Dejah

I made 50 of these last week and tried to document the process: http://www.hillmanweb.com/soos/food/baos.html I use cupcake liners and they work better than wax paper. There is a little dough left on the paper but never enough to break the seal and make the bao leak. I am lazy; I don't want to cut parchment

Had our Easter ham yesterday. Tonight, made a couple of our kids' favourite dishes from their childhood days: Chicken lettuce wraps: ground chicken, waterchestnuts, bell peppers, onion, diced celery, fermented soy beans, hoisin and oyster sauce, chicken stock and lots of lettuce: Fun see: mung bean noodles with dried shrimp, lap cheung, Chinese cabbage, char siu

After seeing the duck breast, I'm happy that we are having duck tomorrow! Tonight, vegetarian lasagna from Loony Spoons: Made a throw-together meat version for the carnivores in the family.

Pierogi I just use my usual bao dough, but no yeast: flour, milk, sugar, baking powder and 1 tbsp veg oil. As I usually have lapcheung in the fridge, it's a great way to use up any leftover dough. I put the lapcheung in a little water and microwave them for about a minute, just to soften them up. My future s-i-l likes to take them hunting - easy to carry, to eat, and filling.

After making baos all afternoon, supper was quickly thrown together before tai-chi workout. Stir-fried King Topshell (abalone like shellfish - poor man's abalone) with shitaki mushrooms, gai lan in oyster sauce: Pan seared tofu with Saigon Chili Oil

It was a busy day, and a steamy one... Here are the baos you've been waiting for, Bruce... I made 40 char siu baos and 10 lapcheung baos. char siu diced and ready for the wok: After the addition of more Hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, chicken stock, thickened with cornstarch slurry. Hard to keep wayward spoons from scooping the filling into mouths... Lots of fun pleating: Hot from the steamer: Oozy with sauce and fluffy/chewy mouth-feel: lapcheung bao:

Pam: It's been wonderful to read your blog, about traditions and cuisine I know nothing about. It's especially a pleasure to have someone blogging from the Canadian prairies.

Made Musakhan by Paula Wolfert - a dish I made for students from Saudi Arabia acouple of years ago. Chicken marinated in lemon juice, sumac, nutmeg, cinnamon for a day before being baked with simmered onions on top of lavosh. I used flat bread the first time. Tonight, I omitted the bread as we had chickpeas and fava beans. Lots of aroma in the mouth and in the kitchen. Served chickpeaa and fava beans simmered with chopped tomato, onion, chili powder, cumin, cardamon, cilantro, and lemon juice.

Two items from our Soo's Restaurant menu: # 5: Mushroom Chop Suey #111: Sesame Chicken

Enjoyed everything in your week of sharing! I love the "parting shots" of the tea pots - another of my weaknesses. Did you make some of them?

All the seafood look delicious! And Chris! That pork belly crust...Was the bite as crispy as it looked in the picture. Kim: You must look for and try some steak 'n' kidney pie while you're in England. Wherever you're going to, make sure you have some recommends for both the sole and the pie. Used to be able to buy steak 'n'kidney pie in a tin, about the size of a 6" pie. You'd open the top and bake it in the oven. The puff pastry cooked up beautifully. Then the prices went way up and eventually went off the market around here. So, I had to learn to make it myself, for my hubby and his Dad. They were the only ones in his family who ate it until I came along. Good thing Chinese eat everything. Wish I were going with you! Wouldn't it be incredible to meet up with and taste some of Prawn's cooking!

April 15 and yet MORE snow on the prairies. Not quite as much as Calgary, but really, we've had enough! A good day for Steak and Kidney Pie! The filling was browned then simmered for 2 hours on top of the stove: steak, beef kidneys, a few mushrooms, onion, thyme, bay leave, peppercorns, beef stock, worchestershire sauce. So easy with store-bought puff pastry: Tender chunks of beef and kidneys, oozy gravy, crispy puff pastry, baby carrots, peas and some healthy stuff that DH is not too keen on.

I can't believe that we lost the warm temps we've had for about 2 weeks - from +8C to -8C today (with wind -14C) Any of the above gorgeous meals would have helped to warm me innerds, especially the stroganoff... Shelby: Love the idea of the egg in the middle of your pizza! Did you crack the egg on half way thru' the bake? I've been using my Jenn-Air grill since Dec, and of all days, I decided to do burgers outside. But they were worth it. Not quite Shelby's Juicy Lucy, but juicy nonetheless: Lean ground beef stuffed with smoked Gouda and brushed with bottled Guinness BBQ sauce.

