Dejah

Laksa, a most interesting list! Looks like another great blog coming... Did you post your BBQ pork recipe in another thread? If not, please do! Bananas...do you do frozen bananas?

Abra, Thank you for the incredible blog! I'll have to try that salmon marinate next time. Looks like the ice-cream will be a project with our grandson as he loves cookie dough.

I like to think of "authentic" as what has been in my family, and passed down through generations . . . Does authentic mean producing the exact same results as when the original recipe was first developed? Is that possible considering the changes that have been made to the ingredients?

sequim:"Heck, I remember my mother kept a can of bacon fat out on the stove and cooked from that when we were growing up." When I came to Canada, one of my first tastes of Canadian food was fresh bread fried in bacon fat left on the grill, after Dad cooked bacon for a customer's BLT. Hubby's Nana always had her "tin" of drippings in her ice box. It was handy when there wasn't enough dripping for Yorkshire puddings for Sunday night's roast. It was also great for pan-fried left over potatoes!

I too am sorry to hear of your tremendous loss. An idea just occured as I was hitting the reply button: Judiu's collection would definitely "rise again like the pheonix" if some of us who have duplicate cookbooks could send them to judie. Judiu, are there any particular titles you desperately need? I may not have any that you lost, but this may be a good way to start new passions?

Sitting here, listening to my daughter go over her harp repetorie for a wedding this afternoon, drinking my coffee and eating a thick slice of warm home-made bread slathered with Skippy chuncky peanut butter topped with home-made Seville orange marmalade. "Who could ask for anythin g more...."

bloviatrix: You took the bars....errr...words right out of my mouth!

I like using pork tenderloin for BBQ pork. It's lean and the shape is perfect for hanging in the oven and for slicing to serve as appetitizers. But, for char sui bao, I like a bit of fat to keep the filling juicy and for flavour, so I use pork butte roast. I'd trim some of the fat off around the edges but keep the fat within the lean parts.

My Mom's recipe for bao has been posted in the China and Chinese cuisine thread, in the RESTAURANT, CUISINE AND TRAVEL FORUM. For ma pao tofu, I cut medium firm tofu into cubes, put them into a colander and let them drain. While waiting for the cubes to drain, I brown ground pork (or any ground meat, or no meat at all), diced onions and any fresh hot peppers I may have on hand. Seasoning is held off until the dish is finished cooking. I brown the tofu cubes in about 1/2 cup of oil, drain off the oil, and add the meat and onions back into the wok. Instead of using mashed black beans, etc, I use LEE KUM KEE chili bean sauce (Toban Djan). This works really well. I usually add about 3 tbsp....adjust according to your tolerance. If you like lots of sauce, add some stock or water and thicken slightly with cornstarch slurry. I may season at this time, if I think it needs salt. Just before plating, I add chopped fresh mint, and some whole leaves on top. Mint and heat seems to go well together, in my opinion. My daughter China-Li thinks I am obsessed with mint, basil, cilantro and rosemary . . . I also like to put wilted lettuce, iceberg or romaine under the tofu, whether it's ma pao or tofu in oyster sauce.

ahem.... Did I hear my name ? Am I being paged? Those meals look wonderful! One benefit of Gladware...food won't clash with the dish.

Hi transparent, Here's the recipe for bao. I wrote down the measurements and steps as my Mom made bao, a long time ago. The only change we've made is using cake and pastry flour now instead of all-purpose. We found this made the baos whiter and fluffy, not as "chewy". I can't remember how many this batch made tho' because I usually double the recipe each time... I will be making some more this weekend in a dim sum lesson, so I may remember to keep track then. 4 cups flour, all purpose for chewy, cake and pastry for fluffy 1 cup of sugar ( to the 7oz. line, why? "cos Po-Po said so. ) 1/2 tsp salt 4 "full" teaspoons (not the measuring kind, actual tsps.) of baking powder. Shift dry ingrdients together. Add 2 cups LESS 1TBSP cold milk. I use my dough hook on the KitchenAid and knead the dough until it comes away from the sides of the bowl...10 minutes? Rest the dough for about 10 minutes, add 1 TBSP of vegetable oil. Knead again for 10 minutes, until smooth. Cut into desired pieces, roll out with the edges thinner than the centre. Tortilla presses work great! I thin out the edges when I pleat. Put filling of choice in the middle. Pleat the edges and pinch together at the top. Place the bao on a medium size paper cupcake liner with the pinched top up. These will "fan out" when steamed. Bring a steamer of water to boil. Steam buns for 17 minutes. I use different kinds of filling. One, of course, is the char sui. I also make one with chicken, Chinese mushrooms, lap cheung and onions. The third filling is curry chicken with onions. Let me know how you make out.

