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Take a look at Zen Peninsula's website and online gallery: http://www.zenpeninsula.com/gallery1.htm If this doesn't attract you to their restaurant, I don't know what will.

Coconut milk is not used in the traditional red bean soup recipes. I remember when I was a kid, none of the red bean dessert soup in Hong Kong used coconut milk. Most of them were the basic: red bean, rock sugar, dry tangerine peels. Both tapioca and coconut milk (Malaysian/Singaporean influence) are in the moder version of red bean dessert soup. Maybe this is a copy of buburchacha minus the yam and taro. Be they add another dimension (in texture and smell too besides taste) to the dessert soup. I love them.

I had borrowed one of those countertop rotisserie ovens from my BIL to make BBQ pork once. It was a disaster. Maybe the brand he bought was no good. Don't believe all the hype you see in Infomercials. These small ovens work very poorly or don't work at all. The one that I used... the skewers kept falling off the rack when the wheel was turning! Imagine that! How was I supposed to roast something when the roaster kept falling apart? Since they say you have to roast a duck vertically (which makes sense because the excess fat/oil would drain along the vertical rod away from the duck), I don't think those countertop rotisserie ovens (all with horizontal rotating wheels from what I've seen) would work.

What is a "West Lake Duck"? I don't think I have come across this term before. How does the duck look and taste and served with?

I think it may depend on the brand. I remember trying a few brands (their red beans are hugh compared to others)... the red beans remained kind of hard like you described. Since then I had found one brand that I liked and I stick to it. I think as a general rule: the smaller the dry red bean, the better. Don't pick the ones that are big. (They may be even a different specie of beans, I am not sure.) Taiwanese red beans are not as good as the ones from Mainland China.

In the US, "GAM", or Gum in Cantonese - same sound as gum as in "gold", is tangerine (or tangerine orange). There is another smaller citrus fruit called Gut in Cantonese. Also popular around Chinese New Year. It's mandarin (or mandarin orange). Both tangerine and mandarin can be used to dry their peels for chan pei.

Malt sugar is hard to handle. One easier way is to scoop one big spoonful of malt sugar and place it in a bowl. Add some water. Microwave to heat up the whole thing. Once heated up, malt sugar becomes much softer. Stir and dilute it in water before adding honey to the mixture. Just as illustrated in the pictures.

Don't worry about malt sugar. Using any brown sugar would do.

I think I am going to run a small catering business for carnivals and farmers markets and offer some of my recipes. This dish seems to be a kicker. Do you think honey garlic sauce would go well with grilled chicken too?

In the Chinese restaurants, this dish is served with steamed rice.

Dejah: Do you really use orange peels to make chan pei? I thought the taste of orange peels are not suitable to eat or something. I have only seen dried tangerine peels.

Yes. Tapioca is also called sogo pearls. Recently they are better known as "boba balls". Same thing. Just super-sized.

That looks great, Kris! I am so happy that you like this dish.

Recipe: Red Bean Dessert Soup (红豆沙) I just made some Cantonese style Red Bean Dessert Soup tonight. This dessert soup is often served as a compliment of the house after your meal in Cantonese style restaurants. It is very easy to make at home, with quality being just as good as the restaurant mades. I want to write down this recipe while my memory is still fresh for those who are interested. Sorry, no pictures. Servings: 8 to 12 persons Ingredients - Red beans, 1/2 bag, about 8 oz - Peen Tong (Brown sugarcane sugar in slabs), 4 pieces - Chan Pei (Dried tangerine peels), about 7 to 8 pieces - Ginger slices, about 10 very thin slices - Coconut milk (canned), about 1/2 a can, about 7 to 8 fluid oz - Tapioca, about 1/2 cup, use the smaller size you can find, about 1/8 inch in dia Instructions - Soak the red beans in a mixing bowl in water overnight. The beans will expand to twice their original size. Wash and drain. - Soak the dried tangerine peels in warm water for about 30 minutes before use. Prepare fresh ginger slices. - Use a medium size pot, fill to 1/2 full with water (about 10 to 12 cups). Bring the water to boil. Add red beans, soaked tangerine peels and ginger slices. Boil for about 5 minutes. Cover the pot. Reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for 2 hours. Stir occassionally. - Add tapioca and 1/2 can of coconut milk into the pot. Continue to simmer for another hour. Stir occassionally. - After a total of 3 hours of simmering, the dessert soup is ready. Serve in small bowls. You may take out the mandarin peels and ginger before serving for better presentation. Or just leave them in. Notes: There are many variations to this recipe. What listed above are the basics. You may use rock sugar or white sugar in place of sugarcane sugar slabs. Tapioca requires less cooking time than red beans. That's why this is a 2-step process. Do not overcook the tapioca or else it will dissolve into the soup and the soup will become a thick starchy paste. Editing note: "Mandarin" should have been "Tangerine".

