it in the coffee shop. All our past band members and classmates showed up. He was totally surprised. We jammed 'til the wee hours. Ben! Give me your favorite soups list and I'll make sure the ingredients are stocked up. We are all very much looking forward to your visit. Any one else want to come?

Winter melon with the skin on, simmered for the afternoon with dried oysters, pork neck bones and dried tangerine peel. Bitter melon soup with dried oysters, neck bones and a big chunk of fresh ginger. Dried bok choy soup with wind dried duck feet, pork butt, dried dates and a few Chinese almonds. Lotus root soup with dried octopus, preserved turnip, ginger and a big hunk of pork butt. Fresh bok choy, carrots, celery, beef trimmings (gristle with bits of fat, and fresh ginger. Say mai tang with American gingsen root (lotus nuts, almonds, gee jai see, sa tam, etc.etc) and a hunk of pork butt. Chinese okra with slivers of ham or chicken. Come deer hunting season, my s-i-l will make venison soup with Chinese herbs and dried longan.

I have several Australian Womens Weekly mags and have used recipes from them. I don't have the Oriental one but I do have the Chinese Cookbook #2. Have never used the recipes. It was just for my collection to use ...sometime. After this post, I looked through some of the recipes. There are ones that seemed traditional, but also some "adjusted" ones. The photos are very colourful. There are step by step photos on how to, and a glossary at the end. The AWW one I use the most is the Finger Foods one.

Must be a western thing... As I think back, I noticed the "vinegry" touch in the kung po...and I didn't put vinegar or rice wine or anything like that in. So, I just opened a can of baby corn and the cobs have a slight touch of sour. Besides, they look so pretty. Have you ever seen fresh baby corn? A friend of mine tried to grow some years ago. So few for so much work!

Kris, Please explain about the squid fermented in its own guts! Are the squids raw? How long have they been fermenting? What else is in the mixture? How do you eat it?

So, what is traditional kung po? Am I just misguided? lazy? Do you use toban sauce (chili bean sauce) as a base? I use it in ma po tofu along with the sechuan peppercorns. I use it in kung po along with fresh chilis. For my kung po, I use diced chicken breast, with waterchestnuts, baby corn, diced red, green, yellow peppers, celery, onion, topped with dry roasted unsalted peanuts. I prefer to use whole sechuan peppercorns, but my daughter doesn't like to be surprised, so I grind them a bit.

Fella eGulleteers need to check in on my friend Astrid's blog. She just posted some cool pictures from her 7 day holiday in Hangzhou. http://www.wrappedindough.com/archives/200...lida_1.php#more

Hide is beautiful, as are your daughters. Thanks for sharing them! I have a 6 year old grandson. He loves udon noodles; noodles of all kinds.

I'm not sure how young men in Japan are raised, but perhaps Taka was coddled. He is staying in a homestay where the hosts are to provide 3 meals a day. The students pay $550.00 a month. His homestay mother has had several students. As they have been ones who help themselves to the fridge, she assumed Taka would do the same. He has not adapted to our culture yet. His "mom" has been clued in and she will show him some the ropes. I did some curry chicken fried rice for him today. He is shy, and would only take the food when I said "I cooked too much and brought the extra for whoever wanted some".

KD=Kraft Dinner=Mac 'n' cheese A Canadian thing. It is a product put out by Kraft Canada...macaroni, cheese powder in a box. You just boil and drain the macaroni, add butter, milk and the cheese powder. Stir and it's ready! Not as good as scratch, but cheap and easy enough for older kids to make in the microwave. One family I know, with 7 kids, bought KD by the case. Every Friday was KD night. The kids, now grown, still eat it, but the DELUX version. KD is the slogan for their recent ads.

When I have had access to Chinese crispy pork, siew yuk, I like to save the fatty parts and some skin, now more chewy than crispy. Put that on the bottom of the dish and top with ham ha and steam. Or, you can do as Ben suggested...pork belly. . . or fresh bacon cut. You need the fat to make it great! See!? Emerill isn't the first to expound on the wonders of pork fat.

Kris, Thanks for the entry and photos on the curry dish. I will make that for Taka tomorrow...with chicken as I have the meat on hand. As I don't have any curry roux, I am sure I can make do with adding curry spices, then thicken with my usual stew slurry of half flour and half cornstarch. I made some curry beef fried rice with leftover beef, rice, green onions, diced green beans. It was good. I saved a container but my daughter raided the fridge! So my student had BBQ steak and potatoes for lunch today. We've contacted his homestay mother, so I may not be making food for Taka much longer. I'll get that curry in tho' .

Chinese ham ha is pinkish/lavender colour. . . so deceptive! And yes, very strong smelling, a good ingredient in moderation. Hubby says it reminds him of chicken manure, the ammonia smell. They used to raise chickens on the farm and guess what his job was. He likes ham ha though. I like to spoon it on top of leftover fatty siew yuk then steamed. My grandma used to make it with pork fat that's been deep fried. My s-i-l uses it for a dipping sauce.

No, I never save left over fish if it was the fresh kind. Canned dace with black beans is another matter.

Ok! who was fooling around??

Kris, I checked the curry thread. Great! What is Japenese curry roux? Is it curry paste? I mentioned the curry to Taka and his face light up, so I guess I'd better follow through now.

I too let others eat their fill, then clean up all the bits and pieces left...soaked in juices. I do this when eating chicken and duck as well. Why is it that bones have the best flavour?!

A collegue of mine is heading off to Singapore come Dec. to teach. Her budget is going to be tight. She has heard that eating out in Singapore is very expensive. Cooking at home is the way to go. However, the company is putting her in a hotel, so cooking may not be possible. Any suggestions on where to get decent food at fair prices would be appreciated!

Just spent some time reading your New Years blog. It was great, especially seeing you and your family. Very much looking forward to this week! I have a Japanese student in my EAP (university ESL) class. He doesn't seem to know much about preparing his own food, and his homestay mom is not helping much at the moment. To date, I have only seen him bring butterless rye bread to school for lunch! I have been making extra food when I cook supper, mostly Chinese stuff. He seems to like it. Takayuki is 19 years old. What can I feed him without taking a whole course on Japanese cooking?

Yetti, Thanks to your thread, I've now eaten dragon fruit and prickly pear. The prickly pear is such an ugly fruit! I suppose it's nature's way to avoid being eaten. Both fruit had gorgeous coloured flesh. The dragon fruit was easy to eat. I wish I had known about the "facial" factor of the peel! The prickly pear, it was ok, but having to deal with the seeds would not encourage me to buy it again, even at $.88 each. I may just cut the last one, take a picture and leave it at that! My mom said the flavour reminded her of "fa nium", not sure what it is called in English.

Are they sold as snacks? Cooked? Wrapped in something? I haven't come across those. Going into Winipeg next weekend, so I'll have to look for them.

The flesh on the pickerel is what my mom calls " shuen ji jook/ garlic meat", meaning that the flesh breaks off in pieces that look like cloves of garlic. After I steam the fish, it is easy to take off the top fillet, and remove the backbone. Hubby has no problems with bones, but my brother hesitates. I am the only one in my own family who enjoys shrimps with the shells on. I can shell the dang things in my mouth. So, when we have shrimp, I cook some with shells on for myself. The rest of the family also think I am crazy when I buy a box of the little shrimps with the heads on. I just dunk them in salted water and eat'em like popcorn in front of the TV.