hzrt8w

This morning's liquid breakfast: Minute Maid orange juice. I love orange juices of all kinds, especially the fresh squeezed ones I can get from Trader Joe's. But I don't go to Trader Joe's often, so... sometimes the other orange juices in the box. I really like the pulps in the juice. It makes me feel as if I am drinking the "real" orange juice and not artificial ones. Thank you very much for your kind feedbacks and questions. I promise I will get to answer them. But now... Please excuse me because I need to head out. There is a small farmer's market in Sacramento every Sunday morning underneath the I-80 (Business) freeway. I want to see if I can get a few shots of the market to show you all.

Good Morning everyone! 恭喜發財! "Kung Hey Fat Choy" in Cantonese. "Gong See Fa Cai" in Mandarin. This is a phrase that you will hear Chinese say all over the world in Chinese New Year, espcially on the first day... which is... today! Go ahead, surprise your friends and colleages when you see them in restaurants or at work. Say this phrase to them and it will bring a smile on their face. You may just have startled them for a second before they realize what you were saying. It is a phrase of well-wishing which means "I wish you to be rich". And... for the readers who can read Chinese: 萬事勝意 心想事成 身體健康!! Translations: - Everything is going your way! - May your wish come true! - Be healthy! This is the first day of the year - Year of the Pig! I belong to the year of the pig. Yike! That really showed my age! Am I: 12? 24? 36? 48? 60? 72? 84? (Explanations later on Chinese zodiac.) What about you? Are there other readers who were born in the year of the pig? Edited: Spelling

Historically, China has a strong tie with many African countries - since the Mao's days. The Carribean connections, I am not sure. Separated by Central America, unless one travels through the Panama Canal, I wonder how China begun trading with the Carribean countries.

I steamed mine sometimes. Marinated with the salt-baked chicken power the same way but steamed. Just being lazy.

Very true. For Chinese food though, most households in China - especially those in the rural areas - would do fine with a close-to-rusty cleaver, a almost deformed chopping block, a bowl, a pair of worn wooden chopsticks, an iron spatula and a well-seasoned wok. That's about all they need (and to some, all they can afford). For example, no fancy tongs in China that a pair of wooden chopsticks and a wet towel can't do. We are the minimalists, utilitarians.

So... what's next after the family "gathering" dinner? Well... that depends on how old you are! The teenagers typically would hang out with friends at dancing parties, bowling allies, movie theatres, karaoke bars, etc.. The family couples with young and elders would go home and retire early. Some would go out to the "Neen Siu See Cheung" (Chinese New Year farmers' markets) to pick up last minute bargains on flowers, plants, candies, toys, etc.. These markets run through the night a few days before the arrival of CNY. And tonight is the climax. Because after the new year arrives, many of the merchandises are like chopped Christmas trees after Dec 25th. So... merchants and customers both play the game of "wait and see". The merchants would see how late the customers can stay up til (most people can't pass 3:00 am). And customers really want to drive some last-minute bargains. The markets open until about 5am or 6am or so. The happy ones may bring home a trig of "mui fa" (plum flower) for 50% off. I did my "hang out until dawn" annual rituals in the mid 70's. Stayed out all night and went home at 8am on the First of CNY Day. Unfortunately there is no such night CNY Eve market in the USA. Nowhere to hang out. So... what does that lead me? Typing my stories on eGullet! I have some pictures of today's lunch but I would defer to tomorrow to show. I am dead tired! A day of intensive shopping and rushing that started at 7am. Good night and... when my eyes open again tomorrow... it will be Year of the Pig!!!