Ben: To boost the value of your book, you can include some authentic Toisanese home-cooking recipes! We can help you write the recipe portion! Why wait until you retired? You have already told many interesting stories on this board. Just collect them as a first draft and expand from there. We here can all help you review the first draft... (right, guys and gals?) Yeah... remember to tell about the dining onboard a shampan in Victoria Harbor and served by a Dan Ga Nui!

I have learned a few things from a Malaysian-Chinese food artist, who likes to line up blanched vegetables for presentation...

Please be careful and not let the kitchen catch on fire.

Forgot to mention: for this finishing touch... if you don't have any Xiao Shing cooking wine, you may use brandy. The higher the grade the marrier. For best result if you have a strong cooking stove... tilt the pan/wok slightly when you dash in the cooking wine or brandy. Let the flame flare.

Out of the few popular Cantonese style shrimp/prawn dishes which are cooked with shells on that you would find in US Chinese restaurants: - Boiled shrimp - Shrimp with salt and pepper - Shrimp steamed with garlic - Pan-fried shrimp with soy sauce (this one) Only the shells from the "shrimp with salt and pepper" are worth eating. It's because typically (in restaurants) those shrimps are deep-fried with light batter first. Therefore, like Yuki said, the shells become crispy and jaw-friendly. All other methods without deep-frying, the shrimp shells are too hard. (Same rules for eating fish fins - deep-fried: okay; steamed: don't) And in this dish, yes, the shells are worth licking first before peeling.

Pan-Fried Prawns with Superior Soy Sauce (豉油王煎虾) I bought some large spot prawns from the market. Tonight, I wanted to make a pan-fried prawns with "King of soy sauce" (Superior Soy Sauce) - which is a light soy sauce. My favoriate brand is Pearl River Bridge. This dish is offered in some Hong Kong style seafood restaurants. Picture of the spot prawns. The ingredients are very simple. All you need is some light soy sauce and garlic, and a little bit of Xiao Shing cooking wine. You need to be careful with these spot prawns. They have a sharp, jagged "horn" at the front of the head. It can poke through your skin when you try to handle it during cooking. Very painful. Better use a pair of scissors to trim off the "horn" and the fillers, and some of the legs before cooking. Use a pan/wok, add a fair amount of cooking oil in medium heat, add the prawns and cook them first. It's done when the prawn color has turned from grey to bright red. Remove prawns from the pan and drain the excess oil and moisture from the prawns. Mince about 4 to 5 cloves of garlic. On the same pan (no need to wash), now set the flame to high, add cooking oil, wait until it is almost fuming, add the minced garlic. Cook for 20 seconds. Stir. Re-add the prawns. Cooking until the prawns have coated the cooking oil and got hot, about 2 to 3 minutes over high heat. Dash in the light soy sauce. About 3 tblsp - adjust to your taste. Stir. As a finishing touch (an important one), dash in about 1 tblsp of Xian Shing cooking wine. Stir for about 30 seconds until the wine and soy sauce dry up. The finished dish.

