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Is the ovalette what made this cake a little yellowish in the overall color?

Often, foreigh food items found their ways into the Chinese culture and there are no equivalent Chinese words to translate them to. Cantonese created many of the new terms, mostly via translating by sound. For example: Creme: 忌廉 gay leem [Cantonese] (Literal meaning: avoid cheap?) Pancake: 班戟 ban gig [Cantonese] (Literal meaning: class, weapon?) Pizza: 比薩 bay sa [Cantonese] (Literal meaning: compare, god?) And there are translations that are half based on meaning and half based on sound. For example, Tart is usually translated as 撻 taat [Cantonese]. Two varieties of tarts commonly found in Hong Kong: Egg Tart: 蛋撻 dan taat [Cantonese] Coconut Tart: 椰撻 yeah taat [Cantonese] There are translations done strictly by meaning, but using words that don't correspond directly (and I have no idea how they became what they are). For example: Icecream: 雪糕 shuet gou [Cantonese]. If you look at the words literally, it means Snow Cake. How did that correspond to Ice Cream? That Snow and Ice are the same? That Cream and Cake are the same? Words just find their ways into the general culture and become accepted over time. And I am sure Cantonese is not the only language that has such phenomenons.

Mooshmouse: The linked picture seemed to have been removed from the site. Would like to take a look at these dried anchovies otherwise. Chinese variety? Japanese? Others?

Here is an interesting Chinese (only Cantonese perhaps) translation of cakes that are originated from Malaysia: Ma Lai Gou [Cantonese] (馬拉糕). If you translate it word for word, it means "a horse pulling a cake". It looks strange at first. I believe the name came from the country name translation of Malaysia, which in Cantonese is Ma Loi Si Ah (馬來西亞). And in short, we just say Ma Loi (馬來). It could be that the cake is called Ma Loi Gou (馬來糕). And in Cantonese, we just say Ma Lai Gou (馬拉糕). (It could also be that the sound "Lai" comes from the Mandarin pronounciation of 來.)

Why wait until it cools down? In Hong Kong dim sum restaurants, Ma Lai Gou (馬拉糕) is brought out on a cart with a big round steamer.

I bought my fish maw from a specialty shop. The packaging only carries the store's logo and nothing else. You may not be able to find fish maw in a general Asian store. I have only seen it once in a local store and the quality of what they carried is not that great. You may need to buy this from the specialty stores in some China Towns - the kind of stores that carries shark fins, dried scallops, gin seng and such. The prices can vary a bit. And also some prices may be "floating"... if you know what I mean. You need to know your stuff. To give you some point of reference: The ones that I bought, the quality is... I would say medium. Probably not the top rank. But tastes pretty good. 8 oz package, US $14.00. Bought in San Francisco China Town. Couldn't find it in Sacramento (for that price or quality). There are about 15 pieces of fish maw (like the ones I showed in the picture) in the package. Fish maw is not exactly the fish's mouth. It is the fish's organ (what's the name for it?) that inflates and deflates that helps a fish float. It is (I believe) blown up like a balloon, dried and then deep-fried (???). Looks kind of like deep-fried pork rind, except it is white in color.

It's already out! My electronic version! I am my own publisher! You may print them out on your color printer. You have my permission. Have you downloaded a copy? (Sorry, only Windows users... it's a Windows Help file.) I have just changed the file storage site. Now it takes only 2 minutes to download (previously takes 60 minutes) via a cable modem connection. The URL is on my signature. Let me post it here too: AhLeungPictorials.bravehost.com (Note: this URL may change. But the correct one can always be found in my signature.)

Great blog, rachel! In Cantonese, we call our paternal grandmother "Ma Ma" (more like "Maa Maa", need to lower the Arr sound. As "Ma Ma" (short Arr) means mother), and our maternal grandmother "Poh Poh". Thanks to the Chinese single-syllable words, and repetition to make it easy for young children. But... like many things Cantonese, we usually add a meaningless adjective "Ah" in front of a noun. So more commonly you would hear "Ah Maa" and "Ah Po". (Same way that I got my nick name "Ah Leung" ) I look forward to seeing some of your daugther's cooking.

Not too many in Chinese custom. We use lotus leaves and bamboo leaves to help cook the ingredients (and transfer the fragrance to the food), but don't eat the leaves. In traditional Chinese cooking (unless it's in Hainan or the south provinces perhaps?) we don't use banana leaves like South East Asian countries. The only item that I can think of is "Sung Choi Bao" [Cantonese], which is a stir-fried dish with minced pigeon (or some use squab or chicken) with minced black mushrooms, waterchestnuts, and deep-fried mung bean threads and you wrap up the minced ingredients with a lettuce leaf to eat.

