Dejah

Good on you, Kim, for doing what you thought was best for your health! Having corresponded with you acouple of times, I'm really looking forward to your blog - especially if you're going to be trying out new recipes!

That cross section of the finished PB&J is absolutely amazing! Now I'm craving chocolate, peanut butter AND jelly!

Hey Chris! I'm glad you had the adventure! I now know to put parchment paper under my pizza so that it can be easily moved to the stone. Thanks! great looking pizza.

Mulligatawny soup - a favourite in our house! Did you make it from a recipe or just used whatever in-season vegetables? I love lots of cilantro and slices of lemon in mine. What cut of pork did you use in the vindaloo? I have the same problem with the meat being on the dry side. Might have to use a cut with more fat for that melt in your mouth texture. Did you mix up your own vindaloo paste?

Oh boy! Should have paid more attention to the little details in avatars As to the other half of the pork belly - at least three of us thought it was to end up as siu yook, so perhaps you can do something Asian with it? Being an engineer, you'd be right up there with Prawcracker and Origamicrane in figuring out the most complicated method of getting that specific crispiness to the skin. Looking forward to your blog.

I'm with prasantrin. I think it's one of the experimenting young'uns in Chinese forum: Prawncracker or Origamicrane doing siu yook.

Mmmm that looks perfect, bravo! How many ears can you fit in your terrine, how big was the mould and how many portions did you get out of it? Probably depends on the size of the ears of course but a benchmark would be handy. Looks so good might have to try one this meself. What was that you were saying in the salty egg thread about them young 'uns Dejah? ← I expect you will wade in to experiment?

You young'uns are great! Ask a question and you answer with an experiment: salty eggs, char siu, siu gnap...

Rona, I'm so proud of you...soldiering on bravely...eating and photographing for "our sake"... Thanks so much for all your effort!

I think duck eggs are the kind with "oily yolks". For supper last night, I whipped some lean ground pork with seasoning, a little oil, cornstarch and water until it is a little soupy. Then I whipped in 4 fresh eggs followed by 2 salted eggs. I cut the salty yolk into 4 pieces so they were distributed throughout the mixture. This was poured into a shallow dish and steamed for 30 minutes. It was light and fluffy, the best I've ever made. Often, I will cook the eggs in the shell on top of the rice as it cooks. Throw in a couple of lapcheung, stir fry some choi, and supper is ready. Of course, there's always the gow gai tang (wolfberry leaves soup) with the addition of a salted egg at the end for gow gai dan fa tong.

Dare I ask how the HK Victoria Seafood restaurant compared to the Winnipeg Victoria Seafood?

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