Yay! Glad you kept your promise, Bruce, as I left "today" just for you! ojisan I always use boneless pork butt. Love the fat that runs throughout - keeps the meat juicy.

Bruce: For once, I didn't hang the chunks of pork like I usually do with char siu. I think the lovely crust came from over-marinating... I didn't get around to cooking the meat after one day. It was in the marinade, in the fridge for three days, tho' I did take the time to turn the pieces. This time, I just laid them on the broiler rack with water in the bottom. Oven at 425F, turning and basting half way. Baos didn't get made either. We had too many little"nibbles"! I'll be making more next week, AND baos, before the kids come out for Easter.

I picked up the bag of maple flakes while cruising the baking aisle at one of the frocery chains...sounded interesting. Haven't done much with it other than on cereal. It's made from "pure maple sugar" and that definitely came thru'. Suggested servings: on cereal, stir-fries, maple whipped cream. I wanted different tastes on the roasted vegetables: cumin and chili peppers sounded good on the parsnips, but for fennel..., so I sprinkled some on before and after cooking. I liked it with the "licorice". The latter sprinkle added a bit of crunch. Would be good as maple whipped cream for waffles...

Beef short rib stew just the way my Dad made it all those years ago for our small prairie town cafe. This was a favourite of the many American hunters who frequented our area during duck hunting and deer hunting season. Clark Gable was said to have been a frequent visitor. The dish is one of the family-style soup tureens from the set my Mom and I brought from Hong Kong when we immigrated in 1958. Oven-roasted vegetables: fennel with five-spice powder, parsnips with cumin, baby carrots with maple flakes, and spaghetti squash with butter.

As mention in my previous post, my version is unorthodox. Here is a picture of the one I made last month. I threw in a Chinese eggplant that was left in the bottom of my fridge. It's fusion: Fish fragrant eggplant and mapo tofu! Most of the sauce had settled to the bottom of the dish. I also like to throw in fresh mint - for any spicy dishes I make.

Maybe it's more Toisanese, but I've always used ground pork. I haven't used Fushia's recipe. I've always gone blithly on from what I remember and what I liked - most likely unorthodox. I also do not add fermented black beans or sugar , but I do add a splash of vinegar...

Saw these at Stokes and just couldn't resist! Supper tonight: Hot 'n' Sour soup with shrimp, ground chicken, char siu, bamboo shoots, shitaki mushrooms, wood ear, day lily, silken tofu. Pan fried tofu with char siu, oyster sauce on wilted iceberg lettuce.

Fresh out of the oven this afternoon: char siu - Chinese BBQ pork. So hard to keep my hands (and hubby's) off! Will be making char siu baos and bits for hot 'n' sour soup. I've been making the soup with char siu for so many years, I just can't make it without!

I love bitter melon in any way, shape, form. One of my Mom's favourites was bitter melon soup with pork and rehydrated oysters. SO good! With bitter melon, I usually stuff with pork then a fermented black bean garlic sauce. Watched an episode of Spice Goddess this morning, and she made a stuffed bitter melon dish. These melons have a different look (sometimes labelled as karela?), and the skin was peeled. The stuffing was chopped onion, tomato, garlic, ginger, tumeric, garam masala, curry leaves. The melon halves were pan fried then finished in a 425F oven. Didn't get to see the rest of the show... Have you ever used these bitter melons?

dcarch! That crackling is ridiculous! WHat "dough" did you use for the Aebleskiver? Those look so cool. I would love to make them for Easter weekend when the kids are home. rarerollingobject: Recipe / method for your five-spice duck?

Steamed hairy squash (mu qua) with ground chicken, shrimp, waterchestnut in oyster sauce - for supper tonight. The squash was sweet and tender. The chicken was velvety smooth with the seasme oil aroma. Memories of my Mom's cooking.

Love those bagels, Shelby! Looks like they are "everything bagels"...garlic, poppy seed, etc? My Favourite! Juicy Lucy will be on the "honey-do" list the next couple of weeks. I'm on a break from teaching! Yay!