Dejah

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.

Monday, Day 5 The carrot cake in mauve icing and coffee was a big surprise for Anita. She always remembered our birthdays, but hers is during summer break when she is alone at the office. So, it was pay back time. Mauve is Anita's favorite colour. Arrived home before lunch, just enough time to bake a sour cream chocolate cake from scratch. This is a Spider-Man cake for our neighbor's son Joshua's 6th birthday party tomorrow. Our grandson and he are Game Boy buddies. For lunch, Bill requested one of his favourite dishes, an omelette with leftover rice mixed in the eggs. I made a cheese sauce to ladle over it after it is cooked. I was craving vegetables, so it was "clean out the vegetable cooler" omelette for me. There was zucchini, mushrooms, half a banana pepper, orange pepper, asparagus, bean sprouts. I put slices of cheddar on one half of the omelette then folded the other half over it. Man! It was good. That piece of birthday cake and lunch knocked me out. I had a nap on the couch before picking China up from work at 3. Stopped in at Superstore and picked up some chicken breasts for supper, Gold Fish crackers for China's snacks, and a big Caribbean red papaya for us. For supper, we had curry chicken with onions and banana peppers. I silkened the chicken, then just stir-fried it with Chinese curry powder and dried chili peppers. For vegetables, we had a medley of lotus root, wood ear, baby corn, asparagus, bell peppers, pea pods, fresh ginger and garlic, topped with shrimp. Soup du jour was simple watercress in pork broth. We had our usual jasmine rice. The chocolate cake turned out level! Covered it with white butter cream icing. I made up a batch of royal icing, tinted up different portions in red, blue, black, green, yellow. (Joshua coloured one of his favourite pictures for me to copy onto his cake.) China and I made the Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus topping on wax paper tonight. It needs to harden before we can transfer it to the cake. Tomorrow, we are hosting my sister, her family, my Mom, my brother and his family for breakfast and supper. My sister and her crew will be flying back to Burnaby the next day. We'll be BBQing bison steaks for supper.

Ummm, you found me out. I have a vat that clones me whenever I need extra hands. Also, I have all the little old Chinese aunties from the city and my Mom locked up in the backroom. I just slip my orders through a little window. I am lucky at the moment...freedom from teaching duties until Sept. 7! Yay!!! The pictures I have been using have all been cropped. What size do you need? You are talking about the cooked dim sum picture? I would be happy to send that to you. . . the picture, that is!

This reminds me of one of the more repeatable phrases my cooks used to use all the time: Jahm ah nai gaw taow! CUT YOUR HEAD OFF!

Hi, This is my first post and I love this thread. I am addicted to the Cantonese version of Chicken and Ginger Congee, but mine never comes close. I use the crock pot and have taken Trillium's suggestion about adding the glutoneous rice flower disolve in water and stirred in at the end. It still does not have the same mouth feel. I read the comment about " washing" the rice in salt and oil and would like too know if anyone can describe the procedure Any other suggestions? Thanks, Ok, I cook congee quite often for brunch and usually with chicken and ginger. But, what IS this Cantonese version? Is it supposed to be thin? Thick? Rice still in granular form? Like gruel? Aiyeeeah! I like mine with substance!

My mind is a bit clearer this morning, inspite of the rain. Hubby reminded me that I needed to make a correction about the "lunch or dinner" comment made in an earlier post ( posted August 8th) What I meant to say was: the meal at around noon is lunch. But the evening meal may be called dinner, as perhaps in the U.S. and supper for those raised on the prairies. In England, called "tea"? To make it more confusing, Bill said when he was growing up, the big meal was at noon, for the farmhands, so it was breakfast, dinner, supper. To me, food is food! I'll eat anytime.

awwww, Ben, thanks for the compliments. We are proud of our kids. And, you know what!? They can all cook!

It's a "Moody Manitoba Morning" . . . more rain today. Transferred my daughter from her midnight shift to her day shift at the hospital. She ate 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with blackberry jam enroute. (7 a.m. yawn . . . ) Had my first cup of coffee while waiting for the icing from the fridge to warm up. Made simple decorations with the mauve icing. I need to plan my "writing" better before putting it on the cake! But, Anita will understand when I tell her I baked the cake at 11 p.m. and decorated her cake at 7 a.m. I'll post a picture after the colour intensifes. The licks of cream cheese icing will qualify for breakfast . . . until cake time at 10 a.m.