Thanks to Egullet for the opportunity to share my cooking this past week! To Soba, Thank you for your guidance, and for all the "behind the scenes" work that you do. You are too

1st: Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you.... Happy Birthday, Dear Abra. Happy Birthday to you! 2nd: Looks like I made the perfect choice. Very much looking forward to your blog. I'll take notes for my next dinner party! I LOVE blackberries, but they are not native to Manitoba. The best ones I have ever tasted were in a friend's backyard in Victoria, on Vancouver Island. They were the elongated ones and grew on a trellis.

Thanks you, Betty. It was a lot of fun. Now that the family has left, I need to go on a diet...

THE LAST SUPPER With this cooler weather, and the way I've been using chilis, banana and habanero peppers, one would think I was stoking up my internal stove for winter. One chicken thigh and a breast were hiding in the fridge. These I browned quickly in a small cast iron casserole. I added a splash of cooking wine and light soya, the leftover wood ear, Chinese mushrooms, gum choy (lily buds), and some chicken stock. The dish went into the oven at 350F, with the lid on. There really wasn't enough for three people, so I decided to save this dish for China-Li as a late night supper. She's not back from her volunteer job yet. For Bill and myself, I made ma pao tofu with ground pork. Wow! This is the second item we've eaten today that didn't require much chewing, and I still have all my teeth. I had saved some green papaya from the early afternoon snack. The bone from a piece of pork butte steak was used to make a clear broth. After simmering the bone while the rice cooked, I added a few slices of pork and the papaya. Even though it seemed a shame to cook this beautiful fruit, it did make a nice soup that is beneficial for the lungs and digestion. With the now boneless pork butte steak, I sliced it into thin strips, added seasoning, cornstarch and oil and put it into a shallow bowl. On top of this, I added chopped preserved mustard greens (mui choy) on my half, and thin slices of preserved turnip (ham choy) and habanero peppers on Bill's half. I steamed this in my wok. I know -- I know. You are not supposed to use your wok for steaming, but I do. Vegetables are a must for me. Tonight, I had a dish of bok choy, stir-fried with garlic and slivers of ginger. A dish of chocolate ice-cream was our last dessert! This has been a hectic week for me, but made very enjoyable by the opportunity to share my cooking with you. I already have a Web site dedicated to many food-related topics: http://www.hillmans.soupbo.com/soos/ The experience of doing this blog was so satisfying that I have adapted it to Web page format for display at: http://www.hillmans.soupbo.com/soos/foodlog.html I've thoroughly enjoyed the interaction with other eGulleteers that this medium has provided. I look forward to an ongoing interchange with fellow foodies. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Dejah has left the building ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HMMMMMMMMMM-----------!!!!!!!! There! That is my rant!! LOL! Before my first wok, for years, I used a large iron frying pan. Worked beautifully. Great tool! HZRT - What is the 'salt and pepper SAUCE' you used in that shrimp dish? Anyone---- About posting pictures --- is there a trick to doing it? I know how to transfer an image, but even getting my digitals to Webshot has been difficult. ahem.... I just have a household General Electric stove, at least 15 years old, and it works very well with my 14" cheapy rustable wok. My s-i-l has a gas stove, and I find it slower to heat my wok than my electric. I DO agree with you that, unless you have 80,000btu burner, one cannot reproduce that restaurant flavour. I miss my old restaurant stove. In fact, I dragged it out of the restaurant before the demolition crew came in. It is sitting in our garage. I thought of installing it for an outdoor kitchen, but the thought of having to clean up the baked- on grease on the backside from the late 70s on kinda discouraged me. One of my friends is going to haul it to his farm and use it for an outdoor kitchen. Jo-mel: As for posting the pictures, this is our proceedure: Download the pictures from your digital camera to a folder in your computer. Then when you go to upload your pictures on image egullet, you hit "BROWSE", then go into your folder and type in the jpg number. Once you have entered all your pictures, hit the "upload" button. It will show you your entries. Copy the line and paste onto your post. I think this is what you are asking...but the WEBSHOT kinda threw me... Is this the info' you need. Funny. It took doing the blog for me to figure out how to post a picture.

