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Pig feet can be tasty if done properly. In Hong Kong, typically pig feet are simmered in a broth made with dark soy, red vinegar, rock sugar and whole ginger for hours. Perhaps some five spice? I am not sure.

In Chinese, this is called 白糖糕, Bak Tong Go[Cantonese]. The literal translation is white sugar cake, which is pretty close to what it is.

Yetti: A Hong Kong based manufacturer named "Doll" (or "Dolls"?) make good (read "okay") frozen har gow and siu mai (and wonton too). Well, they are never as good as the real thing but they can be convenient. The same manufacturer makes ramen noodles, which I like very much. Most Asian grocers in the U.S. carry their brand. You should be able to find them in the frozen food section of the grocers in the D.C. area.

Hmmmm... that depends on the individual. On the average in my family, we typically consume 3.5 to 4 plates of dim sum on average per person. More if we are really hungry. Personally I can eat 2 plates of har gow (that makes 8 pieces) all by myself. But siu mai may be too meaty for me to eat any more than 2 pieces. 2 pieces per order seems a bit too few. I ate in one dim sum restaurant in Mountain View where they served about 8 varieties of dim sums, one piece of each, on a lunch plate. Perhaps that setting may suit you better.

The in-laws gave us a whole turkey (left over after thanks-giving). Here's how I used the bird: Carve out the turkey breast. I used the bones and legs/thighs to make soup (see earlier posting for recipt). Bones from one bird is enough to make 2 big pots of soup. As for the breast, I diced it up as if it is chicken. I used it to cook General Tso's Chicken. It tastes pretty good, comparable to chicken. I discovered that I just need to adjust the cooking time. Turkey meat takes longer to cook (about twice longer) than chicken meat. Other than that... I marinated it the same way, cooked it the same way, and it tasted great.

Dejah: Is this (Jeung Sau Mein) Toisanese dialect? [My wife is at work] In Cantonese it is Cheung Sau Mein.

I am no Gary, but I think his terms "xiao cai" means 小菜. While the literal translation is "little vegetables", in general it means stir-fried dishes (dishes that are served in small quantities on small plates). I think where the term came about is... There are usally 2 types of dinners: either the formal banquet (for business, wedding, birthday, baby month-old, etc.), or the informal family casual dining. For the formal banquets, food is made in large quantity (sized for a table of 12) and thus served on "big" plates. For informal family dining, food is made in small quantity (typically sized for 2-4) and thus served on "small" plates. Hence the term 小菜 (small dishes) came about. It's declasse' to order starches for a banquet... well, it's some old Chinese thinking. (but I am sure Chinese is not unique). When you entertain your guests by hosting banquets, you want to offer nothing but the best (look at the $$$). Starch (rice, noodle, etc.) is cheap. It can fill you up easily. So you want to order a lot of dishes (seafood, meat, vegetable) and no starch. In fact, in a typical Chinese banquet, you will find 8 courses (first one "appertizers" such as cold cut, BBQ pork, jelly fish, roast suckling pig, etc.), followed by "hot entries", shark-fin soup, etc.. [notes: I had posted a typical banquet menu in another thread on the details]. After all 8 courses, then the waiters will typicall bring up a noodle dish or fried rice dish -- and usually they stay untouched because most guests would be already full by then. But for those who are not yet full, that's a life saver... Again, this is not unique to Chinese banquet. If you host a French dinner banquet, you wouldn't just serve lots of baked potatoes and breads, right?

Sorry about the late reply. Unfortunately March is not a particular good month for visiting Hong Kong. Reasons: The Chinese New Year (usually in late January to mid/late February) is just over. All the festivities just quiet down. Money is all spent (in buying gift, giving out red-pockets, travel, new cloths, whatever)... people just get back to work. March is usually quiet. Weatherwise, it's still a bit cold and damp. At times it can be quite foggy, but perhaps more so in April than in March. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. November is the best month to visit in terms of mild and sunny weather. December if you would like to see how a vibrant place celebrates Christmas. January/February if you want to experience the Chinese New Year. March/April: foggy and damp, a bit uncomfortable May-August: okay, but summer days are hot and humid (but hey, it's just like Hawaii). Also it's typhoon (hurricane) season.

I am not sure if this is a fair statement (that "Hong Kong" and "cleaner" in the same sentence). Hong Kong is a first world metropolitan, comparable to Tokyo, London, New York and Toronto. Do you consider Tokyo, London, New York, Toronto are clean? Then you need to apply the same measure to Hong Kong. When I grew up in Hong Kong, I didn't think the place was clean. Started in the late 70's and through 80's and 90's, the government did spend some efforts in improving hygene and condition of the city. The Hong Kong now is certainly much better than the Hong Kong 30 years ago. I didn't have any comparison until I had been to other cities around the world. If you compare HK to cities in other third world countries then perhaps you can have some appreciation. Singapore is a very unique place. Yes it certainly is a model showcase when it comes to tideness and cleanness. But bear in mind that this comes at a price. It's a "fine" city. Thousands of inspectors are hired for the purpose of catching people stepping their feet on the crosswalk before the pedestrian traffic light turns green.

