Laksa

Thanks for the sleuthing, Tepee! I am also quite puzzled that the Foochow dialect is so different from Fujian. I know that there is a difference as I have a friend whose dialect is Foochow (but she only knows like three or four words!) and from whom I had the privilege of tasting chicken stewed with red wine lees. ← The Foochow dialect is very easy to learn -- it only comprises three or four words! Teepee, sorry, I can't teach you the swear words because I don't know any. Typing off the cuff, I had always believed that Fuzhou was the capital of Fujian province. That's what my mum (whose family was from Fuzhou), always told me. She doesn't often miss the opportunity to point out her family were city-folk, while my dad's were from the villages. The Foochows in Sibu are great moonshiners -- they love to make red rice wine. Apparently the wine is much sought after by mothers in confinement. The red wine lees are a wonderfully flavored by-product, and feature in some quintessential foochow dishes like the chicken dish already mentioned. I believe Foochows invented Fo Tiao Chiang or Buddha jumps over the wall (the dish is so tasty that even the ascetic Buddha reputedly jumped over a six-foot brick wall to eat it). Food I ate when growing up was influenced by such a variety of styles that I find it difficult now to identify what dishes are typically foochow. Although one that springs to mind, har har, are foochow chung mian, or spring rolls. They are made with bean sprouts, firm tofu, chives, lard and ginger. Another favorite that my mum always makes for Chinese New Year, a secret family recipe of sorts, is rice smoked duck (mi siu ark). A whole duck is put on a bed of raw rice in a wok over a medium flame. The rice that will eventually burn lends the duck a nice smokey flavor. After an hour or so, chop the duck into pieces and stir-fry. Makan King, I will now try oh nee with pumpkin, but only because your royal highness has decreed that I must.

Okay, I have a theory. I think the motivation behind it is the same one that gives us Chinese restaurants with names like New Paris Eating House Western touches give it added cachet, non?

I lived for many years in Clayton, and nearby Mt Waverley and Mulgrave. Clayton, being the home to Monash University's main campus, offers a large number of cheap and good restaurants that cater to students ( as well as a few cheap and bad restaurants ). For a larger selection of authentic Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants, Springvale -- only 15 mins drive away -- is the place to go. Think of it as Melbourne's equivalent of Flushing, NY or Irvine, CA. I imagine you'll be getting an Australian English - American English dictionary, if you haven't already? My realization that Australians speak a different language (or at least have a unique vocabulary) came when I wanted to get lunch for the first time in the country. I was told to go to the tuck shop for tucker. Whaaaa? Tuck shop = (school) cafeteria Tucker = food Tuckerbox = lunch box.

Ooooo....oh nee! My favorite Teochew dessert. I only just learnt how to make it, after being married to a Teo'Jew' for 14 years. I love the taste of the shallots fried in lard, syrupped, then covering the pumpkin and taro. Yum. ← When did the Teochew start to claim oh nee as their own? The Foochows on egullet demand to know! I had this heavenly dessert when I was back home. I don't think the Foochow version has pumpkin. But why anyone would think of putting raisins on top is beyond me. Has anyone here tried oh nee battered and deep-fried?

When I lived in Melbourne, around Thanksgiving, I would often hear mumblings from Americans I knew about problems finding fresh cranberries and canned pumpkin or sweet potato. This was 8 years ago so things might've changed. If you're unsure about something and don't mind losing your food, you can always take a gamble. Just declare everything you bring, and see where the dice fall. If you haven't done something terribly egregious like bringing a live cow with BSE, usually the worst that can happen is confiscation. From personal experience, honey and other bee products are definitely a nono. Preserved shrimp paste went through!

Same here! Avoiding that number can be very taxing -- trust me, I know -- especially when it comes to government issued documents . Social security and the DMV weren't interested to hear my explanation, although, once, I was lucky enough to have my pick of car license plates. I was in two minds about what to do with a batch of 87-pleated dumplings (just couldn't get that last one in there!!), but now I feel much better about eating them.

Irwin, the fiddle head ferns that grow in the wild in Sarawak are slightly different from fiddle heads that I've bought here. The stalks are more slender, and after cooking, they are more tender, and not as "nutty" in flavor. We call them midin, and according to the Sarawak forestry department, the botanical name is Stenochlaena palustris. As far as I can tell by googling, Stenochlaena palustris is native to India, SE Asia, Australia and Samoa. I've been told some varieties of wild ferns are poisonous. Did you get lucky or were you with experienced "pickers"?