FOOD BLOG: DAY 7 ~ Wednesday Woke up to another chilly, windy and wet morning. I packed China-Li a double lunch of chicken, (Again? Hey! it's her favourite!) and shredded vegetables in sun-dried tomato tortilla wrap, fresh vegetable chunks, chocolate cupcake, cantaloupe and cheese strings. After she finishes work at the hospital, she will head to a small town called Onanole as a St. John Ambulance volunteer. Not sure if you non-Canadian readers are familiar with the R.C.M.P. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) ceremonies. They are performing their precision musical ride (all on horseback) at the country fair this evening. BTW, I am also a member of the R.C.M.P. WAIT! I am not an officer, but I am an advisor on the Commissioner's Cultural Diversity Committee. Because of the weather, we will be eating comfort food today. Breakfast for the two of us was a bowl of hot Red River cereal. This is an unadulterated mixture of three whole grains -- wheat, rye and flax, which originated in Manitoba's Red River Valley. It is a great "cleanser" after food binges. I ate mine with brown sugar and milk. Bill must have his pushed into a mound, and the milk forming a moat around his porridge. Some days, I feel like I am back in time; back in the restaurant! I barely got through my cereal before the phone started ringing. One of our old customers called up for my "bad cold fixes." I used to dispense this foul herbal tea to my customers if they have a cold, the flu, or just a hang over. They also asked for some of my kick-ass hot 'n' sour soup. It comes with a guarantee to clear up sinuses! So, out came my soup pot, Chinese mushrooms, wood ear, bamboo shoots, chili paste, vinegar, ginger and chicken stock. While that was simmering, our grandson Soulin called and asked for his favourite lunch stuff: mini-pizza swirls. He's at mini-university (a day camp for kids at our alma mater and place of employment, Brandon University). At least my kitchen got warm and cozy. I took a snack break with papaya while the pizza dough was rising. Only half of the fruit was ripe, so I saved the green parts for soup this evening. Soulin likes pepperoni, green peppers and cheese on his pizza. These were easy to make up, baked for 20 minutes in a moderate oven, and I put some in the freezer for China's lunches. For lunch, Bill and I had savory tang yuen. As I was getting the ingredients together, the phone rang again. It was CyraCom International, an interpreter service out of Tucson, Arizona. Even when I don't log on, the calls come through automatically as I am their only Toisanese interpreter on the roster. Most of the calls are from hospitals and immigration at ports-of-entry. By the end, I was pretty distracted. This always creates problems. Turning back to make lunch, I reached blindly into the pantry for the glutinous rice flour to make the dumplings. The daikon was julienned and boiled. What a foul smell, but oh so essential and delicious in this soup. After removing the daikon, I dropped in the dumplings. Half an hour later, they still hadn't floated to the top. I took one out, cut into it, solid! I threw those out, thinking I didn't add enough water in making the dough. The same thing happened with the second batch. Then I got the bright idea to check the date on the flour package. Guess what . . . I had grabbed the ordinary rice flour and not the GLUTINOUS rice flour. Even if I boiled them for another hour, they would still not be light and chewy. I made the new batch with the proper rice flour. This time, the dumplings floated in just a few minutes. I added the lap cheung, dried shrimp meat, silkened lean pork and the cooked daikon. The tang was worth waiting for. It's one that will stick to your ribs. Bill was able to tackle about six dumplings . . . with help from Atticus. For an added crunch, I opened my last package of "instant jelly fish." I don't know why I love this stuff . . . rubber bands with chili/sesame oil. Bill doesn't like them, and even Atticus turned up his nose! I finished the hot 'n' sour soup with silkened sliced chicken, BBQ pork, shrimp and tofu. The cornstarch rubbed into the chicken was enough to thicken the soup. It was picked up shortly after. I have some chicken pieces in the fridge, tofu, ground pork, leftover wood ear, mushrooms, and the green papaya. I think I see supper forming up . . .