I am not sure about an electric water boiler in every room. Maybe they do provide that now. From my travel experiences in China, in every hotel we stayed in the housekeeping always brought in a bottle of boiled water in a thermos. You see, Chinese like to drink hot tea in the room. Providing a bottle of hot boiled water is just about the most basic service as one can get. If you don't find one in the room, you may certain ask the housekeeping to bring in one for you. They always have hot boiled water and thermos handy.

I have talked about this in some other threads. Chinese eating habits are different from Westerners/Americans. In most Chinese restaurants, you won't find "salads" as you know them in American -- with raw lettuce, raw carrots, raw mushrooms, raw celeries, raw everything and a drizzle of dressing. Chinese in general don't like to eat raw vegetables, with the exception of lettuce for wrapping (e.g. minced squab in lettuce) or for garnishing (e.g. chopped green onions and cilantros). So I think it would be hard pressed to find salads on the menu in most Chinese restaurants. Unless, of course, you go to those that are geared towards tourists serving non-Chinese food.

Yuki: next time you go to eat at a dim sum restaurant, just save one piece of every dim sum dish that you have ordered. Take them home and freeze them. Then you can have your variety at home! LOL

What's wrong with them? They are my favorite dishes! LOL! I remember when I used to work as a waiter in Chinese restaurants, the most popular dishes were "sweet and sour pork, and almond (or cashew) chicken".

Kris: What are the ingredients you used to make this dish? I see some bean sprouts, sesame, cellophane noodles(?), carrots, not sure which green vegetable it was, and what other ingredients there were. The picture looks pretty good!

You know, Piers, most Chinese greens are not good material for American style salads! LOL That's why Chinese don't eat raw vegetables except for lettuce. And the Chinese name for lettuce is Sung Choi [Cantonese] and it literally means "Raw Vegetable"! LOL

Yeah... except that these things are usually full of loose sands. If you are not careful and take a big bite on the ones with sands, it would ruin your teeth!

Dejah: I don't think Ja Choi is pickled mustard green. Their textures are very different. I think Ja Choi is some other vegetables. Something that is more like Daikon with big roots. Ja Choi is the root, mostly. Salted turnip (or Daikon) is called Choi Po in Cantonese. Perhaps in Toisanese dialect it is called Ham Choi? My wife doesn't know. Perhaps my MIL would. Is Mui Choi made from mustard green? I thought it is from Bok Choi. All these talks about preserved Chinese vegetables... perhaps we should do that in the China forum....

Gai choi (mustard greens) indeed is very good for soups. In Cantonese cooking, Gai choi is commonly cooked with firm tofu in soups. A simple recipe: get 0.5 to 3/4 lb of beef. Slice it. Marinate it with sesame oil, ground white pepper, soy sauce, cooking wine, corn starch. Boil one pot of water. Throw in 1 lb of mustard greens, 1/2 to 1 box of firm tofu. Bring to a boil. Put in the marinated beef. Finished. (You can turn off the heat once putting in the beef, or else it will overcooked.) As an alternative, you may also use fish balls, shrimp balls, beef balls to substitute for or to add to the beef to make this soup. You may also sautee mustard greens as a vegetable dish. Use a little bit of oil, medium-high heat, put in some small dried shrimps, and 2-3 cloves of garlic (finely chopped), a bit of salt. Cook for 1 minute or so til fragrant. Put in mustard greens (cut at about 2 inch in length). Cook with lid on until mustard greens turns soft.

It's admirable in principle. I've done that. I used to live in San Diego when there was absolutely no decent dim sums around. There, we drove 120 miles, one way, to the Los Angeles China Town to satisfy our crave for the "real" thing. May be my taste buds had warned out. It would be hard press to do that again. In practicality, the frozen ones, ready in a matter of minutes, may be a good trade off for a 4-5 hour round trip endeavor...

I was shopping at the Asian grocery market earlier today. I saw a few packages of frozen dim sum: har gow, siu mei, wonton, and sui gow (dumplings). I now live fairly close to a few Chinese restaurants which offer dim sums, so I have no desire to buy any of them. I remember I used to live 40 miles from a dim sum restaurant. That was the time that I stocked up on a few of these every time I shopped. When I was desparate for the taste of dim sums, I will take one pack out and put it in the steamer. What do you all think of frozen dim sum? Do you buy them? Sure it's convenient, huh?

How does it taste? What kind of meat was it cooked with? Color?

You are welcome. I forgot to mention... It is customary to use slivers of fresh ginger (better yet to chop it in fine shreds) in Cantonese steam dish. Just mix it with the beef/pickled-mustards before steaming. Also, take one green onion (scallion) and finely chop it. When the dish is ready, just sprinkle the fresh green onion on top as a garnish (as well as adding a bit of taste to it).

In Cantonese cooking, one way to use pickled mustard is to make a steamed dish. Buy some beef, slice them up, then marinate them with sesame oil, soy sauce, ground white pepper, a bit of sugar, some corn starch. Mix them with the beef. Then mix in the pickled mustard (cut in thin slices). Steam this dish for about 15 to 20 minutes. Depends of the product makes, if the pickled mustard is too salty, you may soak it in water for an hour or 2 before using.

Actually you need to use "Lor Mei" together. It means sticky rice. Lop is optional. It's Lor Mei and Chicken, whether you use one to wrap the other.

Lor Mei Gai is chicken and Chinese sausage wrapped by sticky rice. Now is Chinese sausage and sticky rice stuffing the inside of a chicken. Interesting episode of trading places.