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Thank you for the pointers to the clips, Chee Fai. They have developed a simple, special tool to de-shell the crab. Interesting! I think that's exactly how they do it at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco. Some shops sell tons of dungeness crabs everyday.

Yeah, Chee Fai. That's exactly what I saw the other night. I recognize the crazy "I don't need to comb my hair" hair style on one of the hosts. Thank you.

These look quite familiar to me. Except for Macadamia nut candies - which are not traditional Chinese. Looks like they incorporated the local specialties as well? If they follow the Chinese traditional recipes, then the filling for the wife's cake (wedding cake) would be candied Winter Melon.

Really? Wow! Neat! I buy spices in bulk (plastic bags) and reuse some of these small spice jars to hold them. I just tear off the old labels. I look them up by shape, color, smell and taste. Drive my wife nuts. But hey... who owns the kitchen?

Yeah! This is a Shanghainese speciality dish, I would love to see Kent do a pictorial on it.

Ha! You remember! No I haven't gotten my burner yet. The main issue is with the kitchen exhaust fan. I live in a 60-year old house that has only the conventional (wimpy) kitchen fan unsuited for Chinese cooking. If I have a high-power burner it will make the oil fume problem worse. I cook with a wok on certain dishes over the regular gas stove. I need the wok's big, curve surface. It works okay.

After working with this soya milk machine for a day, I would say this: - There is some cleaning efforts involved. I certainly don't want to operate this machine for only 1 round (5 mugs) everyday. - Making soya bean milk in a batch: 4 to 5 rounds for one week's supply. Keep the soya milk in the fridge - that's workable. - Soaking the soya beans takes overnight. Cleaning the machine takes about 10 minutes.

This was made a few days ago: BBQ Pork Stir-Fried with Rice Pasta (Lai Fun) (三絲炒瀨粉) (Pictorial recipe here)

#89, BBQ Pork Stir-Fried with Rice Pasta (Lai Fun) (三絲炒瀨粉)

Pictorial Recipe BBQ Pork Stir-Fried with Rice Pasta (Lai Fun) (三絲炒瀨粉) There are many varieties of rice noodles in Cantonese cooking. Though they are made from the same ingredients through the same process, the rice noodles are named differently depending on their shapes - much like how the Italians name their pasta. This recipe features a rice noodle called "Lai Fun" (瀨粉) in Cantonese. Some calls it Rice Pasta. It is round and a little bit thicker than spaghetti. I used BBQ pork in this recipe. You may well use roast ducks, shredded chicken or other types of meat. It is also common to cook this dish with yellow chive and onion slices. The recipe is very similar to the flat rice noodles ("Ho Fun") stir-fried with beef slices. Serving Suggestion: 1 - 2 Preparations: Main ingredients (bottom right, clockwise): - 1 lb of "lai fun" (rice pasta) - 3 stalks of green onion - BBQ Pork, about 4 to 6 oz - 4 oz of bean sprouts Cooking: - 5 tsp of light soy sauce - 5 tsp of dark soy sauce - 2 tsp of ShaoHsing cooking wine This is the main feature: Rice pasta (Lai Fun). There is one pound of rice pasta in this package. This is what the rice pasta looks like. They are freshly made, ready for cooking. Cut the BBQ pork into thin shreds. Chop the green onions into thin shreds. Mix 5 tsp of light soy sauce and 5 tsp of dark soy sauce in a small bowl. Use your fingers to fluff up the rice pasta so that they don't stick together. If they do, run them under warm water and separate them. Drain well before cooking. Cooking Instructions: Use a wok/pan, set stove to high. Add 2 tblsp of cooking oil. Add the BBQ pork shreds and brown them slightly. Remove. Clean the wok. Keep stove setting at high. Heat the wok until as hot as it gets. Here is the important part: Add 3 tblsp of cooking oil. Wait until the oil starts smoking. Very quickly: Add the shredded green onions, 2 tsp of ShaoHsing cooking wine (Note: this may induce a flame), and the mixture of light and dark soy sauces. The soy sauces would start boiling immediately from the heat. Immediately add the rice pasta. And add the bean sprouts. Toss and stir-fry for about 2 to 3 minutes. Make sure the dark color from the soy sauces spread evenly. Return the BBQ pork shreds. Stir-fry for another minute or so. Finished. Transfer to a serving plate. Picture of the finished dish.

