His Nibs

Hmm.. my mom makes her own "wong zhao" (lit. Yellow wine in cantonese) by taking the "zhao bang" (lit. wine biscuit in the same language but it's actually a dry yeast starter) and steamed glutinous rice. Makes for a very nice chicken stew (famous hakka dish "wong zhao gai")

You can find most of these in your local asian supermart (or should I say chinese supermart). Do note that prices are comparable to european liquor (a good mao tai runs about $20-30) and some do contain higher concentrations of alcohol by volume (eg Kaoliang about 55% abv)

For a good read on ecological pollution and how it affects shellfish :D I recommend Neal Stephenson's excellent first novel, Zodiac

Going to stick my head out but Kabocha is probably japanese pumpkin?

But the soy sauce soften the yau ja gwai a little bit. ← Yeah, it does. It's still good when it's softened a bit, but not when it's too soggy. Just gives you an excuse to eat it faster . Here in Hong Kong, they usually serve it with three sauces and then sprinkle it with sesame seeds. ← I think it's thinned down 海鲜酱 (hoisin sauce) and/or soy sauce , 芝麻酱 (sesame sauce... AWESOME!) and 辣椒酱 (chili sauce)

My guess? It's a tea ball or herb infuser ball.

If you have trouble pressing it down, your coffee is ground too finely. Espresso grind is definitely way out!!!! It splattered because your filter got clogged with small particles of coffee and does not allow the separation of the solids (aka coarse ground coffee) and liquids (aka the good stuff). Since you pressed it down, the liquid can only escape through any openings (aka the spout). Anyway, hope you have fun with the press and remember the 5 rules to good press coffee: 1) use the proper amount of coffee 2) coarse grind 3) water must be around an off-boil 4) stir with a wooden implement (1 chopstick works really well here) 5) wait for 4 minutes, press slowy and give praise to the coffee gods! PS: I totally enjoy your food blogs

Quick Nasi Lemak recipe: Substitute coconut milk for water when making rice (in whatever proportion you use) Add 2 to 3 pandan (screwpine) leaves (recommend that you knot it) Cook as per normal edit: As you can imagine, this rice dish is pretty up there in terms of cholesterol

The malays also have something similar to go with their Nasi Lemak. They call them ikan bilis (the dried anchovies not the dish). That with peanuts, salt and sugar, coconut milk rice and good sambal.... excellent breakfast!

You could have some good Dou Fa (soy bean curd) in shamsuipo (near the wet market) and don't forget the fresh egg tarts from the local bakeries (dirt cheap and piping hot!). If you are going to be in the TST area, there is this little hawker centre off the side of Hankow Road. It kinda grimy looking but has a decent offering. It's across from the HMV and Yue Hwa (sorta near canton ave if memory serves me correct).

that's how we do it "gung fu" style. First rinse is to "open" up the leaves and you dump that water out. Enjoy the 2nd to 5th pot of water!

Those mangosteen stains are a pain to clean! But the fruit is so good to eat (like it so much more than durian). Eating it is kinda a messy proposal. If they are ripe enough, I usually place one between my hands and squeeze till it cracks. This takes some skill as you usually don't want to squeeze that hard that you mush up the fruit and spew purple badness all over yourself.

in all fairness.... Tiger is definitely better than Budweiser (US). But then we all know that the fresher the beer, the better it tastes! (Fresh budweiser not withstanding... I'm talking about brew-pubs here! )

Urghh.... Tiger...... Brings back bad memories of too many SAF (singapore armed forces) labelled cans consumed (hey US$ 0.25/can!)...(smells like you know what, tastes like you know what).

However, the Kirin special reserve is exceptionally good (esp. when you consider it is brewed under license by Bud). Very malty, slight hoppiness and almost like a good Czech pilsner (yes... I've been to Prague and tried most of their pilsners. I like the Gambinius which can't be found in the states ) edit: or should i say anheuser busch instead of bud

Hmm.... Just finished a delicious dinner of steamed Dungeness Crab. Bought it alive and kicking at Ranch 99 ($2.99 a pound! with membership of course!) Butchered it and then steamed it with a ginger/cognac infused solution. Delish!

Tip: Try Pearl (Rancho Bernardo) for Dim Sum [it's owned by the same resturant group as emerald. Heck the manager was the assistant manager at Emerald] instead of Emerald. Less lines and the food is better imho. About a 20-30 min drive from downtown SD (you'll wait at least 45 to 60 min at emerald). Khyber Pass is a good bet too!

Ah... Kaoliang.... Brings back the memories of harsh hangovers. It's like a high proof vodka and Taiwanese drinks it as such (usually in the form of a shot). There are some high end stuff in Jin Men that the military makes (and they are aged in the aforementioned caves).

I've heard that Twinings blends some lapsang souchong into their Earl Grey. Kind of a slight smoky hint behind all that bergamot oils :D

February 9. However, the BIG MEAL comes on the day before aka the reunion dinner.

Quick trick to splitting them disposable chopsticks easily and evenly is to use the wrapper to split them. Fold the wrapper into a a wedge (by folding into halfs, then half again and then half again) Place the wedge in the middle where the split is. Move it up along the split. It should split almost evenly. Then clean the edges by rubbing the splitted edges together.

Hmm... going with a old family tradition. Drunken Steamed Chicken, Some sort of buddhist vegan stew (most likely using some dried shitakes, wood ears, cabbage and black moss aka fat choi with foo yu) Yee Fu noodles with mushrooms (if i can get the good HK style ones, not the fried ones... the flat ones) And.... Salmon Yu Sheng!

Think that dish is called la4 zi3 ji1 ting1 (chile and chicken cubes) :D It's a popular sichuan dish.

The snake gall bladder was easy. They skinned it, expertly extracted the gall bladder, add it to a small wine cup containing some chinese rice liquor, pierced it and you shoot it down like taking a shot. And slime of the snow frog has no taste. Well... it depends on what stuff you add to the crock pot (usually rock sugar and chinese herbs) and it has a texture like jello. Cat on the other hand...... can we say street side stall in provincial china?

When I worked at an Italian restaurant with a lot of a lot of Cambodian kitchen help, they all did the same thing --only with the dinner rolls - and warmed them up in the pizza oven. Maybe it's an Asian thing. ← Nah, I did the same thing but on Jewish Rye. In fact I spent a summer at sleep away camp where I had one at least once a day, but that is another thread. Chicken skin, turkey skin, duck skin. If I was really lucky I got the tush of the chicken on Friday nights (I can't remember the Yiddish word for it). ← Actually, all my other Asian friends (and non-Asian friends) think I'm off my rocker when I do my bread-butter-sugar bit. Before this forum, I've only met one other person so far (until now!) that did this and she was from Scotland! Wow, I didn't know that non-Asians enjoyed the chicken tail! My father and I love that part of the chicken. Growing up, I never liked it until one day I saw the light. I get flack from my relatives for liking it. OK, would it be strange to admit that I would like to have a meal of salt-roasted chicken tail au jus with rice? ← It must be an colonial holdover. Toast with butter and sugar is pretty commonplace in singapore and malaysia. Hmm.... nice warm crunchy white loaf with a generous spread of planta (a margarine made with palm oil... bad for you but tastes so good!) and white sugar! Top that off with a nice cup of kopi-o!