Date: Feb 17, 2007 Chinese calendar: The "30th" eve, (meaning the 30th of the lunar month December), i.e. New Year Eve Festivity: Family "gathering" dinner ("tuen neen" in Cantonese - meaning to gather as a family to celebrate the passing of the old year.) This is THE most important family dinner gathering of the year. The elders of the family will not be very pleased if some of the kids/children-in-laws and grand children are not attending. If you miss, you better have some very convincing excuses. My wife's family is all here in Sacramento. That makes the gathering much easier to attend. We used to drive >450 miles from Mission Viejo to Sacramento to tend to the occassion. I am happy that now this dinner is only a 10 minute drive away. Many days leading to this occassion, most families would start the annual house cleaning. In Cantonese we say "Sung Gao Ying Sun" - meaning to bid farewell to the old (year) and to welcome the new (year). Because most Chinese, especially those who live and work in the "cities" but have families in the rural areas, want to be with their elders for this occassion, 2 to 3 days leading up to Chinese New Year Eve - 1 billion+ people on the move. Airports, train stations, bus terminals, taxi terminals - all jam-packed. This is comparable to the Thanks Giving holiday in the USA. And 1 billion+ people are a LOT OF people! Fortunately, most peasants are living very close to their elders' family and going home may only mean a 1 to 2 hour ride on a bicycle. For those who need to take the trains, it's elbow to elbow. By mid day, most of the travelers would have arrived their destinations to settle down and get ready to enjoy this dinner. For me, this family gathering dinner took place at Happy Garden Restaurant along Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, California. It's always the same restaurant. Happy Garden it is. Oh... I gotta tell you. (Start whispering now): my mother-in-law would not cook anything for over 5 people. We always dine out. And my father-in-law is very picky about Chinese restaurants. Most restaurants would only receive his criticisms. And there is only one in all of Sacramento that passed his measures. So Happy Garden is THE one and only restaurant for our family dinners. For the past 12 years since they opened. (Back to normal voice.) Anyway, enough historic background. Let the dinner begin! These banquet style dinners do have certain formats to follow - if we dine in China. But in the USA, most restaurants - except those "high end" ones - would not. They just bring out dishes as they are cooked from the kitchen. There were 13 people at the dinner. The youngest one, my nephew, is only 2 year old. He didn't eat anything. So you see only 12 bowls on the table. Shark-fin soup with crab meat and fish maw. This is my portion. I could barely taste the shark fin in the soup. Oh well... this is... Happy Garden. Sacramento is not known to have the best Chinese cuisines. In terms of Chinese immigrant population, we are only second to San Francisco. But all the foodies stay in the Bay Area I supposed. The restaurants in Sacramento always seem second-rated to me. Walnut shrimp. Shrimps coated with, you may not believe it, mayo cooked in Chinese stir-fried style. This is definitely a recent creation in the USA. I have never heard of or tasted Walnut Shrimp until about 10 or so years ago. Looks familiar? Yes, it is the Cantonese Fried Chicken, "Zha Zhee Gai" in Cantonese. Happy Garden made this dish very well. Except about half the time they serve half-staled shrimp chips. This time it was very good though. Sauteed shrimp and squid with mixed vegetables (American broccoli, carrots, straw mushrooms, snow peapods.) Oops... one piece of shrimp chip fell off. Oh well, this one will go to Heaven without being eaten! Is this what you think it is? It is! Braised abalone slices (in oyster/soy sauce mix) with black mushrooms (shittake) and baby bok choy at the bottom. Dual lobsters, ginger and scallion style. I saw these poor guys in the water tank only minutes ago! Sauteed scallops with mixed vegetables: baby corns, snow peapods, celery, carrots, green onions, straw mushrooms. Deep-fried young pigeons. There are 4 birds packed in there. 1 bird for 3 persons on average. Condiment: salt with ground Sichuan peppercorn - just like the Cantonese Fried Chicken. The final main entree: Steamed fish (double fish - some kind of bass), topped with shredded green onions, ginger and light soy sauce. Cilantro as decoration. You MUST have a fish dish in the year end gathering dinner. It is mostly for symbolic reasons. The word "fish" in Chinese (both in Cantonese and Mandarin) sounds the same as another Chinese word that means "extra", or "surplus". "Neen Neen Yau Yu" [Cantonese] - means wishing you have much surplus (successful business) every year. Chinese believe in phonetic associations, play with words that sound the same but mean different things, We typically cook those "good luck charm" dishes as a way of well-wishing. Fried rice with Chinese bacon ("Laap Yuk" [Cantonese]), baby scallop, beatened eggs and chopped green onions. This is another symbolic dish: Noodle. (Chow mein). Typically we order the "yee mein", which is a special, light, fluffy and long white noodles. Noodles symbolize "longevity" - because most noodle threads are long. In fact, most chefs know better that they won't cut the noodle. The longer the threads, the better. For practical reasons, the noodles must be broken apart when served. But this is done by customers. Chefs are not liable. Oh... boy... did I get full yet? Phewwwwwww! Dessert: Oops. What's that? Well, Chinese are typically not big on desserts except for the newer generations - especially the ex-patriots who gradually change the nation's attitude. We do have some traditional pastries, sweet soups here and there. By and large, no dessert is not a big deal for us. I, particulary, don't have a sweet tooth. Instead... we get a few slices of oranges and fortune cookies. For drinks... well, nobody in this family drink beer or wine. So the drink is the "standard" tea - "Teet Kwun Yam" (a kind of tea leaves) for us.

