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Everything posted by hzrt8w
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What camera? Yes, yes. Cameras. I bought a Nikon D80 Digital SLR for the trip. I got tired of the "dummy" digitals that don't allow for any control (auto-focus, auto-aperture, auto-everything except to auto crisp up my food pictures). I love digital SLRs. I won't ever go back to the dummy digitals. My Canon is now my wife's so she can shoot flowers or whatever that pleases her.
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Ah Leung’s Hong Kong home-coming trip Pre-trip Prologue Friends: It is my turn to post a topic to ask for some Hong Kong restaurant recommendations! LOL! No, just kidding. Plane tickets are booked. Hotel rooms are booked. Power adapters bought. Bags… almost packed. I and my wife are leaving for Hong Kong on vacation starting the next weekend. A solid 21 day stay. 21 days to stuff my stomach with local food! I anticipated I probably would gain 21 pounds from this trip. But it would be worth it! It’s been too long, eight years to be exact, since I have been back to the place where I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s. And that seems a life-time ago. It was a time before I became a foodie. To me, this is not an occasional traveler dropping by for a two to three day visit exploring an exotic place in the “Orient” or a businessman passing through for a sales meeting for a day. Rather, this is more like getting re-acclimated with a familiar yet ever-changing, ever “life in a fast lane” life style. It is risky to post a trip report before the trip is even taken. What if I end up eating mediocre food? Now that I am committed. I cannot back out. On the other hand, I had so much fun posting my foodblog on eGullet in February around Chinese New Year. I just want to repeat a similar experience. I enjoy the interactions in the forum as I explore the unknowns in my journey everyday. Your comments may actually affect what I will do and eat while in Hong Kong! I wished to write a journal during my trip and post it while I am on the road. But…I am no Peter Green. I don’t think I can handle it. I am hoping to be able to upload a teaser picture or two everyday, and provide the balance with more details when I come back to the states whenever I can get to it. I am not a five-star kind of a guy. There probably won’t be any report on Aqua, Petrus, Spoon or the likes. I grew up eating food in the streets of Hong Kong. Food for the commons: Jook, Deep-Fried Cruellers, Soy-Sauce Chow Mein, Cheung Fun and the likes, you will probably find plenty. These street food are becoming harder and harder to find in the streets of Hong Kong. As the society advances, most street hawkers once dominated every corner have been chased down by the government for the sake of maintaining city orders. Most of the street food once offered only by hawkers are now sold as dim sum items in big restaurants or tiny convenient stores with a small store-front. These hawkers still exist, I believe. But only in certain pockets of places. I have a hunch of where some of them might be. During this trip I will try to hunt them down to relive this childhood memory once again. Other places to eat, oh there are too many that have danced in my head: - Cantonese “pick your own fish” seafood in Cheung Chau, Lee Yue Moon or Sai Kung - Young pigeons in Sha Tin - The Typoon Shelter style fried crab in Causeway Bay - Oysters in Lau Fau Shan (still there?) - Chinese bakeries in Yuen Long - Chiu Chow beefballs in Tsim Sha Tsui - Cantonese banquet food: shake fin, suckling pig and abalone - Cantonese hot pots - Rice in clay pots Along with many regional style Chinese food in Hong Kong such as Hakka, Chiu Chow, Shanghai, Sichuan, Hunan, plus other foreign food such as Vietnamese, Japanese, Italian, Thai, and Indonesian (but no McDonald’s, thank you). For a three week stay, it would be nice to sample some of these cuisines as interpreted in Hong Kong. Places to visit: besides the familiar Victoria Peak, Stanley, Po Lin Temple and the likes, I want to spend some time in visiting something new: Heritage Museum, Military Museum, Hong Kong Central Library, Two IFC and other spots that popped up only in the past few years. During my last visit, the third cross-harbour tunnel and Ching Ma Bridge were only under construction. Hong Kong is a very dynamic place. Every couple of years, the look can be completely different because of new land reclamations and additions of new structures. I would visit as many places as I can manage to pack into my three weeks – including two to three hiking trips. The only exception is Hong Kong Disney. Sorry Walt. I used to live only 20 miles from the original Disneyland in Anaheim, California created by Walt Disney himself. I don’t think I would be overly eager to fly over 7000 miles to see a look-alike Main Street and meet Mr. Mickey Mouse. That’s okay. By all means please post your comments about my trip. Every reply will be read and appreciated, and I hope would have time to respond to.
