Dejah

A yogurt chain - Tutti Frutti - has opened to a roaring business in our small city. SO easy to load up then gasp at the cost - 56 cents / oz... There are loads of add-ons, but the one I love is called bobas. These are NOT tapioca balls found in boba tea, but little balls filled with juice. They are about the size of large tapioca balls. When you squish them against the roof of your mouth, a delicious little squirt of juice comes out. I was told that these are shipped up from the USA. Any idea what these are and if they can be purchased for home use?

Haven't been posting much - nothing as pretty or intricate as Prawn's, WIll's or Kouig's, but here's tonight's supper: This is a relative of the wolf berry plant, except there are no berries on this one. The leaves are stripped from the stalk and used for soup. I consider this my spring tonic as they are very early. After stipping the leaves, the stalks can be stuck back into the ground for next year's crop. I made a stock with pork riblets, added the leaves, and a salted egg just before serving. This was my childhood favourite and still is. Saw some nice Chinese eggplant, so made Stir-fry eggplant with toban sauce. We also had steamed spareribs with black beans...the sauce is so delicious on rice!

I won't be able to make mine until July 1st - a long weekend for me - as my teaching keeps me too busy! I haven't made any since my mother passed away 2 years ago, and my kids and extended families are requesting the ones that "you and Po-Po used to make". I pretty much need the whole weekend to make the +100 or so to fill many tummies. Maybe my daughter will come home that weekend and we can carry on the tradition of Mother and Daughter Joong session! She learned how with Po-Po. Here's the link to our 3-generation joong session: http://www.hillmanweb.com/soos/joongzi.html

LTWong: I see what that means now. So essentially, it would reduce the steam time. I have always just followed my mother's recipe and method... Might have to try this if it would redue the condensation on my picture windows, especially in the winter.

Hi aznsailorboi, Welcome back, but I don't think many of us old-timers frequent this forum as much as we used to... You DO have to use rice flour and NOT glutineous rice flour. That's why you had a sticky "cake". This is the mistake I made when I was making tong yuen one time...used rice flour instead of glutineous rice flour. The balls of dough would not rise and were hard as golf balls instead of soft doughy dumplings. I use Grace Young's recipe but add a lot more ingredients than most recipes call for. I don't understand what Fred12fred meant in reference to Young's recipe: " Grace's recipe calls for cooking the rice flour in with the daikon before steaming. I think that makes a world of difference." That would not work as you wouldn't be able to work in the other ingredients before steaming. Here is my lobak goh. I have made it often for my Chinese students. I slice it up, fry it up, then we just reheat in the microwave before eating it with hot chili oil. This is 1.5 times the original recipe. The pan is the one my mother used for so many years. http://www.hillmanwe...s/lobakgoh.html

Prawn: What exactly as beef cheeks? As in beef cheeks? I have never seen these, but they sound and look delicous.

My stomach tells me I need me some red-braised pork belly! My scales say, "No..No...NO! Not yet..." Prawn: Did you use fresh soft-shell crabs or frozen? That's the only kind I can get here on the prairies. I can never seem to get them dry enough to deep fry to crispy deliciousness. What did you use for coating? I love soft-shell crab...

I want everything that everyone has posted! Acouple of meals from this week... Brunch: French toast/grilled cheese Grilled turkey breast fillet with fat-free mozza Coconut panko shrimp, baby octopus, homemade fries, and peas with fresh mint and a "gift basket" for my neighbor - coconut/panko shrimp

http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/fish-maw-soup-recipe/index.html Just checked this site out and it's similar to what I do. I use raw chicken - marinated with cornstarch, salt, and a bit of oil instead of cooked chicken. And, I don't usually need to add cornstarch slurry at the end. I put less Chinese mushrooms in, but I may add diced wintermelon if it's on hand.

Words fail me, and I can guarantee that doesn't happen often. Everything looks so wonderful that I've been hesitant in posting. However, I was really pleased with our supper/dinner tonight. Lamb shanks braised in coconut milk, Thai curry paste (Mae Ploy), lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves. Threw in chunks of potato for the last 45 minutes. I also had some green leaf lettuce left over from a lettuce wrap lunch, so I chopped it up, added some sliced shitaki mushroom, ground pork balls, and tofu in chicken stock for a fairly light soup.

rotuts: Yes. That's the Nana's paste I use!

I use Patak Hot curry, tandoori, vindaloo pastes for Indian dishes, and Mae Ploy for green, Penang, and red Thai/Malay curry dishes. I will make my own pastes if I have the time and the required ingredients on hand, which is seldom these days... Has anyone seen the paste for Butter Chicken under the brand NANA? I've only seen it at the Safeway store. Again, it makes a nice dish without a lot of fuss.