This is not very Chinese either. Dinner in Christmas Eve. Saving the stomach for the big Christmas turkey dinner at the in-laws... My recreation of the Malaysian (or is it Indonesian) "Sam Moot" (???) - a sauce that is made from minced shrimp and chili, with chicken.

We bought ourselves a Christmas present: A soya bean milk machine. (Sorry, the contrast of the picture didn't come out too well.) We passed by our regular grocery store on Saturday and saw this one on sale for only US$39.00 (versus most around US$80.00 to $100 that I have seen). Couldn't resist to give is a try. Evaluation: Pros: - The taste of soya bean milk made taste just like the store-bought ones. No perceivable difference. We know ours are made with 100% soya bean and no preservatives added. - It is easy to clean. - Economical in the long run. 1 bag of dry soya bean (14 oz), costs about US $0.50, can make about 10 jars, about 5 regular coffee-mugs worth per jar. I think this is roughly equivalent to 3 of those 64oz bottles that they sell at the stores. The 64oz bottle soya bean milk usually sells for US$1.60 where I am. So it is $0.50 trading for $4.80. The machine pays for itself pretty quickly (about 2 to 3 months). - Save a trip to go to the grocery store whenever we run out of soya bean milk. - No more heart burn from buying bad soya bean milk from the stores. (Ya!) Cons: - Need to soak the soya beans for a minimum of 8 hours before use. The machine instructions say you can use dry soya beans too. But I am not sure if the effect would be as good. - You can make only about 5 coffee-mug worth of soya bean milk each round. Have to clear out the residue between each round. - It takes 30 minutes to make each round. But the process is all automatic. We just need to plug in the power cord and press the button to start. - It produces a lot of foams in the soya bean milk. Need to use a strainer to filter it. Overall: It is worth it if you drink soya bean milk often, and buy a machine when they come down on prices. US $40 is easier to absorb than US $100.

I have not watched the particular program that you mentioned. But when I was dining at JJ Cafe in Monterey Park one night about 2 weeks ago, the Jade channel (I think it was Jade) was showing a program that looked very much like "Iron Chef". Maybe they had franchised it. Or maybe they just had copied the format. 2 ladies were competing to make 3 dishes out of some feature ingredients. All in Cantonese.

What? They grow coffee beans at Diamond Head? LOL! Nice to see you blog, Suzy. From the implication of your online monikor, I assume that you like sushi too? As for "poi" taking some getting used to... I think it highly depends on one's upbringing. Much like other cultures not liking steamed rice because it is bland. To me being a native Chinese, I would never get used to eating grits either.

Thank you for a wonderful blog, Jerome. Have you ever made your own turnip (daikon) cake from scratch? It is fairly easy and would taste much better than the ones they sell at stores.

This is one that I had at "Shanghai Dumpling King" in San Francisco. Each meatball is about the size of a tennis ball.

Sweet potato! Are you taking the "mixing savory and sweet" to the next level?

Why? What will happen to one who did? <<<Blurp...>>> Excuse me...

I am not a dessert person but these look very very good! I wonder what happened to all the Chinese chef who immigrated to the USA. I have never seen anything like what you showed offered in the US based Chinese dim-sum restaurants, with the exception of Mango Cream with Sago.

Thanks peony[b/]! It looks very different and interesting. I have not seen this type of steamers in the USA. It is really nice to live in your part of the world. Culinary-wise... so many choices. Happy Dung Geet [Cantonese] everyone. To celebrate, and also that my final exams are over, tonight I will be having... duck pie and grilled shrimp on a skewer in a hotel restaurant in downtown Sacramento!

Three sets of mortar and pestle just for grind spices? I need to print this note and show it to my wife - who always said I have too many gadgets in the kitchen!

Someone told me that it tastes better to create your own batter by using a grinder. Haven't tried it yet.

Is that fish tank for keeping your food alive until dinner time?

Lo Bak Goh (Daikon Cake) is meant to be made and shared. Really... who can eat 30 pieces of daikon cake in one setting? Even if you put it in the freezer, it will last 5 to 6 servings if you keep it all to yourself...

May we have a look at the equipment you use to steam the rice flour sheet, peony? Do you make the batter by mixing the rice flour? Or you use a blender to grind rice grain with water?