His Nibs

Hmm... I actually find the pork in San Diego is slightly more 'so' than the stuff my mum gets at home (singapore). As for the chicken issue, I agree wholeheartedly. It really surprised me that the commercially available chicken in california/usa/etc tend to contain more liquids and much more bland tasting.

Well... it's not that I don't like the inherent meat odour but when you can really smell it.... it's not that appealing. Also, you don't have to use a lot of cognac and definitely not the vsop or xo level. I keep a bottle of courvoisier vs just for cooking purposes and a little splash goes a long way. Oh... dried conpoys aren't that cheap an item you know... USD$20/lb for ordinary quality is quite extravagant. 皮蛋瘦肉粥 should just consist of century egg, salt pork and porridge. A variation is to use chinese smoked oysters instead of the dried conpoys but that's a whole different ball game. Also, you can really upscale it with abalone slices (yes albalone!) and using the stock for the porridge base thus elevating the humble jook to rarefied gourmet heights

You can never go wrong with a good junmai daiginjo. 纯米大呤酿 or failing that, get it junmai (meaning made 100% of rice). These usually taste great slighly chilled.

It also depends on how the pork is stored at the store. I find the pork at asian supermarts have more of porky smell than that at wester supermarts. Freshness also might have something to do with it. Oh... you need not use shaoxing wine to marinate (since most the cooking shaoxing is adulterated with some salt). A cheap dry sherry would make a good subsitute or if you are feeling extravagant, cognac works too.

My guess it's a cantonese character rather than a mandarin character. In cantonese, it means baked as in a cassarole.

Thanks! Can't seem to find that character in my dictionary.

Now what is the pinyin for that character? In cantonese is Gouk/Guk.

No problem, that incidentally is the 2nd step in the chinese gung-fu tea ceremony setup. First is to get the water to the right temperature.

Hmm... I prefer to salt my pork whole (rather than slicing them up) and I usually let it cure for a day or so. You dump the rinsed pork together with the rice and water and let it go. If you are making it with century egg, I would also add like chopped century egg into the porridge at the beginning. That way you get maximum flavor from the egg as well as the pork. Pull the pork strips and shred it using 2 forks followed by the addition of some soy, pepper and sesame seed oil. Cut up some more century egg (if you want), add some chopped scallions, century egg and pork to the individual servings and enjoy! The wine is supposed to get rid of the porky smell you sometimes get from the meat. 肉臊味

The ratio is 7 cups of water to 1 cup of raw rice at least that is what works for me. I would suggest using calrose rice for porridge making although any long grained rice would work in a pinch. And pay attention, making porridge is like making a roux. It will splatter, create a mess and will burn if you are not careful.

酿 Pinyin: niang4. As in 酿豆腐 Pinyin: niang4 dou4 fu3 aka stuffed tofu or 酿青椒 Pinyin: niang4 qing1 jiao1 aka stuffed green peppers

Ah but there's a fire radical there. Look at the bottom. Almost all of the characters pronunciation is cantonese.

I think she means that you fill the pot with the desired amount of leaves, top the pot with fresh boiling water. Let steep for like 30s to a minute before discarding. Then refill the pot with fresh boiling water and then let steep for the recommended time. It just to clean and open the tea leaves for the 2nd infusion. It creates a better infusion when the leaves are primed so to speak.

No offence taken. It's a sad affair because I remember them noodles not being this shade of radioactive green (back in the 80s). However, in the rush for profitability, most stalls have followed suit with this type of colouring. This stall is still quite traditional. The coconut milk is freshly squeezed (not the kara type) and the balance between the coconut and gula melaka is spot on. Some stalls scrimp on the syrup and don't give enough while others use really thin coconut milk

I tried Buga once... Found it kinda overpriced (compared to boo cho). Running joke i have with my friends, the chinese characters for buga (on the sign board) represents rich folk (富家) However, since I have left SD in July of last year.. not too sure about the quality at these resturants these days. Based my recommendations on the period leading up to July 2005.

Well... just for the curious, I went out and had laska and chendol at one of my favorite hawker centres. Good thing it's near a public library too (kill 2 birds with 1 stone... borrow books and eating!) Hope this is not considered a thread hijack... but a) Singapore and Malaysia share a common history b) it's good hawker fare and I hope using imageshack to host the images is ok with the mods... Laska (no.. I wasn't brave enough to order it with the si ham "blood cockles") Chendol (before mixing) Chendol (before I eat it )

I second Pearl if you can make that extra 20 minutes drive up the I15 from convoy. Better food than emerald (imho since they don't have to rush due to a less hectic schedule). A good sichuanese resturant is also located in (you guess it CONVOY!). It called Dede's (it's in the strip mall that has a korean bank in it near the Pacific Honda dealership). I would also recommend Boo Choo (a korean bbq place off engineer road). They serve prime beef for their galbi, bulgogi among others. Will happily recommend the sang gul sa (or bershire pig belly meat). They are kinda pricey though. There are tons of banh mi places along el cajon blvd and also linda vista (but the one i used to go to changed owners and they changed recipes ) Tajima (located in the same strip mall as Arirang house, the chinese halal place) serves decent ramen and japanese food. Be wary of the wait on weekends or late nights (since they open till 3 am on the weekends). Check the San Diego Reader for some reviews about odd places to eat!

Dunno about cendol but us singaporeans have chendol. Chendol is a shaved ice dessert. It is flavoured with coconut milk and gula melaka syrup, topped with green noodles and a form of red bean paste. Very tasty!

One note on tasting... always do the lapsangs last

They were prolly too old. The proteases have started their work on the dead shrimps. Win some.. lose some.

Good news. Seeing that I'll most likely head over to georgia tech for grad school from sunny california! Can't do without the cheap booze (10 yo macallan for $20... HELL YEAH!) and random nick nacks from TJ's!

This stuff is the bomb! I was introduced to it by Patrick O'Sullivan, who runs the bar at Seppi's in the Parker Meridien. He is one of the City's foremost experts on Irish whiskey, and a stop at Seppi's will always be profitable for someone with an interest. ← Aye... I once had the pleasure of going to an Irish Whiskey tasting session and did a whole range of Irish brew. The ones that really stood out were the Jameson Gold (sadly no longer in production) and Red Breast. It's a steal for $33 for a bottle of 12 y.o. at bev and more.

For some extra kick, you can add some chinese sausage (lap cheong) to the dish. Adds a whole dimension of flavor and if you are feeling extravagant, a mixture of brandy and hua tiao works wonders. I keep a cheap bottle of Courvoisier VS just for cooking (stir fry gai lan, steam chicken etc)

Scotch Glemorangie 10 yo Macallan 10 yo (beats the 12 yo hands down... good smoky finish) Balvenie Double wood Bourbon Woodford Reserve Knob Creek Makers Mark Vodka Turi Monopolowa (can't beat it for price 9.99 at Trader Joes) ... Tequila Don Julio Anejo Don Julio Silver ...

Here are some terms from my corner of the world (singapore): Kopi-O : Strong Black Coffee, sweetened with sugar Kopi-O Kosong: Strong Black Coffee Kopi : Coffee sweetened with condensed milk Kopi-Peng: Kopi cooled with ice That should cover your needs if you want a cuppa from the local kopitiam instead of the standard starbucks/cbtl/espresso bar edit: these terms should be the same in malaysia, not too sure about indonesia.