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I don't think that is the case. The "yellow sand" is just some coarse sand.

The word 肉 in this title name refers to the nuts inside peanuts (versus the skin/shells). It's interesting that I did some google search about 南乳肉花生 They said the recipe is to soak the raw peanuts in liquid/water mixed with red beancurds overnight. Then air-dry the peanuts. Then stir-fry the peanuts with some "yellow sand" (not sure what that is... probably some coarse sand/pebbles). I am not sure how they separate the yellow sand from the peanut though. May be a sift?

Winter melons are usually harvested in winter, e.g. Nov/Dec. But they do last a long time if uncut. I had one before and it lasted well into the summer. Store in a cool, dry place.

Sorry I said "roast ducks" in my last post. I meant to say "roast goose/geese".

DeliciouslyLekker: How important is having wine with your dinners in Hong Kong? There certainly are places who sell wine but by and large Hong Kongers are not wine (grape versus rice) drinkers. Unless you dine in hotel restaurants I am afraid you will be disappointed in the wine offered (in variety and quality, perhaps prices too). I am not a wine drinker. I don't look at wine menus. Especially because I am an Hong Kong expatriot it has not been my habit. But I think probably HKD 50 for glass of house wine would be about right. HKD 200-300 for one glass would be really overpriced. Considering you can order most Cantonese entrees for about HKD 100... putting things in perspectives. Which of the following are more desirable/important to you? - View from the restaurant? - Taste of the food (regardless of location)? - Price of the meal (regardless of location/service)? One unique experience we had: Hutong Restaurant 28/F, One Peking Road, Tsimshatsui You can find many reviews and photos on the web. Not Cantonese style, but Sichuan style. One of the best view of the Victoria Harbour especially at night. Call ahead and make reservations. Book a table at 7:00 pm by the window (insist). The light show (Symphony of Lights) starts at 8pm for 15 minutes every night. Viewing from Hutong is really awesome. It was a memorable dinner for us but what I didn't like was our waitress hushing-rushing us to leave before our 2 hour allotment was up (7pm to 9pm - which I agreed upon)... that the waitress kept interrupting us "is there anything I could get for you" "anything else?" "anything else?" DURING THE LIGHT SHOW... my gosh... only 8:07 pm. The dining room was not even full and there was no waiting in the lobby. Hutong is expensive in local standard. 2 persons... hard to spend less than HKD 500 per person (not including drinks) because every entree on the menu is about HKD200-300. Maybe well within your HKD1500 pp budget. They have a few speciality items. The boneless lamb was really excellent. But the rest were okay to "not that special". The Felix Restaurant on top of the Peninsula Hotel also has close-up view of the Victoria Harbour's night scene... if you like Italian (or is it French?) food, Hong Kong version. It was on my list last time but didn't make it there. Yung Kee Restaurant in Central is also a great place to dine. Just about everything is good there. Specialty is roast goose (sorry I said duck in my last post) and everything goose related. Goose liver sausages. Clay pot dishes (lamb stew). There are many reviews and pictures on this forum. Search for "Yung Kee" and "Ken Wang" (He had posted some pictures I remember...). Prices are expensive in local standard but the meal is great.

So I gathered that you wouldn't want abalone and shark fin soup? What kind of Chinese food would you like to have and which part(s) of town will you be in? Tsimshatsui? Central/Wanchai? (The usual suspect) Or will you venture out of the tourist areas? HKD1500 (assuming per person) can take you far. I was there in Dec/Jan and the typical dinner for the 2 of us was about HKD200-400. But I didn't dine in 5-star hotels. We had many roast ducks during our trip. The best was still Yung Kee in Central. Half a duck was about HKD150. And their duck liver sausages are the best too. Went to Yue Kee in Sham Tseng. Roast duck was very good but still I thought was not as good as Yung Kee's. The best BBQ pork: West Villa Restaurant. There is one in Central. But the one we went to was in Tai Koo. One of the best dim sum experience: probably Maxim's Palace in City Hall, Central. View of the Victoria Harbour was very nice - if it is not blocked by the construction scaffold. 15 or so dishes, 2 persons, HKD500 or so. If you want great close-up view of the Victoria Harbour, Serenade (also run by Maxim's) in Tsimshatsui - inside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Good dim sum (not as good as Maxim's palace I think) and a great view. Arrive around 12:00 pm you will avoid the lunch rush hour (which starts around 12:30 - 12:45). Afternoon tea: Intercontinental Hotel Lobby Lounge - best view of the Victoria Harbour. Lobby Lounge Or if you are on a budget, go to Starbuck's 2/F patio seating next to New World Centre next door. Similar view of the harbour.