DAY 4 ~ SUNDAY The family finally all got up around 10 a.m. I still had a few biscuits left in the fridge, so I made my version of egg McMuffins for brunch! Some of us slathered salsa on the eggs, just to give us a kick start before the show. A juicy peach made the brunch complete. On our way to the festival, thunder roared across the city, and it poured as we humped our equipment to the stage. Luckily, our first performance was an entertainers' workshop under the big top: "Partners in Music." One of the questions posed was "When do you rehearse?" My answer, of course, was "while I am wokking" ;-) Over the years, Bill and I learned a lot of songs while I cooked. During the afternoon break, we came home for lunch. Son Robin, our bass player, was home from his I.T. job, an eight-hour drive from Brandon. One of his favourite foods is Shanghai noodles, with a twist. I cooked the noodles with smashed fermented black beans, garlic, Habanero peppers, chopped mint, BBQ pork, and deep-fried julienned wonton skins. These are SO GOOD! Spent the rest of the evening back at the festival. Supper was from Morden Munchies truck, a familiar sight at many outdoor functions in Manitoba. I had a smokie dog, and shared a family sized tub of chips. The grease was hard to resist. Dessert was a single scoop of cookies 'n' cream ice-cream, a dish of apple crisp from the entertainers' tent, and many cups of coffee. A few pictures from our evening show:

hzrt: Thanks for the help! Mucho appreciated. In the lunch photo, it was, indeed, sticky rice in lotus leaf. These ones had lap cheung, Chinese mushrooms and peanuts. suzilightning probably saw the joong from Friday's lunch. I should have left the deep-fried wheat flour cruellers (Thanks Ben! I couldn't remember what you called them before. ) in their original length. They are about 12 to 14 inches long. Would have been less confusing. I cut them so they'd fit into the soup bowls. They are a little crunchy, a little chewy, and a lot of bad cholestrol . . . Can't have jook without them! suzilightning: I'll trade you joong for brownies . . . I can't make these and I love them. "never heard of shoji tabuchi? he is one of the most amazing fiddle players i have ever had a chance to hear...." This guy is incredible. I have seen him on TV, from Branson. Mitsu, our banjo player loves sui mai. I wonder if Shoji likes dim sum? Ben, I hope you are musical. My guests always have to "sing" for their supper. jackl10 "What are electric bagpipes?? " Are you a piper? This is indeed a chanter with a microphone and electronic drones. I'll post a picture once we get them downloaded. BTW, it is nearly midnight. We got home from the festival around 10. I have a carrot cake in the oven for a bday party tomorrow at 10 a.m. The cream cheese icing is made, and some of it coloured mauve - our Ad. Assistant's favorite colour. Daddy-A : The aforementioned carrot cake is another recipe from Best of Bridge. It's called Karrot's Cake . . . it's one of my most requested cakes. Of course you'll get a photo of it tomorrow! I will have today's menu up soon. Just waiting for the photos.

