Dejah

They are entirely worth it Fengyi! It's the absolute highlight. I am not exactly sure I'll ever visit Beijing so this week's foodblog is a mighty big treat for me, and others too I'll wager. Thank you so much for your efforts. ← I'm of the same mind as johnnyd! The lamb feast wouldn't be quite as delicious without the photos. Everything looks so incredible. Thanks, Fengyi.

Ce’nedra, thank you! The chipotle-tomato sauce was definitely spicy, but I thought it needed something. Next time I will probably jazz it up with onions, tomatillos, or perhaps some warm spices like cinnamon and cloves. This was my first time making meatballs in a food processor. We only have a mini-processor, which I overloaded and consequently overprocessed the meatballs, so the texture wasn’t the best. Live and learn. Your siu mai, OTOH, look nice and delicate. How did you like the jicama in your siu mai – did it stay crunchy? ← I didn't realize these "naked pork meatballs" would be called siu mai. In my experience siu mai is incased in a wrapper but open top. The jicama would be a substitue for the crunch of waterchestnuts? Would it add a slightly sweet taste that would be missing in canned waterchestnut? What kind of sauce did you use? A chili one? Have you tried to make the beef meatballs - those springy ones served as dim sum?

Both versions sound delicious, but I love the name in the Philippines: Adidas! Maybe I'll ask for them by that name next time...

Prawcracker: Do you put any liquid inside the duck before you roast it? I used meen see - the brown bean sauce with whole beans - along with star anise, ginger, scallion, and garlic cloves. I guess the five-spice powder would do the same job as the spices. I had the same problem as you did with hanging the duck to roast. I tried to roast it on a rack, but never seemed to get the beautiful all around colour as you do. Haven't made one for years - too lazy when I can get it in Wpg. Besides, a frozen duck costs me more than one from the BBQ shop!

Oh yeah... Curry octopus! That's quite a red curry. I've got a bag of skewered octopus in the freezer. Would be great if some of you "experimenters" could come up with a recipe like you have been doing with siu yook and siu gnap! Daughter was trying out a dim sum restaurant in Winnipeg recommended by prasantrin - Kum Ho. That was the first time she tried zha leung. She was quite surprised at how well the crueller stayed crispy inside of the soft hot rice noodle wrap. I've never had this before, so I guess it'll be on my list for next trip. Funny - all of you are saying" Can't wait for my next trip tp HK!", and I say, "Can't wait for my next trip to Winnipeg!"

Yum cha means drink tea which means going for dim sum. Dim sum means the actual food items. Hom siu gok was "tay" that my Mom would make and deliver in baskets for some elder's birthday. "lam tay - carry pastry" - pastry for lack of a better word at the moment. Ben Sook might be able to provide a better translation. Lo bak goh was more of a tradition for CNY, but I guess it's so delicious that we want to eat it all the time? Look fun sounds like cheung fun. There are many versions of siu mai: pork, pork and shrimp, shrimp, nor mai, then there's beef made by Chinese Muslims. Whether they are of Shanghai origin...

I'm one of those who want everything, traditional or not. Wellll, perhaps not cheesecake. With dim sum, I often order a dish of gai lan with a drizzle of oyster sauce, or choi sum. Gota have my veggies. Guess that's not traditional...

The Cantonese baos are made with wheat flour, steamed, doughy, chewy goodness filled with pork, or chicken, or a multitude of different fillings. Mostly, it is with saucy char siu. There is a baked version too, but they are also made with wheat flour. I'm sure there's a thread on char siu baos. Maybe one of our techie posters can find it for you. You can perhaps adapt it to the ones you're familiar with.

More pictures from the volunteer appreciation party: This was a seaweed of some kind one of two trays of salty chicken: sweet 'n'sour pork: This weekend is the delayed Spring Festival party - more food! dessert! and tiny 8-treasure rice and the appreciative volunteers!

Last Saturday we had an appreciation party for all the volunteers from the Chinese Pavilion. Chef Thomas and his crew cooked a lot of food - enough for +100 people, using up some of the pork and jiaozi. I think they must have split up the menu and each cooked a dish in their home kitchens. The food was brought in foil roasters and still hot when they arrived. The food line-up: Some of the dishes: seafood medley:they used a pre-packaged mix then added fresh clams and shrimp. beef, daikon, carrots shredded pork in the middle with vegetable medley: pickles:

Thanks, Ling and Henry for sharing your wonderful trip! All the pictures made me drool, but I particularly liked the stinky tofu and xiaolongbaos. Taipei 101 - I've heard so much about this place. One of my former students from Taiwan worked there as, I think, a banquet server. He's back working in Taiwan now, so I will have a guide if and when I visit! The food stalls, I'm glad to hear that one can point and get!

Would raisins have been widely available, say 60 years ago? I remember my mom saying that my dad used to send containers of raisins back to Guongdong, China from Canada.