Why is there a need to steam the wintermelon first before using it to make soup?

It seems that they only sell wintermelons by slices... which is what the local markets here do too because usually customers don't buy a whole one. Wintermelons are big. The one I showed in the picture was a gift from a relative. Home grown. You can certainly combine smaller slices to make the soup. RE: I have looked everywhere but I am unable to find Dried Scallops (or Dried Oysters) in Paris. What to do? That's a tough one. I saw your question about substitutes but I couldn't think of any good substitute. But it's hard to believe you could not find such ingredient in Paris. Is there a China Town in Paris? Because I have been to China Town in London and you can find dried scallop easy enough. There are many China Towns even in small cities in the USA. Or else ask friends to buy them for you if they make trips to Asia. RE: - Can I take fresh scallops and do something to them (e.g. soak in oyster sauce overnight)? I don't think this will work. RE: - Can I remplace the dried scallops with dried shrimps or something else? You may but I don't think the taste will be close.

Carolyn if you want to explore more of the Chinese bakeries and small "dim sum" shops... the ones along Stockton Street (Between Broadway and Clay) are better ones. While Grant is mostly for tourists to browse around ("China Town" and all), Stockton is where the local Chinese do their shopping. My favorite is "AA Bakery" (Stockton and Jackson). They offer the best dan tart, curry puff, cocktail bun, etc.. They make some "ham siu kok" (that one you had, fried glutinous rice dough with savory filling - minced pork, etc.) and other fried dough kind of dim sum too I think. But I haven't tried them there. An old post: AA Bakery

Agreed that the Pacific water is far too cold for the right coasters to get used to. Baker Beach offers a nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge. But the parking lots are small and jam-packed in the summer. Starting from the Cliff House, Ocean Beach stretches very far. Very nice to walk on. Parking is much easier. Pacifica, about a 10 minute drive from San Francisco along highway 1, is also beautiful and is less crowded.

Good for him. Huang Shan is the comparable of Half Dome in China. Tough climb. Thousands of steps. I did that at 22. Don't think I can climb it at my age now. They have built a cable car at Huang Shan. You can ride it to the top now. While in that region (Hang Zhou and nearby), I remember the best dish that enticed me was the sweet and sour whole fish. Their sweet and sour version is very different from Cantonese sweet and sour (they are closer to Shanghainese style). Brownish color. More sweet than sour side. A whole fish deep-fried and topped with the sweet and sour sauce.

That is one fine tasting mold, then. Really excellent. Is the pork braised with the 梅菜, or is it braised another way then fried with it at the end? Here is one recipe on the dish you tasted. All in Chinese, sorry. But rough translations: http://wenbanzhu.jamesqi.com/%E6%A2%85%E8%8F%9C%E6%89%A3%E8%82%89%E6%80%8E%E4%B9%88%E5%81%9A%EF%BC%9F 梅乾菜洗凈，用清水浸泡30分鐘。 Soak the mui choy in water for 30 min. 五花肉，加入姜、八角、草果，在清水裡煮30分鐘。 Pork belly, add ginger, star anise, cardamin: boil in water for 30 min. 熱鍋熱油，放入煮好的五花肉，把豬皮的一面煎成金黃，再倒入老抽上色。 Wok, heat oil, add pork belly, fry until one side is golden brown. Then add dark soy sauce. 將肉切成1厘米左右的片。 Chop the pork belly into roughly 1/2 inch slices. 肉皮朝下擺在碗中。 Add pork belly to big bowl. 熱鍋熱油，爆香蒜茸、八角，放入梅菜、白糖炒勻，加入肉湯燒5分鐘。 Wok, add a bit of oil. Fry the minced garlic, star anise. Add mui choy and sugar. And add boullion. Cook for about 5 min. 把炒好的梅菜覆蓋在肉上，上籠屜用旺火蒸1小時。 Add the mui choy mixture to the bowl of pork belly. Steam for at least 1 hour (strong heat). 把蒸菜的汁倒出，將梅菜扣肉倒扣進盤裡。原汁加入少量澱粉勾芡，淋在肉上就可以了。 After steaming, drain out the liquid. Use a little bit of corn starch (heated) to thinken the liquid, then pour on top of the pork belly.

I think it would be fine. Boiled salted egg yolks are also used as filling for some Cantonese dim sum (or small eats): like nor mai gai (glutenous rice wrapped in lotus leaves), joong (glutenous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves). The salty part is the egg white, not the yolk.