hzrt, I'd love to have your recipe for Indian tandoori chicken. Do you cook yours in a conventional oven, the BBQ, or do you actually have a "tandoori oven"? How about your BBQ pork? and your potstickers? I am always looking for different ways to cook my favourites. I cook Chinese food most of the time. . . This week was a liittle different because my sister and family were here. The Canadian fare was by request. They get all kinds cuisine in Vancouver, but not old Canadian family favourites like our beef stew, banana cream pie, etc. You need to take pictures of your food! This blog has given me the impetus to do my cookbook for the family and past customers. This morning, we are having porridge to clean our system of last night's over-indulgence!

Really? I just call my maternal grandma "ah maaa". Hmm. In my family, Yin Yin is Toisanese and Ah maaaa is Cantonese for paternal grandmother. Po-Po is for maternal grandmother. My grandson calls me Grammy. He wasn't going to have any of Joshua's cake until he was told that his Grammy baked it!

Daddy-A: The salmon I used was from the Atlantic. Have you used many of the recipes from the best of Bridge cookbooks? I don't think our Mitsu is the "Mon Cowboy" Mitsu.

TUESDAY NIGHT SUPPER WITH THE WHOLE FAMILY: Supper was devoured and the family, with appetite repleted, headed back to my brother's house for the night. The dishwasher is slaving on the first load, and I can sit back with a final cup of coffee. Going back over the menu posted earlier: I took the shoulder of lamb out of the marinate, coated it with whole grain dijon mustard and crushed mixed peppercorns. At 4:30, I started the roast with the oven at 400F for half an hour. Then I poured the reserved marinate over the lamb, covered it with foil and reduced the heat to 300F. until 6 o'clock. The garlic bread went into the oven while the lamb rested under foil. While waiting for supper, everyone munched on the summer rolls I had made in the afternoon with Chinese mushrooms, bean sprouts, bean thread, carrots, cilantro, and shrimp. The new potatoes and baby carrots were cooked and buttered. One of the nieces tossed the salad with raspberry vinegrette and put toasted whole pecans in a side dish for those who want them. I stir-fried the zucchini and mushrooms and scattered sesame seeds on top. The 20 eight oz. bison steaks were put onto the BBQ over medium flame until rare. (See, we all love to eat!) China had set the table, nephew-in-law Paul sliced HIS lamb and garlic bread, and the girls put the rest of the food on the table. The bison was excellent, very tender. There was a subtle difference in taste from beef. These animals were free-range grass-fed on an organic farm. The lamb was so good! Even those who don't usually like lamb tried some. It had a mild lamb flavour, perhaps because of the peppercorn crust. I made a mint sauce with fresh leaves. We made short work of a couple bottles of Chilean merlot with supper. Dessert was chocolate cappuccino mud pies that I made last week. They were well hidden in the freezer, away from hubby's grasp. I again relied on my Best of Bridge series for this "guaranteed to please" recipe. The crust was chocolate wafer crumbs, layered with cappuccino ice-cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. My camera was no match for the speed of the server! We always enjoy fruit after a meal, and tonight, it was fresh strawberries picked by one of the nieces enroute from Winnipeg. Maybe because of the cooler season this year, the berries were smaller than usual, but very sweet and fragrant. They were great dipped into the extra whipped cream. My sister and her family will leave early in the morning on a shuttle to the Winnipeg International Airport for their flight home. The families from Winnipeg are all headed home now, for work tomorrow morning. One of the packages from Burnaby contained century egg cakes (pai dan so). I am so full, but . . . I can't resist!

I believe simply cornstarch is used instead of a cornstarch solution. Whenever I silken meat, of any kind, I first season, then add acouple tablespoons of cornstarch and vegetable oil. This is "worked" together and allowed to rest until needed. I always season first, because once the oil and cornstarch is added, the seasoning won't penetrate the meat. Hope that helps.