Chris: Really enjoying your foodblog here. I was looking at your tortilla press set up. What do you use to cover the surfaces? I tie a big piece of Saran wrap on each side, but it's never satisfactory. The "covers" you have seem to be fairly stiff?

Been stockpiling lamb chops for a visit home from daughter and fiancé Ryan-the-Boy. Tonight was the night! Seasoned with garlic, salt and pepper,the chops were pan seared and finished off in the oven. The beets were roasted in foil, and the beet greens were sauteed in the fat from the chops. I think I started enjoying lamb just so I can have mint sauce. Ryan ate 7 chops, I believe! The beets were great with lots of butter.

My great-nephew Brendan was in town with his University of Alberta volleyball team against our guys. He asked to have supper with us, along with a friend. This was post-game, which ended up around 11:30 PM! I did a 5.8 kg prime rib roast as he was bringing one or two team mates, both around 6'8", and eat alot. The roast was pulled at 140 internal but tented and sat for 1.5 hours before the guys made it over. It was still quite warm but a little more done than medium. THat didn't both Brendan's teammate Kurt, who ate 4 slabs plus 5 Yorkies! Even Brendan was amazed. Kurt with his second helping!

Gorgeous, Keith! Such talent presented here by all of you! Mouth watering beyond control...

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Sheepish There is so much more in you to share, sheepish. I hope to see more of your offerings in various egullet threads. Thanks for a great blog!

Wonderful blog - such a contrast to urban offerings! Enjoying your sense of humour in details, AND Mutt On's comments. I'll have to check my sources about using large pig intestines so you can really make use of the whole pig! I just remember my mother stuffing it with sticky rice and black beans (can't remember anything else as I was pretty young). The "sausage" is steamed, sliced and served with a dipping sauce. Pig stomach - braised - SO good! I also used them in dried tofu stick soup along with rehydrated oysters. The braised stomaches are sold in Chinese BBQ shops.

My first thought was the tumbler idea... Wondering if a small rock tumbler would work...that kind of idea?

Thanks for that information, Margaret. Now I know! I'll have to try your riff on the cauli-rice, Heidi. I've been eating SO much cauliflower - in salads and cooked, I am having shiritaki noodles for a change. I haven't had any for a couple of months as I have to go to Winnipeg to buy them. Then today, I saw several packages at our local Safeway - in the gluten-free section! A couple were in fettucini shape, so tomorrow, it'll be ground turkey chili with marinara sauce over shiritaki noodles.

Here ya go, Bruce. Sure wish salmon didn't lose that beautiful colour!

Cross-posting tonight's supper from the "Cooking for weight loss" thread because the salmon fillet was so pretty! I usually cook this on the BBQ wrapped in banana leaf. A bit chilly at the moment, so the fish was done in foil in a 375F oven. The fillet was sandwiched between layers of lemongrass, ginger, green onion, cilantro, chili pepper, lime slices, pepper, salt and sprinkled with olive oil. It was silky, moist, and no fishy tast or smell at all. I've been cooking salmon steaks and was ready to give up on salmon as it tasted fishy to me, no matter how I cooked it! Prep. and ready to go into the oven:

Picked up a beautilfu salmon fillet this afternoon. This is the way I used to cook salmon. Not sure why I switched to steaks, which I find fishy no matter how I cooked it. I used to BBQ this wrapped in banana leaf in the summer. In the winter, I do it in foil in the oven. The fillet is sandwiched between layers of onion, cilantro, lemongrass, ginger, lime slices, chili peppers, salt, pepper, and olive oil. This was silky and moist, no fishy taste at all. Hubby got rice with his. I had tofu shiritaki noodles done in a non-stick pan with a dribble of tamari soy.

Those duck necks would be my dish! I'd take a dish of it, sit infront of the telly and pick 'em clean with my fingers and teeth! I do that with chicken necks. Really enjoying the blog so far. Lamb is one of our favourite meats. Kids can't afford to buy it - not really because of the price, but due to the humongus amounts they want to eat! Mrs. Sheepish's baking looks great. Would she post the recipe? And the kitchen...that's exactly the way it should look when it use!

Darienne, I am at where I was before in terms of weight loss - recupping from Xmas. At least it's coming off again. I got the Caramel Krisda at Wal-Mart, so you may want to check there. Our Safeway is the only other source for regular Krisda, and their prices are higher. I like this stevia product better than any other one - a little more expensive, but worth it! Of course it's great in coffee too! I am glad to be off the aspertime... I also bought myself a double-wall beverage cup. It holds 12 oz. and keeps my hot water hot. Otherwise, it cools off before I can down the 8 oz! This is the thermos I have, and it holds my 8 glasses of water plus enough for my hot water and lemon juice in the morning. I make sure it's empty before I go to bed.