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IMO: I think that small propane burner is not high power enough for wok cooking. It is good for hot pots!
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Thanks for all your comments. I iwll be in Hong Kong in a couple of weeks to re-acclimate myself with the life style. I will pay special attention to the soup section of Cantonese restaurant menus to see why I have such a gap regarding the egg drop doup. One speculation I have is perhaps there are other forms of soups, such as West Lake Beef soup mentioned by sheetz, the seaweed soup, and the crab meat soup which do use the egg drop to make. But egg drop itself is not the main feature. Perhaps when Chinese restaurants offered it in America (or elsewhere), they skipped other ingredients and just use egg drop - for the sake of cost savings and not risking scaring off patrons? While Cantonese soups served in restaurants are typically thickened with corn starch, home-cooked soup and tonic soup are not. Perhaps in my experience, the combination of less than full-flavor soup, starchy taste, and lack of other ingredients (than egg) kind of turned me into a non-appreciator.
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Perhaps what I made was just fish head soup not fish lip soup.
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Not quite a recipe, but here's how I have done it. "Fish lip soup" doesn't really mean using fish's "lip". As you can imagine there is very little to go on with a fish's lip. It typically means using a big fish's head to make the soup. Typically fresh water fish. Fish head is hard to chop at home. It's best to have the fish monger chop it up for you in the market. In a pot, use a little bit of cooking oil: throw in some ginger slices (some garlic if you like it), and the fish head pieces. Brown the fish head slightly. Then add water. Bring to a boil. Skim off the foam (if any). Turn to a simmer for a hour or 1.5 hour. At last add some gai choy (mustard green), or bok choy, and a few cubes of tofu. Cook for 15 more minutes. Add salt to taste.
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Do I understand you correctly? The "Chinese don't like" it? ← Well. I don't think it would say a whole lot if we look at individuals. I happen to not like egg drop soup while your father happens to love it. That's that. I look at the society as a whole. May be I am off because of my limited personal experience. However, I have never encountered egg drop soup being offered in all the restaurants I have been to in Hong Kong or a few cities in Mainland China. But almost every Cantonese style restaurants that I have been to in the USA would have this in their menu. I concluded that this seems to be a Chinese-American creation. If indeed this is the case, that if a society as a whole does not care to have such a dish, then how can it be considered as "liked" and a representative of that culture?
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"Every culture has some version of a plain chicken soup"... well, that may be the case. But the thing is... this "egg drop soup" seems a creation outside of China. The soup was made to suit the taste of Americans (or Canadians, Europeans, Australians, I don't know). How Chinese "soul" can it be if Chinese don't like drinking this? I for one am not a big fan. I always felt as if just drinking starchy liquid. I just wonder how it could become so popular.
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Don't say that! We have participants who enjoy making many things from scratch, from hand-pulled noodles, tofu, brew your own wine to even making salted fish and soy sauce! But I agree that it is very time-consuming if we make everything from scratch ourselves. Those, like me, who are blessed with having these ingredients readily available are relieved and we can spend our energy more on the cooking part.
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Pictorial: Steamed Chicken Wrapped in Lotus Leaves
hzrt8w replied to a topic in China: Cooking & Baking
Fish maw is not fish skin. It is fish bladder. (Is it a "bladder" technically? It's the organ the helps a fish float/sink.) The bladder is blown up like a bubble then dried. Do they deep-fry it? I am not sure. -
Gingers have lots of tough fibers. Would it work well in a blender? I always hand-grate mine. Your dishes look buT4!
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I think it would work just fine. Just adjust the cooking time. I have not dealt with frozen abalone before so I don't know how long it should be simmered til soft. But should be just fine.