Kew, that looks good! Never had paku salad, so is the paku raw? Hmm... you guys can get paku in KL meh??

My father's parents came from Kutian, close to Fuzhou and I think my mother's parents were city folk from Fuzhou itself. After migrating from China to Malaysia, they made their way to Johor and Singapore, before eventually settling in Sibu. A large number of migrant Foochows ended up in Sibu or other nearby towns. I keep hearing stories of my grandparents being in the food business, first serving Ding Bian Hu from a stall, then operating a Foochow pastry/cookie shop, but none of their children ever took up the trade. It was hard work making cookies and pastry, and nobody wanted to do it. All the knowledge in the family has been lost, but none of the relatives I've spoken with seem to show any hint of regret.

There's a belief that the number of pleats a chef can put on a dumpling is a testament to the his/her skills. I've seen restaurants/chefs that boast of dumplings that have no fewer than 18 pleats, or 20 pleats. I've also read somewhere that Shanghainese xiaolongbao must have exactly 16 pleats. But you'll rarely see dumplings with 4 or 14 pleats. Same is true for 7. 6, 8 and 9 are good numbers.

Yes, I believe it is.

Ah Hee is on Jalan Alor, KL. His address is kinda flexible because he cooks on a cart. I have never heard about the fay teen ong choy show. If that's in Malaysia, don't order that dish if there are birds flying in the vicinity. If the birds don't eat the ong choy, they might contribute something to it.

Interesting to read that Chinese olives are of genus Canarium. In Sarawak, the Canarium odontophyllum or dabai is a very popular food: The local Chinese call these ka lan, also. The flesh of the dabai is ready to eat after the "olives" have been steeped in some hot water, or heated under the hot sun. The seed of the dabai contains an edible kernel that is nutty in flavor.

I should've been clearer, but the close-up photo was of blue potato chips. Milagai and petite tete de chou each win a dinner for two at Wendy's Restaurant in San Jose. Now I'm looking for the botanical name of that thing that breaks apart into kernels. Not a close-up photo... shown at pretty much actual size.

How's the Chinese food in Lyon? I did a quick search on the Lyon tourism website and found two restaurants that I could identify as Chinese out of nine under the "Cuisine Asiatique" category. Thai and Vietnamese food seem to be as well represented. I wonder what fondue royale is? Is fondue chinoise steamboat?

nondual1, may I ask where you're located? Did you make the ci fan or buy them? They look really good. I wonder if I can find them anywhere in the tri-state area (NY,NJ,CT). TP, if the Malaysians can stuff yao char gwai into a pulut panggang we may have something similar.

With three balls

It's interesting to note that all the billiard tables in your photos are pocketless. I find it difficult to walk past a pool hall without turning my head to look inside. When a pool hall is half empty, and the patrons converse in whispers, I get the feeling that something sinister is brewing. Could the players at the corner table with the grim faces be gambling for high stakes? Could the group gathered in a cloud of cigarette smoke be plotting a bank robbery? Or maybe they're just trying to decide where to go for dinner?

'When I was a kid, we never got to eat red bean paste joong. We only ever ate plain joong because our family couldn't afford the ones with fillings. On my birthdays, I'd receive a teaspoon of sugar for dipping. As for meat in joong, what an outrageous luxury! Maybe that's something millionaires might eat.' Okay, that's probably something my Dad would say.

Uhmm... is it because eating love letters improves one's fertility? We could be on to something big here...

Okay, I actually do not know what the heck this is, but I've been told it's food. The winner will be the one who can provide the botanical name and maybe a link.

What!? Potatoes come in blue? I hate you guys! Okay, it's obvious I suck at setting the "puzzle".

Dejah, I love to eat as much as I dislike cooking. I only ever see my mum simmering stuff in her claypot, so I guess low heat is a safer bet? I heard from someone that cooking congee in a claypot over a charcoal fire adds something "extra" to the taste of the congee... has anyone here had the pleasure? hzrt8w, Ah Hee is in Malaysia. I told him you're coming so he's expecting you. Don't keep him waiting.

Okay, I have had deep fried chicken wings from Chinese take-out places here in NY that have a thin and crispy coating of batter, but I don't recall tasting in the chicken any of the marinade ingredients you mentioned. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention. My mum makes a deep fried chicken dish that uses the "Kentucky" brand seasoned flour coating , so I don't think anyone would think of that as being Chinese style. It's nothing like KFC either. I guess you're talking about Chinese take-out places in LA? Let's wait for what Louisa has to say.

You guys are so good at this game that I decided to show my next mystery food at larger than actual size: What is that?