Dejah

Vyieort, I think I'll never open the Spam to preserve the value. The egg smells like chalk and beets, if that can be imagined. I bought it only a week ago but there were two kinds -- black and yellow -- and the lady refused to sell me the other one, which she said was no good. She also said one had to be cooked first but I forget which one. ← The egg you bought is probably covered with rice husks / straw and the ready to eat kind. I use them in congee/jook, or as part of an appetizer plate served with pickled ginger (the pink kind) and pickled shallots. These can be a acquired taste. The black ones, I assume you are talking about the mud-like coating on the outside. These are most likely salted duck eggs. They do need to be cooked before eating.

Peter: You're like the Energizer bunny - you just keep going! Another wonderful travelogue. It's always a learning experience reading yours and Rona's posts. Thank you!

I dunk the oysters in a pot of boiling water for acouple of seconds, drain, then coat with cornflour. They are not as soggy then.

You can keep zha choi in a plastic container for months without any ill effects.

I try to use a potato peeler after I cut the top and bottom off. Love these fresh and raw, but my s-i-l is great at making the steamed Chinese cake with the waterchestnut starch and diced fresh ones. The cake is gooey chewy with sweet crunchy bits.

I love musakhan and need to make it more often! If you want an appetizer with a Middle East them, you might try the "stuffed cigars" I make. These are ground meat (beef or lamb) cooked with tomato sauce, onion, garlic, cumin, cinnamon, paprika, honey, cooled, then rolled in phyllo pastry. These can be made ahead, frozen, then brushed with melted butter, sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds, and baked in the oven for about 20 minutes. You can serve them as is, or a dip with yogurt and curry, salsa, etc. PM me if you'd like the recipe.

Late in reply, but Asian markets usually have dehydrated peeled chestnuts, and unseasoned peeled roasted chestnuts sold as snacks. The roasted ones would certainly have worked in your Valentine supper.

Gorgeous food, Tepee, Prawn. I want some! Is that siu gnap? how did you make it? I still have 2 ducks in the freezer as well as 2 pieces of pork belly. I wanted to make siu yook and siu gnap for CNY, but Mom ended up in hospital and awaiting placement in personal care home, so all our plans for celebration were shelved. In fact, all of my cooking these last 2 months have been quick and easy and comfort food for Mom. I am so glad I was able to enjoy these feasts vicariously! Thank you!

Not sure how I missed this post back in July, but that package of tofu is made by my cousin James Chan in Winnipeg!

It's time for the Brandon Lieutenant Governor's Winter Festival of Cultures again. Last year was our first venture, so we feel a bit more organized this time around. We will be serving deep fried wontons, mixed vegtables, hor fun. The main pork dish is a recipe by 2 of our chefs who work for Maple Leaf. Both recipes called for light curry flavouring. Thursday and Friday is lightly battered, deep fried and with a sauce. Saturday will be braised, I think. They both tasted great. We mixed up 60 lbs of ground pork yesterday according to my old restaurant recipe as posted in my blog in 2004. One group of 8 Guangdong ladies will start making them starting at 1 pm, then a group of 9 my Chinese students will take over until 9 pm. One former student will be in at 3 to mix up another 60 lbs. This seems more manageable than last year's 18,000 dumplings! However, we have to make the wontons each day for the wrapper to fry up properly. These cannot be frozen before-hand like the siu mai and jiaozi. 2 of the students will be deep frying once the pavilion opens at 6:00. Saturday we will open at noon. Tsingtao beer and Great Wall shiraz will be served at the bar. Hope to have photos of the food and event up later, but you can see our efforts from last year at: www.westmanchinese.com

I've got my Tray of Togetherness filled along with extra bags for my students tomorrow: candied lotus root, lotus seeds, coconut, melon, carrot, New Year's Lucky candy, watercheastnut, kumquat. I love them all!

I second what Bruce said about using a pressure cooker or crock pot in making dishes like rendang. In using the pressure cooker, you'd miss all the different aromas from different stages of cooking the rendang stove top, which is one of the most enjoyable things about cooking from Cradle of Flavour. With the crock pot, the liquid cannot be cooked off in order to brown the meat in the oil left behind which is an essential step in making rendang.