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In a recent topic, "egg drop soup" was mentioned as one of the iconic American-Chinese dishes. Not being American-born, I just don't understand why this simple soup has been accepted and regarded as almost a representative of Chinese food. To me, the soup is rather simple: Chicken broth (or some other broth) with some carrots or green peas or water chestnuts added, and some egg-stir "dropped" in, and thickened with corn starch. It is almost over-simplistic. I doubt it if you can find "egg drop soup" on a menu in Hong Kong or elsewhere in China. So what makes egg drop soup so popular in the USA? (Or Canada/Europe/Australia)
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Pictorial: Joong/Jongzi-Sticky Rice/Bamboo Leaves
hzrt8w replied to a topic in China: Cooking & Baking
u r welcome Fugu. And happy wrapping! It is a labor-intensive thing. 50 joong took me 2 hours. And a sore back. -
No... all the utensils and tablewares are the casino's. Empty bowls were taken from the soup counter. The waitstaff had much more important things to do than to pay attention to small crooks like me.
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The Chiu Chow style oyster omlette usually uses small oysters. I have seen many regular Cantonese style restaurants in the US offering this dish using regular size (kind of big) oysters. Maybe because small oysters are not easily available. The eggs are mixed in with some flour (and some cornstarch kind of) I think. First mix the flour mixture with water, then fold in the eggs. Then use this mixture to make the omlette.
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Sorry about catching on with these discussions late. (Been extremely busy lately) During a recent trip to the San Jose area (just before Mid-Autumn Festival), I found all kinds of mooncakes for sale in 99 Ranch Market. I examined some of these boxes... about half of them are imported from Hong Kong or elsewhere in China. They include single yolk or double yolk lotus seed mooncakes. That really got me puzzled about the US Custom's policy. Why was Aprilmei denied bringing in the mooncakes containing egg yolks? These mooncakes containing egg yolks came through containers and freight ships to the US soil in bulks. Why can't individuals bring them in person? I picked up a familiar box. "Wing Wah" brand. Very old and famous brand name in Hong Kong. 57 years making mooncakes. You can see that the box clearly labelled that the mooncakes were made in Hong Kong. I don't know what the fuzz with the Custom Officiers at the airport is all about. I didn't buy any mooncake this year. The problem with it is there are 4 cakes in a box, and it's just too much (too rich) for 2 persons to consume just for the occasion. I got some from my MIL. Some local restaurant mades. Single yolk. Lotus seed. *sigh* They are no TP.
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I am 48, Prawncrackers. As much as my wife groomed me to be a health nuts like she is... this question about the Salt and Pepper dishes is purely that about taste and not health concerns. I did order some more salt and pepper dishes from the same restaurant without telling them to hold the salt recently. This time the dish was just right. I guess I was a victim of some inexperience cooks at times. When the taste of tihs dish becomes bitter, it seems obvious that the cook had chimed in a "heavy hand" for using too much salt...
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I couldn't hold my curiosity any longer. I bought some fresh jujubes to try them out. They are kind of like apples, but much lighter (less dense). The texture is not as solid and crisp as apples. The taste is quite familiar. The dried jujubes (which I eat often) taste pretty much the same as fresh jujubes, except the flavor is much more concentrated. I suppose that is kind of like sun-dried tomatoes versus fresh tomatoes. It is amazing that dried and fresh jujube look so different. Well... like raisins versus grapes. The water content makes a big difference.
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Cantonese style soup: chicken broth base (made with chicken bones primarily), green papaya, dried oyster, dried scallop, and some "nam buk hung".
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Dried squid in curry sauce in a hot pot.
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I named this dish "The Good And The Evil". The Good = crab meat cooked with egg white The Evil = black sea cucumber braised with five spice and oyster sauce My creation.
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We made our way back to the Thunder Valley Casino dinner buffet again. This time we came prepared. On the left, it's my favorite Yank Sing Hot Chili Sauce. On the right, some home-made Ginger and Green Onion Oil. I also brought some sesame oil with Chinese red vinegar. Unfortunately during transportation from home to the casino (stored in a jar), the oil and vinegar got mixed in. I would have preferred to see 2 layers. Maybe next time I will bring them in separate jars. Thanks sheetz! Your suggestion of Ginger and Green Onion Oil for king crab legs is a winner! The taste is fantastic! I ended up not eating any melted butter for my king crab legs at all. I also got some light soy sauce with fresh chili slices from the buffet counter (Chinese food section). They all worked very well with the king crab legs.
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I think pasta substituting for rice noodle is a bit off. After all, rice noodles and wheat noodles are fundamentally different. Spaghetti can be a good substitute for some noodle dishes. And people in Hong Kong offer "chow spaghetti" dishes.
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What kind of plum was used? Fresh plum? Or in a sauce? Or dried ones?