How would you make this one? Would you bake it or steam it?

This is what I had to munch on this morning. My wife baked some "sweet potato chips". Fresh sweet potatoes, cut in thin slices, baked for about 10 to 15 minutes. This is one of those street snack food you will find in Hong Kong too. They bake/grill the sweet potatoes with charcoal, which adds some nice charcoal flavor to the sweet potatoes. For drinks, I made some fresh soy milk. I recently bought an automatic soy milk machine and now I make soy milk at home about every week (sometimes every other week as I become busy). Here is the whole set up: The machine is a plastic jar with a mechanized top. The round metal thing in the front is the filter and (double roled as) holder of soy beans. I buy packs of dried soy bean in the Asian grocery stores. One pack of these 14 oz dried soy bean (cost is about US$0.80) can produce about 5-6 64 oz bottles of soy milk. It is quite economical in the long run - provide that you don't factor in the labor you need to put in. It is a lot of work. But getting freshly made soy milk at home... priceless. The work begins the night before. Pour about 1/2 a pack of dried soy beans in a big bowl. This will make about 2-3 64oz bottles of soy milk - enough for us for the whole week. We keep the soy milk in the refrigerator, of course. Don't leave the soy milk in room temperature. Bacteria will get to it in a day or two to turn it into soya milk yogurt. Soak the soy beans in water for 24 hours. Don't soak it for too long because the beans will start to sprout and become bean sprouts - unless you want to grow some to make your dinner. Feed the soaked soy beans through the chute into the metal filter/holder below. Fill the jar with water to the prescribed level. Turn the machine on. It is all automatic from here. You will hear the motor starts grinding the beans, and the heating coil starts boiling the water at the same time. It will go through a few cycles of grinding and continuous heating. Voila! About 15 minutes later, the soy milk is ready. One draw back is that making soy milk in these machines produces a lot of foam and suds. You need to use a fine filter to screen off the soy bean residues before drinking. Discard what's left inside the filter/holder. Fruit of the labor (or should I call it juice of the labor?): Fresh, hot soy milk made right at home with no additive. I like mine plain (unsweetened), though many Chinese sweeten it with some sugar.

Hi Erik: I still remember your week if portridge breakfast and your shell program! LOL! Another thing I need to apologize in advance: I don't eat breakfast as a habit. So no picture on McMuffin or donuts or ham and eggs. I do like to drink different beverages in the morning and snack on different things through out the day. I am not always like this (not eating breakfast). When I worked in Hong Kong in the late 80's, I used to eat 5 meals a day! Breakfast: McDonald's McMuffin and a cup of coffee, or a bowl of congee and cheung fun (steamed rice noodles). Lunch: typically some Chinese stir-fries over rice or a plate of chow mein or dim sum. Afternoon "tea": a bowl of wonton noodle, or an egg sandwich with a cup of English tea. Dinner: usually ate at home or dined out in restaurants - some kind of stir-fried entrees. And Midnight light snack at around 11:00 pm: a bowl of congee again or wonton noodle or something I think one of what prompted us to eat like a bird (less in each meal, but more often) is that in Hong Kong you have to walk everywhere - so unlike the USA. It is not wise to walk with a full stomach. The meal serving portions are typically smaller than those found in the US Chinese restaurants. And we are always on the run - which means most people may not even finish the food before they need to catch a bus, the subway, taxi, train, whatever. And the convenience of food offered in every corner - no need to drive to a restaurant for 30 minutes just to eat - makes it unnecessary to eat as much each time. Living in the USA, my eating habit has completely changed. I don't eat breakfast because I usually get up late. Breakfast time is almost a border-line lunch time for some people. And sometimes I am down to just one meal a day: either have a late, big lunch or an early, big dinner. I have been extremely busy lately. I am taking on many projects both in my professional and personal fronts. And I am going to school two night a week. And this week... being that it is Chinese New Year, it is crazy. I don't have time to cook as often lately. I hope this is not disappointing to some readers. But check out my published pictorial recipes in the China forum: Chinese Food Pictorials, by hzrt8w You would a pretty good idea on the kind of meals I make at home. This week I will try my best to share the kind of food I eat on a regular basis. And... many pictures to come.

Happy New Year to you too, Makan King! In California, which is 16 hours behind Singapore time, GMT -8, this is still just the morning of Chinese New Year Eve. I do realize that on your part of the world the New Year has already come upon you. People in Hawaii, the last major population to the east of the International Date Line, would be the last to observe the arrival of the New Year. So, being Californians are not so bad!

