Dejah

I used to use Pearl River Bridge mushroom soya in the restaurant...purchase in big plaster pails. It was already in use when we took over the restaurant, and the customers didn't like it when I tried to change brands. My Dad ( 35-40 years ago) used to buy soya sauce in wooden barrels. I don't know from what supplier, but they made great planters after they are emptied! I still have one somewhere between our 2 houses. At present, I am using Rooster brand light soya for most of my cooking. I also have their superior dark soya, which I don't really care for. My kids loved Pearl River Bridge mushroom soya for fried rice.

With enchiladas, I used to make a salad of orange segments and avocado slices, marinated in Kraft's Catalina dressing. How about throwing some cardamon or a stick of cinnamon with basmati rice with that chicken dish. Cinnamon and apples always seem to go together. I also cut my mangoes the way jujubee does. I never dice the side slices...'cos I want to enjoy sucking every juicy bit off myself!

The Chinese Cookbook #2

That "puppy chow" had me going there for a minute. I couldn't imagine feeding my dog Crispex, peanut butter, sugar. Not that he wouldn't love it...

Hmmm, Ju Ju is a good woman as I think I saw chicken with the head and feet on a platter. She had 12 dishes. Is that traditional? So, tell us what everything is!

I have used the eraser on wallpaper, but nail polish...OUCH! Don't know about that.

Hey Daddy-A! Thanks for the welcome. Being on the prairies sometimes can make a person feel displaced. But I thought, what the H! This forum did include Western Canada. Glad you enjoyed the blog. It was a lot of fun, altho' started with trepidation. I have a fellow eGulleteer visiting in November. Maybe I'll have some interesting stuff to post then. He's Chinese and looking forward to some traditional home style Chinese cooking. I just remembered that we have Chinese BBQ duck from Winnipeg for another Thanksgiving supper tonight! This reminds me of Jean Shepherd's A Xmas Story where they had to make do with Peking duck for Xmas supper.

Aileen, What a grand entrance to the forum! And a unique way of endearing yourself to Sechuan peppercorn starved eGulleteers. Welcome aboard and hope to see you post often!

Gary, I checked into the article about Yan Du Xian and it mentioned the chilled fruit soup as an accompaniment for salads . In the cookbook thread, I believe that salad was mentioned as not being part of the Chinese food repetoire? Is it a regional thing? What would be a salad in Shanghai cuisine?

Do you have Mr. Cleans Eraser in Japan? It cleans very well without taking the paint off.

We had our Thanksgiving on Sat. with 14 members of our families. I cooked 2 turkeys, a 5.5 kg and a 3 kg one. My brother brought a baked ham so there'd be variety. With the above, we had baby carrots in maple syrup glaze, blanched then butter pan fried brussel sprouts that stayed a beautiful green, corn for my mom, creamy buttered Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, apple/walnut salad ( a must ), mixed field greens with raspberry vinegrette and pecans, slices of fresh pineapple for the ham, cranberry sauce, giblet gravy, dressing with diced apples, onions and celery with fresh herbs. For dessert, I made pumpkin pies with real whipped cream, lemon meringue pies, and one of my neices brought a pumpkin and pecan pie. It was good, tho' I'd much rather have just pecan pie! My s-i-l brought a fresh fruit salad with pineapple and cantaloupe, topped with pomagranate seeds. My daughter, who is 18 and enjoying the chance to purchase liquor legally, bought a bottle of The Little Penguin Shiraz, and a merlot, both Australian. Red is a wine of preference for most of the family, regardless of meat!One of the other family members brought white wine. My focus was on the food, so didn't pay attention. I remember one feast where we had about 6 different desserts to choose from: butter tarts, pumpkin pie, lemon pie, tirifle, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin cake. Now, we need to watch our waistlines! We had lots of leftovers for the families to take home (a tradition). I saved a breast and thigh for our younger son who returned yesterday from filming a WWII documentary in Europe. Met him at the airport in Winnipeg and immediately headed for Chinatown for dim sum. He's missed feeding the Asian part of his genes. The turkey, he will take to his work place in Red Lake, Ontario. In the dim sum restaurant, it looked as if all the Chinese were celebrating Thanksgiving with their usual Sunday brunch. No turkey dumplings, however.

Just got back from Winnipeg. Met up with our son who was filming in Europe as part of a living history documentary about WW II Lancaster Bomber crews. He hasn't had Chinese food for 3 weeks, so the first thing he wanted was dim sum. He said he was in withdrawl from the Chinese component of his bi-racial make-up! His fav. this time was deep fried glutinous rice balls filled with savory pork. Before he moved to northern Ontario for his job, he spent some time learning to cook traditional Chinese food...like gai gok fan, beef and rice, fried rice, ham jiu and pork...There is no Chinese restaurant in Red Lake! I have been reading my Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen. If I weren't so selfish, I'd give him the book.

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' .