Dejah

We've eaten boiled crab at Santa Barbara, on the pier, and didn't get sick at all. It was one of those booths where you pick your crab, they'd boil it and charge you exorbitant prices. They gave us bibs, a hammer and lots of towels. As for frozen raw crabs, that was the only way we could get crab at the Chinese supermarket until fish tanks became popular. I used to thaw them in the fridge, then after I chop them up, I'd place them in a colander to drain for a little while. When I cook them, usually in ginger and green onions, I'd make sure the wok was really hot and cook a few pieces at a time so the wok doesn't cool down. I think high heat is the way to avoid watery flesh.

It feels like Churchill in the winter this weekend. Have had frost the last 2 nights. I will post about the Chinese restaurants on the rodeo circut when I get back. On the run again this weekend . . . just got back from a qi-gong workshop, rushed home to cook supper ( velvet diced chicken with baby corn, mushrooms, waterchestnuts over jasmin rice, winter melon soup). Now I have to pick my daughter up from her Celtic harp teaching duties and deliver her to volunteer for St. John Ambulance for a Wheat Kings hockey game...then I am going for a qi-gong treatment for my shoulder with my sifu...then...........

Just heard from our son, who was cast as a member of a Lancaster bomber crew for a 4 hour living history documentary. (www. airmuseum.ca/reach.html) They were served corned beef hash using Hereford Brand. He liked it! My hubby Bill is webmaster for the Manitoba Dragoons museum. Every year they have a fund raiser, and the main fare is always "bully beef", actually Hereford Brand"corned beef, served with rye bread. I used to buy the stuff quite often, then forgot about it until now.

Maybe that's why they were dressed in period costumes . . . clothing "makes the meal"?

I've been following a young Eurasian lady's foodblog. I mentioned her in the Bi-racial thread. Just now, I was reading her entries on Wuhan. . . with very nice pictures. One of the dishes was tofu and 400 year old eggs. Others were tomatoe and scrambled eggs, and jiaozi made with tomato filling. Have a look. http://www.wrappedindough.com/archives/200...kend_3.php#more

Got a hold of some fresh Manitoba pickerel . . . also known as walleye. My mom likes it poached whole. Once I cleaned the fish, I seasoned it well with white pepper, salt, a little msg and fresh ginger. I made a light stock with celery, green onions and ginger. The fish was poached in the stock for 15 minutes. I put the fish on a deep plate, splashed on some light soya and topped with shredded green onions and more ginger. On top of this, I poured heated peanut oil. What a splattering mess! but, oh so yummy! I have several more in the freezer now. How do you like your fish? Do you eat the eyes first? My mom got the fish cheeks.

Did any of you, as a child, have a special lantern for this festival? I best remember one, made of thin gauze material, shaped like a rabbit. My Yen Yen hung it on a stick, and it glowed with a small candle inside. I was reminiscing with my students this morning. They say that most now have a battery operated light inside. I would miss the flicker of the candle, but I am sure the battery light would be safer now. Transparent mentioned dai choy goh. Most of my students didn't know what this was. They just asked if I had any more mooncake! My wonderful s-i-l brought over a wutaw goh late last night. I am going to have some now, for an after school snack!

We had a beautiful full moon here last night. The night was clear and the moon just floated above our house. In the morning, I took 4 white lotus paste/double egg yolk moon cakes to share with the international students and our staff. In class, we talked about the tradition, the stories, the activities involved during this festival. They were all too cheap to buy some themselves, altho' most of them come from well off families. They are planning a getogether this weekend. I didn't have time to make taro cake this year. Maybe one of them will make some to share.

Wonderful pictures, kangarool! I remember enjoying street food like the ones in the Night Market., especially the octopus on the sticks. I am trying to remember the flavour...it's on the tip of my tongue but I can't quite describe it! I don't remember the silk worms, but I do remember the big black beetles that cover the ground just before the rain. . . They were fried until crispy, a favourite movie snack, like popcorn. The tofu soup, was it hot and sour?

I just got some white lotus paste/double yolk moon cakes from keefers in Vancouver. Opened one, and the bottom was pretty oily. I cut a wedge for taste test. The cake wasn't oily, so I guess all the oil settled. The pastry was light, and the yolk was moist, not hard like the other brand I bought a couple weeks ago. Laksa, I wonder if the nuts are actually the meat from black melon seeds? That's what I remember them to be. However, there are so many variations now. . . I mean, if there's ice cream moon cakes, there would be pine nuts! Wait...you did say pine nuts were listed in the ingredients...

Disadvantaged prairie woman must pay $5.98 per lb. of crab. And that was on sale! Usually it's $6.98. The fish tank at our local Superstore, is usually filled with lobsters, at $12.98/ lb. I'm glad I prefer crab!