Merry Christmas to everyone! One of my Chinese students just told me about a tradition in China: everyone eats an apple on Christmas Eve because in Chinese, apple is pingguo which sounds like pingan. Pingan in Chinese means safety and peace. So, I am eating an apple for my family, and one for all my eGullet family - to wish you all peace and safety. Then, we're putting out a sauce of salt for the reindeer as we didn't have a salt-lick on hand. Santa will have a mince meat tart and glass of milk. Ice cube is a good idea, so I'll be sure to do that! I'd better add an apple too, so he will have a safe and peaceful journey home.

Nancy, Both duck dishes look great, as does your Chinese soup bowl. We have 2 ducks in the freezer (neither with skin worthy of Cantonese duck)waiting for inspiration. Your pictures are just what we needed. Thanks!

The meat pockets look very much like the curry puffs I used to make for our restaurant. I didn't use pork, I used ground chicken, chopped onion, curry powder, and mashed potato as thickener for all the sauce. I use egg-wash for that "glow", but at home, we prefer the pastry without egg-wash. It makes a more "powdery" top but the whole pocket is still flakey.

I had this on a "starving for carbs" day: leftover big chunky English style chips with ketsup and salt between two slices of Wonder bread. It was good.

Prawn: You bet I'm still reading this thread! It's got me thinking salt'n'pepper softshell crab as my next dish to cook at home. Picked up several packets of frozen crabs while I was in the city. Hope I can make them like your photos. if you have any hints, pass 'em on!

Pretty incredible that your post came up this morning. The cigars are always a hit. I am just getting ready to make Spiced Beef Cigars for a potluck party but using ground lamb instead of beef.

Peter, I'm glad you're getting back to the reporting. Your writing and photography are always colourful, entertaining, informative - well worth waiting for. Thanks for taking the time.

I suppose it all depends on the dish. I do love the silky texture of fresh tofu in soup, but I can see where it would be useful to have that spongy texture in, for example, braised dishes.

This was a new one for me: I love tofu: in its fresh form, deep-fried pockets, dried foojook, tofu skin, etc, but I've never purposely frozen fresh tofu to use in soup or anything with sauce. Several of my Chinese students came to our house for their first Halloween experience. They all miss "hometown food", and were drooling over my Chinese cookbooks. While we treated all the goblins who came to the door, we decided to make something they really miss - hot'n'sour soup! They told me in class conversations about freezing tofu - how wonderful it is. So, we sliced some firm tofu, threw it into the freezer while the soup simmered. I don't think it was in there long enough, but the idea is that freezing produces "little holes" once the frozen water content melts. These are perfect for absorning the sauces and flavours. Anyone follow this step? I will have to try this again. I sent the leftover soup back to residence with them, but I might do that when I next make tofu - oyster sauce.

cookwithlove: Here's the almond soup from Chinese Immigrant Cooking by Mary Sui Ping Yee: 1/2 cup almond paste 3 cups water 1/2 cup milk honey to taste Bring the water to boil and dissolve the almond paste in it, adding the milk to blend into a thick soup. Serves four. I've never made this. It sounds too simplistic. But perhaps it IS that simple. Not sure about the almond paste. I seem to remember Mom grinding the almonds herself - the Chinese hung yun. I will check with my mom for her directions next time I go over. Let us know how it turns out if you try this recipe.

Mark, Here's a google link for the Taiwanese sewet peanut soup. http://eastmeetswestkitchen.blogspot.com/2...up-dessert.html Cookwithlove, I have a recipe in my Chinese Immigrant Cooking book for Almond Soup, and one for Walnut Tea. PM me if you're still looking for the recipes. I like making tang sui with red beans, lotus nuts, blanched peanuts, tangerine peel, with bing tang. Poached egg is good in it too.

Our kids are home for Canadian Thanksgiving and enjoying this "last gasp of summer". The farmer said they had a hard frost this week. They smell like strawberries; they taste like strawberries.

Bruce: I was watching a cooking show the other night, and the comment was that "monkfish" is the poor man's lobster. I imagine that meant the texture. Would you agree? Your meals look wonderful as usual.