Foodblog Day 6 continues: Joshua's cake turned out pretty well. His dad came to pick it up as we left for breakfast. Buttermilk waffles was a good choice for a chilly summer morning. This was a recipe I clipped out of the Winnipeg Tribune. It was one of the two Winnipeg dailies for many years. The paper no longer exists, but we appreciated the WT as they did a number of features on us in their colour weekend magazine. My sister-in-law Rebecca, a terrific cook, prepared a huge fruit platter. This was perfect to tie everyone over until I cooked enough waffles for a first go-around. One of my nieces brought Starbuck coffee beans with her. The aroma in the kitchen was incredible . . . The bacon, pre-cooked on the George Forman grill, crisped up nicely in the oven. Another niece brought BBQ ducks from Chinatown in Winnipeg. Bill and I stole a container when we came home to prepare supper. We finished a small plate of ho fun cooked with oyster sauce. The duck provided Bill with his required protein Atticus' patient drooling beside hubby was finally rewarded with a few ho fun noodles. SUPPER MENU Food and cookbooks are but two of my passions. My other "collections" are teapots and roosters. I posted tonight's menu to forewarn incoming guests. A pride of lions guard my lair until opening time! Bison New York strips are for the BBQ tonight. I will have some with just 4 peppercorn steak spice, and some with a light brushing of Bull's Eye Hot Southern Cajun sauce. My Burnaby niece's hubby, Paul, loves lamb, but no one else in their family likes it. So, to keep him happy, I have a rolled boneless lamb shoulder marinating in crushed peppercorns, red wine vinegar, chopped mint, rosemary, and garlic. It will go into the oven. The heat will be welcomed, especially with me running out for the BBQ!

Foodblog Day 6 It’s 7 a.m. and temperature of 6 degrees C this morning, cloudy and windy. What happened to summer? My sister will be looking forward to the 17C in Burnaby. China is off to work at her regular summer employment at the hospital. Grabbed toast and her lunch of sun-dried tomato wrap with chicken, fresh watercress, orange pepper julienne, a chocolate cupcake, grapes, and Edam cheese. We’re going to ease up on her this week. ;-) This is the joke between us: many parents have to push their kids to work. China (pronouncedChEEna) set the schedule up herself. Her career goal is medicine, so she wants to see if she can handle the gruelling routine of “resident life”. She watches way too much reality TV. Her schedule last weekend: Thurs. 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. at the hospital, midnight to 8 a.m. at group home where she “may” catch scattered bits of a nap. Friday morn, back to the hospital from 10a.m. - 6p.m. shift, grabbed supper then volunteer with St. John at the folk festival until 11:45 p.m., to the group home for the midnight to 8 shift. She actually got about 3 hours of sleep at home Sat. morning, until lunch and rehearsals with her harp and her brother. We performed at 5 p.m., she changed clothes and was back at the St. John Ambulance tent until her midnight to 8 shift at the group home. Hooray! She was able to sleep Sunday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m, then back to the festival by 5. As the group home was short staffed, she took on another midnight to 6:45 shift before this morning's 7a.m. to 3 shift. No festival gig this weekend, but she is now pratising her repetorie for a wedding this Sturday. Although she can cook, she is probably the only 18 year old whose mom still packs her lunch. LOL! For me this morning, I have to finish decorating the Spider-Man cake. Later, I am taking my trusty old stove-top waffle iron to my brother’s house. Breakfast will be my buttermilk waffles, maple syrup, bacon. My sister-in-law will supply a fresh fruit platter and coffee. Saw a tip somewhere that suggested using my George Forman grill to do a whole pound of bacon at one time. I tried that, and it worked great! Now, I just have to crisp the strips up in the oven when the waffles are ready. 9 a.m. The cake is decorated. I am heading off to cook breakfast. Ben, I am a yinyin. Our older son, Ja-On, was also at the folk festival. He plays sax. Couldn't get him to perform on the weekend as he just started his new massage therapy biz in Brandon, so he was prmoting.

Fred12fred et al: I will post requested recipes after I finish my week of blogging . . . this Wednesday. Thanks for all the compliments and feedback. It's very much appreciated by this newbie.