Daddy-A et al: Will answer your queries, post recipes, etc once this day is over

It’s Sunday morning . . . thunder is rolling overhead, and rain. I can see a bit of blue to the south, so maybe it will be clear by the time the festival opens at noon. We are on stage at 1 p.m. I’m going to backtrack a little and catch up on Saturday’s (yesterday) lunch, or dinner to the U.S. readers. Dim sum was the order of the day. Ran out of time last night due to rehearsals, etc, so I knocked up the har gow and sui mai in the morning. Pulled the sticky rice, beef meatballs, and baos from the freezer. I started the jook (congee) before I had my breakfast: a cupful of rice, slices of ginger, and lots of fresh chicken neck bones and backs. The necks give the best flavour, and the bits of meat works all through the congee. As my family doesn’t like watery jook, I silkened thinly sliced chicken breast and added it just before serving. The beef balls were steamed for 20 minutes. They still had that pink tinge inside. This came up in the China and Chinese cuisine before: Why do the meatballs stay pink no matter how long they are steamed!? Jo-mel thought maybe the cilantro was the culprit. I liked cilantro A LOT, so it got to stay ;-) The meatballs were bouncy and chewy, as dim sum meatballs should be. Kept these warm in the oven while the har gow and sui mai were steaming. I zapped the already steamed baos and sticky rice in the microwave. Hubby picked up the wrong gage strings last night. This is what happens when you try to find the “freshest” from the back of the rack While downtown, he picked up “deep fried devils”, Chinese long donuts, yow tieu? for the congee. I really appreciate the Real Canadian Superstore for carrying this item. Now, if they’d just bring back the egg custard tarts! Drank pots of Oolong tea with lunch. One of my Taiwanese student’s family is in the tea business. He gave me a gift when he returned home.His last words were “Anytime, Teacher, you need tea, e-mail me”! The whole band was here now, so it was “going over the song list” once more. China-Li was trying to keep her harp in tune. High humidity plays havoc with her strings. Then it was: I need a new 9-volt battery for my electronic bagpipes! Scramble, scramble through a multitude of drawers . . . At the end of the session, Adrenolin was pumping and we headed off to the fair grounds, where the festival was held. Our show was titled “A Folk Odyssey” . . . Celtic, Canadian folk and cowboy songs, Aboriginal, Appalachian, bluegrass, blues to gospel . . . as mixed up as some of my cooking! Supper was in the performers hospitality tent. I didn’t need to cook for the first time this week! There were BBQ burgers, hot dogs, vegetarian items that I didn’t get to, trays of fresh vegetables and dip, fruit, a huge tray of apple crisp, various cakes and cookies, coffee, tea, etc. My camera was already filled with pictures, so no pictures of the food here. The festival ended shortly after midnight. China was volunteering with the St. John’s Ambulance First Aid Brigade until midnight, and then she dropped me off and headed for her midnight to 8 a.m. shift as an attendant in a group home. I crashed. The guys went to an after-show bonfire at a country home. They are still in bed, so breakfast will be brunch before heading out for our 2nd show at 1 p.m. Bill and I are on stage with two other couples. It’s a workshop, Musical Partners, Musical Friends. Bill and I will have been partners for 38 years this August 29th. What’s for supper? Ummmmm…Let me think about that. I DO know that two cakes need to be baked and decorated by tomorrow. One is for my school’s Administrative Assistant’s birthday, and one for the little boy next door.

Sneaking in another few minutes before leaving for warm-up practise, at drummer's house today. Jake: Mitsu is quite unusual . . . plays a mean five strings and sings too! He also brought his congas and various percussion instruments. We've jammed several times but he is not a full time member of our family band. Daughter is just going over her pieces with her brother on the Celtic drum (bohran). He drove in from Red Lake, Ontario late last night to make the gig. (8 hour drive) I am trying to put the kitchen back to order before I leave Breakfast was quick this morning. Grabbed acouple slices of toast, smothered with crunchy peanut butter and a marvelous marmalade. The marmalade was from an elderly friend, a war bride from England. The recipe has been in her family for years. I haven't made any but if anyone is interested, I will post the recipe later. Lunch was various dim sum items and silkened chicken congee. Will add details perhaps after our show this evening.

jo-mel: You can say " Siang tiu" which means in one piece... or " mm ho tsee" don't cut! When I buy crispy pork (siu jook) it is really hard to keep all hands off the crispy parts!

Well, supper was a bit of a rush as rehearsal for tomorrow's show was called for 8 p.m. Good thing I had the salmon with all the fixings preped and waiting in the fridge. I tend to forget time when I am making stuff Instead of our usual jasmin rice, I cooked basmati, and steamed some asparagus. To prevent the banana leaf from burning, I placed the salmon bundles on top of foil on the BBQ. Thirty minutes over medium flame, it was ready to eat! I just drizzled melted butter on the asparagus and added a sprinkle of coarse salt. Diet Sprite worked well with fish Didn't get as much done as I wanted 'cos the phone kept ringing! I do have a cookie sheet full of beef meatballs. Made some sweet 'n' sour chicken drumettes from a Canadian cookbook series called Best of Bridge. I already had sticky rice in lotus leaf and bao in the freezer. Perhaps with some congee, this will suffice for lunch tomorrow. Got home about half an hour ago. Having acouple of homemade old fashioned oatmeal, pecan and cranberry cookies with a glass of milk while we wait for our Japanese five-string bluegrass banjo player, Mitsu, to arrive. Will probably run over his feature numbers before heading off to bed. Daughter China will be playing Celtic harp and electronic bagpipes on the show. Guess we'll go over her slections when she gets home from her midnight to 8 a.m. shift! Until tomorrow . . .