Not sure if this is found in cook books, but when cooking see-goo (arrow root), don't cut them into slices before cooking. Instead, cut them only into halves, then smack them with the flat of the cleaver before cooking. otherwise, they can retain that bitter taste. With leen gnow (lotus root), the same thing - cut each lobe into halves length-wise, then smack with the flat of the cleaver. Cook them in soup this way and they have a better texture. I know there are two different types of leen gnow - crispy textured and more powdery ( fun gnow). Perhaps cooking them smacked retains more of the tender powdery texture?

What? No Pictures? Conpoy is another name for dried scallops. It gets confusing sometimes with all these different names: mangetout for snow peas, aubergine for eggplant... Conpoy adds lovely flavour to joong or jook (congee). Because they are more expensive, people like me often substitute with dried shrimp. I do use conpoy when my supply has lots of broken pieces. Fresh marinated shrimp would not be the same in joong. You'd miss the intense flavour for the amount of rice involved. The texture wouldn't be the same either. It'd be better to enjoy your fresh Louisianna shrimp along side of the joong. How many leaves did you use for each packet? Mine are quite large and I use 3 leaves for each one. I am down to the last dozen I made last summer. My 9 year old grandson can out-eat any adult. http://www.hillmanweb.com/soos/joong2.html

I never put mung beans in my joong, so can't comment on that. But, mung beans are green. Definitely get the dried chestnuts because you are, I presume, making savory joong. You'd need to soak them overnight to rehydrate before using.

Yet another version! Thanks, Ce'nedra.

I'm not sure how safe it is with salt curing pork for 2 - 3 days, but I've been doing it for years, as has my Mom. Would salting completely raw pork be different than with half cooked raw chunk of meat? I cover the slabs with a layer of coarse salt and leave the container on the counter for 3 days. By the end of 3 days, the meat is firm to the touch and has a greyish tinge. I use finger size pieces in my joong, but this last batch I made for the pavilion demo, I've been using up as cubes cooked with our rice. The climate would definitely affect the safety issue. In Canada, it is dry and cooler.

As is paella traditionally! I guess there are variations of this dish all over the world. Would biryani fit into this catagory? Even tho' I love paella, I've made it so many times that zhua fan is going to be a nice change.

Here's the recipe that Ping sent me:

I enjoyed this zhua fan at a party last weekend. The cook said it was not Chinese but is Asian. She sent me the recipe and it contains shredded carrot, lots of cumin, cubed lamb, onions and raisins. The whole thing was done in a roaster in the oven. It was very good. Anyone familiar with this?

Stir-fried then simmered until tender with onions and fu yu - great on a bowl of freshly cooked rice. I usually end up eating the cold leftovers before the end of the night.

Where have you been, origamicrane? What a great "re-entry"! Looking forward to the results!

Thanks, Everyone! I thought I had recuperated, but I think the adrenolin has worn down and I am feeling very tired. Glad it's nearly the weekend. The counts and reports are in, and the "new kids on the block" were the hit of the festival! Kinda made everything worthwhile.

Both hubby and I are hectic with our university students writing midterm exams, so we won't have time to process and post the many pictures from the other photographer: David Xu. He is one of our 400 new Chinese in Brandon, and he did a great job roaming around the three days plus chairing the sanitation department. He's got the pictures up on a site, so have a look. Food is pictured on "Chinese Pavilion 10". http://david-xu-ca.spaces.live.com/default.aspx Photo 15 is the group slicing up the char siu. Photo 3 and #94 is David himself. # 56 is my s-i-l and myself - lovely hairnets #61 is my big brother #62 is my DH - our sound tech and webmaster #92 and 92 are our head Chef Thomas and one of his assistants - Bob #95 - 99 is the group of performers, volunteers at the end of Sat night singing My China Heart. It was very moving. The rest of the "albums" show crowds, performers, etc. There is a Spring Festival event in Winnipeg at the Forks on the 17th. Several Chinese performing groups are participating. We may go in as a committee to scout out talent for next year (Can't believe I'm actually talking about 2009!). The acts from China, Magic Face and the young lady doing the spinning plates, were hits, as well as the lions from Winnipeg. They hope to have a dragon for next year.

Let me make sure I understand you correctly, chappie. You are buying some jelly fish in some plastic packages in the Asian market. You want to know know how to turn it into something ready to eat. Right? (Note: I am not sure if the boiling part is necessary. I followed their instructions to boil the jelly fish but found that the resultant jelly fish was quite chewy.) ← I think chappie is looking for a way to prepare Chesapeake Bay Sea nettles (a type of jelly fish) from fresh out of the water into edible jelly fish like those packaged and sold in Asian markets. I've always bought the packages of ready-to-eat jelly fish - with sesame seed oil and sliced red chilis. I'm the only one who really enjoys them, so the small packages are perfect for me. Everyone else say they don't like eating rubber bands.