1. Boil, peel, slice and eat. 2. Mix raw with chicken eggs and water (about equal portion). Steam the mixture custard for 20 min or so. 3. Use the salted duck egg yolk to make "golden shrimp"... smash the yolk... smear on raw shrimp (with shell on)... dip in batter... deep-fry. Kind of like a shrimp tempura. 4. Mix salted duck eggs with century eggs (cut in cubes) and stir-fry with spinach. (Stir-fry spinach first. Stir-fry the salted duck eggs separately. Mix in century egg cubes at the end. Then pour on top of spinach. ... many other uses...

I have not seen raw oysters offered in any Chinese style restaurant that I have visited. Chinese fishermen raise oysters in muddy, shallow coasts or bays. For example in Hong Kong, where I grew up, they raise oysters at Lau Fau Shan. I would imagine they probably have similar oyster farms in many other coastal regions in China.

I too think that the ingredient in your braised pork dish is Mei Cai (or in Cantonese: Mui Choy). It is a preserved vegetable, not an herb. It is the Chinese mustard greens kind of vegetable turned moldy. Sorry. http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E6%A2%85%E8%8F%9C But what you showed in this picture seemed to be just tea leaves being sun dried.

Oysters may not be offered in Americanized Chinese restaurants. They are quite common in Hong Kong style Cantonese restaurants. The live oysters in shells are probably steamed with shell on. Black beans and smashed garlic. Or green onions with soy sauce on top. Oysters (shelled) are usually stir-fried with ginger/green onions, or deep-fried in batter with salt and pepper, or cooked in a clay pot with roast pork slices and tofu.

But imagine all those delicious items on the menu are ground to a paste for the astronauts...

Jasmine. Long grain. Product of Thailand or Texas. My favorite brand: Buddha Thai Fragrant Rice Like in this package: http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/214489156/Buddha_Thai_Fragrant_Rice.html

that is my thought as well...but I became a little bit unsure when 2 different Chinese restaurants told me the same thing, i.e., chow mein does not have noodles, lo mein has noodles! thanks everyone for your explanations which confirmed my previous understanding that "chow mein" does indeed mean "fried noodles"! Ha! LOL. Well Mr. Reed... you can imagine my surprise when I went to San Diego State from Hong Kong in 1979 and read what's on their menu! Chow Mein - San Diego "choy suey" Chinese restaurant style - means vegetable stir-fries with no noodle. Lo mein means noodles. I think that's from old-school choy-suey Chinese food. (Is that where you dined at?) I would imagine that the new generation Chinese restaurants along Convoy... chow mein is noodle. San Diego is probably not alone. In most non-Chinese populated places (like most of the USA) where Chinese food is handed down from the early 1900's... that's probably the way it still is.

Or you can say (but less common): 蒜蓉菜心 (Pronounced Tsueen Yung Choy Sum). This is more specific: minced garlic stir-fried with choy sum.

are those the characters for Yow Yim Choy Sum? that is the way Yow Yim Choy Sum was described in one of my cookbooks but when I have asked for it at a restaurant, I have been asked which sauce, garlic or oyster sauce, I want the vegetable with...I have had to specify that I want it plain! I agree with Chee Fai. The way this 油鹽菜心 (Yow Yim Choy Sum) is named is a bit odd in Cantonese. What you want... mostly is referred to in Cantonese as: 清炒菜心 (Pronounced Tsing Chow Choy Sum). "Tsing Chow" means "vegetable only" (without meat). It is fairly universally understood that the vegetable will be stir-fried with salt and garlic.

Warm water would be okay. Boiling water should be avoided I think.

The liquid that you spoke of is Chinese cooking wine, I believe. Alcohol. Oil droplets + alcohol + high heat = flame. You don't really need to use a lighter to deliberately "light the wok on fire". The oil/alcohol fume over high heat, just tilting the wok slightly it will "catch" the flame.

Last night I made some char siu at home. Gave my 6-year old post a revival. I did something slightly differently this time. On the meat preparation: I used a pointy sharp knife to jab on the pork loin a couple of hundred times all around. My idea is to let the tiny holes soak up the marinade. The result was very good. The pork was full of the garlic flavor I haven't tasted as intense before. On the marination: I skipped the five-spice powder. Used about 7 to 8 whole star anises. Broke them up. Also (learned from my eating experience in Hong Kong): use some Chinese rice wine. I didn't have anything else so I used some XiaoShing rice wine. I will experiment with other kinds in the future. Baking: Set 250F for 3 hours instead of the higher temperature for shorter time. The result was better. Meat more tender. I think I will lower the temperature even more and bake longer next time.