Inspired by your question, I made some soy sauce fried noodles for lunch just right now... checking out my own "recipe". I would suggest an even more brave approach - note: this is not for the faint of heart. You should have good ventilation in your kitchen. I used a generous amount of cooking oil, heat it to fuming hot, throw in the sliced onions first, for just 5-10 seconds. Then (this is new) - dash in just a little bit (1 teaspoon max) of Xiao Shing Chinese cooking wine. Because of the high temperature and the oil, it will induce a big flame on the top of the pan. Immediately pour in the dark/light soy sauce mix. Stir. And toss in the drained noodles. Keep stirring and cook for a couple of minutes. Make sure the soy sauce color is even around the noodles. The essence of this cooking step is to let the flame and high heat (with oil) cook the soy sauce, and let it coat on the noodle. The result is very good.

You don't really need a formal recipe. This dish is very easy to make. First cook the noodles. Thin ones work the best. Thick ones are okay but take longer to cook. Boil some water in a pot. Cook the noodles to el dante. Run under cold water and drain well. Prepare the bean sprouts: don't need to use too much, just a handful would be enough. Wash and clean and drain. Prepare the green onions: use about 2. Cut into 1.5 inch long pieces. Use a pan/wok, apply high heat. Add cooking oil. You need to use a generous amount, or else the noodle will stick to the pan. I can't tell you exactly how much. Probably 2 tblsp per "ball" (for lack of a better term) of noodle you make. Usually the serving size is about 1.5 to 2 "ball" of noodle. Keep heating the pan until the oil start fuming. If you are a beginner in Chinese cooking, I would advice you to add the green onion first, then bean sprouts, cook for 20 seconds, then add the drained noodles. Keep stirring. After about 3 minutes (until the noodle is hot again), then drizzle in (directly from the bottle) the light soy sauce and dark soy sauce (I usually use a mix. If you have only one or the other, that's okay too.). Dark soy sauce gives is the rich flavor. Light soy sauce gives it the saltiness. Cook for another 2 minutes until the soy sauce is absorbed into the noodles. Adjust and add more if you need. Look at the color of the noodles: you want it to be brown throughout. If you are experienced in Chinese cooking, I would advice you to mix the light and dark soy sauce in a bowl first. About 1.5 tblsp of each per "ball" of noodle. Note: You have to do this very quickly - when the oil start fuming, quickly add the mixed soy sauce. The sauce will evaporate almost instantly (if you have a burner strong enough). Immediately add green onions, stir, then the drained noodles. Give it a stir. Add the bean sprouts - let the bean sprouts be cooked by the heat from the noodle. The latter method would achieve a better result - but requires you to act very quickly. That's how the "goon chow gnau ho" (Hong Kong style - dried fried rice noodles with beef) is made. It produces the drak brown sheen that you see on the noodle surface. Also, I would suggest you use 1/4 of an onion, cut into thin slices. Add it along with the green onion in cooking.

A prawn that weighed over 1 catty? That's giant! It's bigger than a lobster! I have never seen a prawn that big.

Thanks Irwin for the detail descriptions! For those who have had it: I am not very clear on one thing. The pictures I have seen shown that this item is served in a Chinese vertical-wall kind of soup bowl (the one you use to do double-boiling). Is this supposed to be a soup? Are all the ingredients immersed in soup? Wouldn't they taste chewy? We had dim sum at May Flower Restaurant in Milpitas this Saturday. They offer "Buddha Jumping Over The Wall" at US$65.00 pp (didn't say minimum).

Not at Kee Wah. Maybe they strongly believe in their quality. I also have heard that some high end eatery's strategy is never to discount on their products - they rather feed them to dogs or destroy them and throw them to dumpsters. They know if they discount their products after the season, customers would wait to buy at the last minute (or after the occassion) and thus would affect sales. Would mooncakes go stale that quickly? Because stores carry them 2 months ahead of the event. Even if you buy them on the day of Mid-Autumn Festival, some are still over 2 month old. I bought mine a month before MAF from AA Bakery. They tasted just fine. Did your friend serve last year's mooncakes?