Lindsay Ann: Pictures you will find plenty. Ah Leung is nothing is not providing pictures. But... errr... the fridge... hmmmm... Chinese don't use refrigerators! We cook everything fresh and consume everything cooked in a meal. (Well, typically it is.) Let me apologize in advance. No shots on my refrigerator or pantry. That's my condition of doing the blog accepted by Susan in FL. But she said "we'll work on that..." Too messy lah!

Thank you for your warm responses everyone! I look forward to doing this "show N tell" too. First... to answer some questions: Kim: The pronounciation of "Leung". Think of the famous French city Leon. But say it much faster - because unlike Mandarin which has transitions, Cantonese is "chopping" monotonic. The Brits gave us this spelling and they usually can do a pretty good job in pronouncing it close to Cantonese.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! The eGullet blog team has invited me to write a week-long foodblog, starting today. I thought you may like to read, or comment on my blog. I am blogging food and events related to Chinese New Year: eG Foodblog: hzrt8w, A week of Chinese New Year celebration

What do an ethnic Chinese, a foodie, and a computer geek have in common? Answer: Absolutely nothing! It just happens to be me! In mathematical terms, using the modern set theory: A = set of all Chinese B = set of all foodies C = set of all computer geeks There exists a subset D where: D = A ∩ B ∩ C And I am a member of set D. Or in Boolean logic: A = Chinese B = foodie C = computer geeks D = A AND B AND C Or expressed in SQL: SELECT Ethnic_group, Hobbie_interest, Profession FROM All_population WHERE Ethnic_group = ‘Chinese’ AND Hobbie_interest = ‘foodie’ AND Profession = ‘computer geeks’ Okay… I have lost half of the audience! That’s great! I can start with my food blog now. Greetings! My name is Wai-Kwong Leung. Or in Chinese convention, which goes in the “surname, given-name” format, my name is Leung Wai-Kwong. In Chinese: Leung (the top character in the picture) is a common surname with no particular meaning. My father named me “Wai Kwong”. Wai (the middle character in the picture) means “Great” (as in achievement) or “Hugh” (as in size). Kwong (the bottom character in the picture) means “Bright”. Leung, though it seems it may not be as common in the USA, is ranked the 11th in the most popular surnames in the Cantonese region. The order that I heard many years ago was (all pronunciations in Cantonese): 1: Chan 2: Lee (or Li) 3: Cheung 4: Wong 5: Ho 6: Au 7: Chow (or Chau) 8: Wu (or Woo) 9: Ma 10: Luk Do some of these surnames look familiar to you? My wife’s family is the Wongs. This surname is quite common in the Toysanese region in Canton. Many of them had immigrated to the USA since the railroad building days. It is quite common, though not required, that the siblings in a family have either the same first given name or second given name. For example, in my family all my brothers share the same second given name “Kwong”. My first brother is Leung Yuk-Kwong. My second brother is Leung Hung-Kwong. Father told us that it is for the sake of identification of our generation – since most people in the same village may have the same surname. When we say we are the “Kwong’s” generation, the villagers will know. They keep the genealogy and naming book in the small village temple. My father was born in a small village near Guongzhou (old name Canton). At the age of 13, he took a train to Hong Kong to look for work – and didn’t look back since - except during years of the Japanese occupation. Both my brothers and sister and I were born and grew up in Hong Kong. I came to San Diego, California for college and later settled down in the US. I like to be addressed as “Ah Leung”. And in Chinese: The word “Ah” is just a common street salutation in Canton. Therefore there are many “Ah Wong”, “Ah Lee”, “Ah Chan” walking down the streets of Hong Kong. In Mandarin, the same street salutation would be “Xiao Leung”, where the word “Xiao” literally means “little”. It is an attempt to be modest (a Chinese’s virtue) having others addressing ourselves as “little”. The food consumed in Hong Kong is primarily Cantonese style. But Hong Kong is actually a melting pot of all cuisines in the nearby vicinities. The primary reason is the influx of immigrants, legal or illegal – well, back in the 40’s and 50’s the Hong-Kong/Mainland border was quite loose. And there was a big wave of immigrants from the mainland seemingly overnight when Mao advocated his “Big Leap Forward” campaign (and later on “The Cultural Revolution”). Many new immigrants brought their home style cooking with them. In Hong Kong, you will find a mix of different cuisines from Chiu Chow, Hakka, Shanghai, Peking, Sichuan, Hunan, etc.. Because of over 150 years of British ruling, Hong Kong also iss influenced greatly by European cultures (primarily British, French and Italy, and to a degree Portuguese because of the proximity to Macau – a Portuguese colony). And in recent decades: USA, India, Japan, Taiwan, The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. Hamburgers, thanks to McDonald’s, made its way to Hong Kong in the 70’s. And pizza, thanks to Pizza Hut, in the 80’s. Mexican food such as tacos, burritos and carnitas, however, did not receive enthusiastic response for whatever reason. In the late 1980’s, there was something like “Two” Mexican restaurants in the whole district of Tsimshatsui. When the eGullet blog team approached me to write a one-week food blog, I felt flattered and was very excited. The timing couldn’t have been better. The coming week is Chinese New Year. I would like to take this opportunity to mention some of the Chinese customs in celebrating this most important festivity in Chinese culture all around the globe through out this week. More to come later.

