liuzhou

Don't believe everything you read about the medicinal benefits of Chinese tea (or Chinese anything else). There are many wild, unsubstantiated claims. For example, this typical site lists some of the same supposed benefits you do, but hedges its bets by saying "may" or "could". If something may be true, it at least equally may not be true. They also note that

While I'm sure that your advice may be useful to someone else the OP's kid must be around 14 years-old by now!

I think I've mentioned this before somewhere on eG, but I keep a small pair of regular office scissors, bought from my local stationery shop, on a hook above the kitchen counter. They are useful for opening many packets, snipping herbs etc. There is a large pair of kitchen scissors there too, but they don't get half the use the small ones do.

Full obit from the Guardian.

Sodium isn't an issue for me, but my eyesight is shot!

I do like frog, too. The best bullfrog I ever had was at a private buffet lunch in a hotel restaurant here in town some years ago. It was bullfrog with tick-trefoil (desmodium). I enjoyed iit so much I nearly ate it all before remembering to take a picture. Dinner tonight was much more mundane. Spicy slow-cooked chicken legs and fresh shiitake mushrooms with garlic and whole shallots and two types of chilli, one green, one red. Served with rice and wilted Shanghai bok choy.

I haven't bought any yet, but the packaging says "cured, cooked and smoked" and "fully cooked". See second picture.

One of my local supermarkets here in China has started importing steaks from a company by the name of JBS Australia. Mr Google tells me that this is Australia's largest meat processing company (but a subsidiary of JBS USA). I am not familiar with the brand and, as the steaks are on the expensive side, I'd like to solicit any opinions from our Australian members before I commit to buying any. They look well marbled but a bit on the thin side. Here is their Cultural Revolution style promotional leaflet and the other side and a close-up of some of the steaks Thanks

One of my local supermarkets here in China has started importing some of these frozen sausages - two types at the moment: Beddar Cheddar (which sound revolting to me) and Smoked Brats (which sound more promising). I am not familiar with this brand at all, but a bit of Googling tells me that Johnsonville is one of the USA's largest sausage manufacturers. Not sure if that is a good thing or not. Industrial sausages are not usually great, in my experience. I've also done some searching on here and although there are passing mentions of the brats in some ancient threads, there isn't really much information. These things are damned expensive here, so I'd like some opinions from those who know the products before I part with my hard earned pictures of Chairman Mao, please.

Interesting article on Driscoll's from the New Yorker How Driscoll’s Reinvented the Strawberry This comment from a Driscoll's biochemist commenting on someone else's berry made me laugh. Sounds just like the Driscoll's fruit I've encountered. Sadder is that they proudly say they breed berries for looks rather than taste.

Spaghetti with wild prawns, yellow bell pepper, red chilli pepper, garlic, scallions, S+P.

Well, there are different kinds. The ones used in Chinese cuisine are Brassica juncea. Also, the preservation process changes the taste somewhat.

Usually mustard greens.

I have posted something very similar to this in the past, but hey! it's a favourite. Pork tenderloin cubed and marinated in lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, crushed coriander seeds and salt and pepper for at least two hours. This lot got five. Then fried in it's own oily juices. Served with rice and a simple salad of lettuce, tomato and green onions/scallions and sea salt. And a nice, light Chilean red.

Yes, the much valued "by royal appointment" is a personal statement that she is responsible for the choice to purchase that particular tea. It does not necessarily mean that she drinks it, though. She does have guests.

I am right handed and hold the knife in my right hand when I smash garlic. Why change it to the left hand? And if my knife gets too "garlicky", I wash it.

Roast duck leg, roast potatoes and puréed broccoli. Local sea salt.

I use Sichuan single clove garlic (独蒜), so a bulb and a clove are the same! I'm told that it does sometimes turn up in Asian stores in the west.

Coincidentally, I bought some Anxi Tie Guan Yin just yesterday. I already had Dragon Well which I bought to use in cooking rather than drinking, although I have had a couple of cups.

Dinner was late and the sun had gone so lousy lighting for photographs. Stir fried squid with green chillies, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine Chinese chives cooked for mere seconds. Steamed asparagus and rice.

And tonight. Pork with fresh shiitake mushrooms, salted black beans (豆豉 dòu chǐ), garlic, chilli, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce. Finished with Chinese garlic chives (韭菜 jiǔ cài) and sesame oil. Served with: These greens are 枸杞菜 gǒu qǐ cài, the leaves of the plant which gives us goji berries aka wolfberries - a favourite. Rice.

Yesterday afternoon, I bought a bunch of large, live shrimp. Last night, I stir fried them with garlic, ginger, white chilli, Shaoxing wine and Dragon Well Tea (龙井茶 lóng jǐng chá) and served as the main component of dinner. Fuchsia Dunlop has a more refined recipe for Dragon Well tea with shrimp in Land of Fish and Rice, but she uses shelled shrimp and little flavouring - certainly no chilli. Fine though her dish is, I was trying to recreate a dish from Hunan which I have eaten in restaurants many times. The Hunan dish uses freshwater shrimp (Hunan is landlocked) but I used sea shrimp from the Gulf of Tonkiin near the China-Vietnam border. Messy finger food. Fun!

Chicken noodle soup with bok choy. Home made. Not Knorr.

Two dinners. The night before last, I took some duck meat from the freezer and slow cooked it with ginger, garlic, onion, shiitake mushrooms, chilli and dried tangerine peel. Finished with green onions. Served with stir-fried amaranth with garlic (which turned pink from the amaranth juices) and rice. Tonight Poached a whole organic chicken, then jointed it. Ate half with more shiitake and poached garlic, asparagus and rice. With a Thai ginger sauce (bottled). Other half of the bird will be lunch tomorrow.

The OP is (perhaps) after lactose free ghee. Clarifying butter does not give that, even if you do it yourself. I don't think the avocado substitution is a joke, but a result of a language problem. The entire first post makes little sense.