Apologies for no-show posts from last night. Have pics but need text. Schedule's a bit cramped at the moment . . . doing interpretor job via 3 way phone with American company this morning, as well as trying to get stuff ready for lunch . . . as well as rehearsing with daughter and the gang. Will catch up when I get a "clear window" later. Sorry

Jason, Here's the recipe I used when I had the restaurant. Now, I make up five lbs each time, and portion it into Ziplock freezer bags. I pat each bag of meat flat so it is thin and will thaw quickly. I order the ground pork from a local butcher who was my supplier. The pork has 15% fat content. The shrimp and waterchestnuts used to be hand-chopped with 2 cleavers. My son was a whiz at that. It was my daughter's job to get her hands into the tub of cold meat and fixings and get it all mixed up thoroughly. She's quite happy to have lost that job. 40 lbs. lean ground pork, one commercial size can of sliced waterchestnuts, 5 lb box of small shelled and deveined uncooked shrimp. Seasoning: Using a Chinese porcelain soup spoon: 7 spoons of sugar, 10 spoons of salt (same for MSG option), 2 spoons white ground pepper, 7 spoons EACH of oyster sauce, sesame oil, soya sauce for colour, 1/4 cup veg. oil, about 1/2 cup of cold water. Work the mixture for a few minutes with your hands. This produces a really nice texture and makes sure the seasonings are well distributed. These days I use my KitchenAid with the paddles to do the mixing. To test the seasoning, put a small ball of meat in a bowl. Add acouple tbsps. of water, cover with platic film and microwave for about 15 seconds. Taste and adjust if needed. When I make war wonton soup, I sometimes put a small shrimp inside the dollop of meat. This mixture can also be used for sui mai if I don't have time to make plain pork filling. I may add a bit more water and beat it again for a more "elastic" texture ... not sure if that is the right description for the texture.

Jenny, Yup, I make my own pie crust,, but I have been known to use frozen shells from the store. I use the old Crisco shortening recipe: 4.5 cups flour (less than what they say), 1 block of Crisco, 3/4 cup ice cold water, 1 tbsp vinegar, one egg beaten and salt. Jo-mel, Atticus (Atti, Woofie, Muffin, Snowball) is very polite when it comes to human food. Whenever we are eating, he sits, usually beside Bill as he is easily swayed, waiting patiently. He drools something fierce, and belches until he gets his morsel. You can come and visit anytime, jo-mel. I know you can teach me quite a few things about Chinese cooking! Phaelon: Thanks for the compliment! I have a great camera and sidekick to help with the pictures. Ben: I'll guard the rest of the joong until you get here. Jason: I will post the recipe for my wontons. You might have to scale it down a bit. :

Day 2: Here we go again! Slept through a refreshing early morning rain, which hasn't stopped! Good thing we are performing at the Folk Festival on Saturday and Sunday and not today. While my coffee was brewing, I drove downtown to pick up China-Li, our daughter, from one of her three medicine-related summer jobs. She worked from midnight to 8 this morning. As it was still raining, we demolished the last couple of pieces of banana cream pie for breakfast. Took a bit of time to check out and respond to the queries regarding yesterday's lunch entry. Packed China her "crunchy lunch" of chicken and greens sandwich, fresh cauliflower, celery sticks, sweet pepper, and Babybel cheese. For dessert, there's a leftover biscuit from last night with mixed berry jam and grapes. She then left for her day job at the city hospital. Bill and I processed the pictures and posted yesterday's supper log. It's now mid-afternoon. I have ground beef marinating for tomorrow's dim sum meat balls. The fresh Shanghai noodles are cooked and cooling. By now, we were in need of sustanence. No time to cook for lunch, so I pulled some frozen joong (sticky rice in bamboo leaves) from the freezer. My Mom and I made 200 of these packets this summer. http://www.angelfire.com/trek/erbmuseum/soos/ Bill and I devoured one each, along with some Dragon tea.This tea was brought back from China by a friend who went on a qi-gong tour. It was light and went well with the savory joong and chili oil. Hubby is itching to go buy new guitar strings and check in at the festival for our passes. So, I'd better get the pictures done up and post this! Now, onto preparing shrimp dumplings, BBQ pork bao, sui mai, curry chicken in puff pastry. For supper tonight, we are having lemongrass/cilantro/lime salmon, and something else . . .