????? Many cooks in Chinese restaurants marinate meats only once a day. They keep the meats in the refrigerated counters until cooking time. The marination process would inadvertantly have taken more than 6 hours. Sometimes overnight (or longer).

Well, many of the 300 items are repetition of the same style with different meat (chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, scallop, fish, mussel, etc.). So there are probably 50 to 70 different styles. But, still, pretty impressive. No worry about the inventory. The basic ingredients used in Chinese restaurants are all the same. It is the use of different sauces and the process (steamed, stir-fried, deep-fried, braised, etc.) that make the difference. Except some special dishes, such as Peking duck.

*cough* *cough* ... (sound of clearing throat...) Don't under-estimate these stainless steel pans. We bought ours long ago as our wedding... ur... investment (is there such a thing?). Those were something like $80 a set - the 1980's dollars. Not just 2 pans but other pots as well. But I would challenge one to buy one for $9.95 today. Or has the price... really??? come down so much? Dunnno. Haven't shopped for pots and pans for ages.

Well... different types of meats are marinated differently. From what I have observed: Chicken: corn starch, oil, egg white typically Shrimp/scallop/fish (filet): corn starch, oil, salt (?) typically (and never soy sauce) Beef/pork: soy, oil, corn starch, baking soda, white pepper (some do) typically Crab/lobster/oyster/clam: none Some may use oyster sauce to marinate beef. In restaurants they all use baking soda, borox or some kind of tenderizer to treat the meat. You can taste the difference - extra soft texture. If you use baking soda to treat the shrimp, they will become the "glass shrimp" (the term from Chinese) - extra soft and crunchy but the shrimp taste has become bland.

When I've seen chefs on TV do it they use big steel strainers like this one: http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/acces..._perfscoop.html The strainer is dipped in the oil and then the meat is placed on top and stirred around for a few seconds, then lifted out using the strainer. ← Chefs on TV and "cooks" in big bustling restaurants are two different things. ← I had worked in 7 different Chinese restaurants in San Diego. The chefs in the different kitchens were quite uniformly using the same method. The marinated meats (chicken, beef, shrimp, etc.) were run through a wok-ful of hot oil - free and clear - and then scooped up using type of the strainers shown in that picture. Usually a big Chinese ladle is used to separate the meats so they won't stick together. In the "chop suey" type restaurants, they used the professional size SS spatula.

Now I got really confused. Several pages ago, I used the term "velveting" and it was pointed out this is not the same as running through hot oil. Then the explanations above seemed to lead to that they are the same. I do know what I talked about is "guo yu" in Chinese/Cantonese. The process is the same as what's described by Bruce. Whether this is "velveting", I don't know any more.

To avoid confusion perhaps we can refer to that process as gouyu'ing?

15 days? Really? OMG... Oh, this is the year of the pig! Just kidding.

The wok on this web site looks very much like the one I bought from The Wok Shop. Maybe they are from the same manufacturer? Or maybe Chinese all make woks the same way. The web page shows a 14-inch wok. I use a 16-inch. I think 16-inch is better if you ever need to cook for more than 2-3 people or to fry a big fish. 14-inch is a bit small, but it is easier to toss the food with.

And one doesn't necessarily need to go to SF to have good food. There are a few excellent Chinese restaurants just across on the other side of freeway 101 - along El Camino Real in Millbrae. 1 mile away. Fook Yuen and Zen Peninsula are two that I really like - for dim sum and dinner. I would not recommend Hong Kong Flower Lounge though.