Bought 3 dungeness crabs today. Usually I have lulled them to sleep in the freezer before I cut them up. However, I met up with "auntie" at the store and she said I should cut them up live just before I cook them for the freshest flavour. I tried. . . but they were pleading with me for 2 hours! Finally, when my mom arrived for supper, she told me to stick a chopstick into the mouth cavity, jab and pry to separate the shell from the body. I felt so bad, but once I got the hang of it, the remaining 2 were a "snap" How do you approach your lively snappers? What's your favourite recipe? Black bean garlic sauce stir-fry? Ginger/green onion steaming? Do you eat that goo inside (can't think of the term for it at the moment...been traumatized! )

SPAM fried rice

Jiaozi. . . deep fried? What is the dough like after deep frying? I have only had them boiled. Won ton wrappers would end up bubbly and crispy. But with this dough? The filling sounds great. I'll have to try that sometime. Thanks Jason!

trillium, Sounds like you have great friends. When Bill and I got married, 1966, there were very few bi-racial marriages, except perhaps in Vancouver or Toronto. I didn't get nasty remarks, but lots of rude stares. I was in university at that time, and the Chinese students from abroad would ignore me...until they found out I could cook "real Chinese food". If you have children, which parent do they resemble? To me, it seems that if the father is mongoloid (is this better? ) the kids seem to resemble the father more than the mother. My sons are more like their dad, "go bay", whereas my daughter has a "bean bay". They all have round eyes. They are all very good at eating everything when Po-Po is here. Other times, they will turn their noses up at herbal soups. They do like bitter melon soup with oysters and ginger. Go figure!

Laksa said: "In Australia, "chow mein" means fine wheat noodles deep fried to a stiff and crunchy bundle, kind like instant ramen but not as tightly packed, over which you pour a melange of seafood, chicken or pork and vegetables cooked in a thick soupy gravy. I've always thought of this as Cantonese chow mein. Do they serve this dish in Hong Kong?" This was what we served in my restaurant as "Cantonese Chow Mein". My version did not have a "thick soupy gravy". I did add a little stock to the meat/seafood/veg. mixture and thicken with slurry just before scooping onto the crispy noodles. The sauce stayed on this mixture, not soaked onto the noodles. I used thin dry egg noodles that we put into boiling water to soften, drain and kept cool until needed. "And what is American chow mein?" Not sure if prairie chow mein is the same as American, but our version is coasely shredded green cabbage, Spanish onion, celery, mushrooms and bean sprouts. This was stir-fried, thickend with cornstarch slurry, then topped with deep fried egg noodles. We used to make the noodles in house, just eggs and flour. The dough is rolled out to about .5 cm thick, then into strips about 8 cm wide. Several strips were stacked together, then cut into .5 cm strands, dusted lightly with flour and deep fried. They were so good that we had a hard time keeping the staff from grabbing handfuls whenever they are close to the noodle bin.

Thanks, Jack for a great week! That saddle of venison looks wonderful. Local? What seasonings? Haven't been to Cambridge since 1979...Seeing the great pictures may just put the firs under me.

Good point, mongo_jones Pick this up and run with it. I was having a h#&* of a time phrasing this question, but I am really inquisitive about bi-racial partnerships and food! Gary, my m-i-l is of Scottish descent, married to Anglo-Saxon, living and farming on the Canadian prairies. Everything was well done meat and potatoes. But Man! Nana used to make the greatest shortbread and custard pies.

Just curious, as I seem to think there are several Asian posters in this forum who have a non-Asianpartner, and Caucasian posters with Asian partners. If you are Chinese, with a caucasian partner, did he or she know about and enjoy Chinese food before they met you? Was Americanized Chinese food their main experience? Did it take time before they tried traditional foods? Do they help in the cooking of same? Gary, were you "experienced" in Chinese cuisine before you met your wife from Shanghai? You've been singled out due to your expertise. Those of you who are Caucasian with Asian spouses/s.o., what are your experiences with traditional Chinese food? My husband is caucasian. He had this first taste of Chinese food when he left home for college. Every prairie town had its Chinese restaurant, all serving the same chop suey of that time. He thought it was great. Then along came me;-). Peasant fare was a totally new experience for him but he loved everything. He does not cook! His parents, a different story. Gramma and Mom only liked rice in rice pudding. Chop suey and sweet 'n' sour was ok...with potatoes , but authentic Chinese...peking duck...steamed chicken... steamed whole fish,... My father-in-law was more adventurous.

So, mudbug, tell us how your bday party turned out. What did you make for dessert?