I like that hot sauce too! Erik: Thanks for a week's glimpse into your life in San Francisco. I very much enjoyed it, especially the portions on Asian food. That's me... eating >80% Chinese food at all time.

I watched another episode of Kylie's show last night: Simply Magic: Episode 8: A Chinese Family - Mothers & Daughters (The schedule on Discovery Home channel is on Saturday 6:30 pm and 9:30 pm PDT.) This episode featured 2 recipes: Celery Salad Stir-fried Tofu (Recipes can be found here) My thoughts: Be very honest I was a bit disappointed at this last episode of the series. The clips from the Shanghai Tea House and Shanghai vegetarian restaurant were good (and short), but the thus-inspired recipes are, how should I say it? Un-unforgetable? Salad made with celery slices and the forever-familiar Sichuan peppercorn and salt (why?), fish sauce (why?), sesame and fresh red chili slices (why? A salad is not "spicy" enough?) The last 10 minutes were spent on a drama. Kylie's mom and niece were dragged on to the set (okay, okay, invited) and acted out their mom and daugther relationship. Looked really uneasy. It was uneasy for me to watch. And Mom and Daughter competed in the kitchen to make... smashed potato? I am really not sure what story it is trying to tell. That Chinese mothers are usually over-bearing and daughters are rebelious?

#87, Steamed Chicken Wrapped in Lotus Leaves (荷香蒸滑雞)

Pictorial Recipe Steamed Chicken Wrapped in Lotus Leaves (荷香蒸滑雞) Lotus leaves are a common ingredient in Cantonese dim sum dishes and steamed dishes. After steaming, the fragrance of the lotus leaves has transferred to the food and leaves a characteristic taste. Serving Suggestion: 4 - 5 Preparations: This is a picture of the main ingredient: Dried lotus leaves. They are sold in the Asian markets in bundles of 20 to 30 in a plastic bag. Use 5 leaves for this dish (actually it only needs 4, but use 1 more as a spare in case one of the leaves has big holes). Main ingredients (upper-right, clockwise): - 1 1/2 lb (to 2 lb) of bone-in chicken - 3 Laap Cheung (Chinese sausage) - Dried mushrooms - about 20 pieces - Fish maw - use about 2 to 3 pieces (Not shown in picture): - Lily buds - use a handful, about 40 - 50 - Wood-ear fungi - use a handful, about 10 to 15 pieces - Ginger, use 1 to 2 inches in length - 3 stalks of green onions This is another featured ingredient: fish maw. They are sold in dried form. Use about 3 medium-size pieces. Fish maw needs to be soaked in water ahead of time: at least 3 hours or overnight. Place the fish maw pieces in a big mixing bowl and fill it with water. Fish maw is very light and it will float on top. Use a bowl or plate to weigh it down. Soak the dried lily buds and wood-ear fungi in another mixing bowl filled with water for about 1 hour. Soak the dried black mushrooms in another mixing bowl filled with water for about 1 to 2 hours. Chop the bone-in chicken into bite-size pieces, about 1 to 2 inches each piece. To marinate the chicken, use a mixing bowl, add the chicken pieces and: - 1 to 2 tsp of salt (to taste) - 3 to 4 tsp of sesame oil - 2 to 3 tsp of ground white pepper - 3 to 4 tsp of ShaoHsing wine - 2 to 3 tsp of light soy sauce - 2 to 3 tsp of dark soy sauce - 4 to 5 tsp of corn starch (or potato starch) Mix well. Set aside for at least 30 minutes before cooking. Take the soaked fish maw, drain off the water. Cut into 1 inch strips. Drain the water from the soaked black mushrooms. Remove stems and cut into halves. Drain the water from the soaked lily buds and wood-ear fungi. If you like, cut them into halves. Cut the Chinese sausages into thin slices. Cut the ginger into thin slivers and green onions into 1 to 2 inch pieces. Combine all the additional ingredients into the mixing bowl with the marinated chicken. Mix all the ingredients well. The dried lotus leaves need to be pre-boiled to make them soft. Boil a big pot of water. Add 1 tsp of baking soda (this will soften up the leaves). Add the lotus leaves and boil for about 3 minutes. You may leave the lotus leaves in the hot water until cooking time to keep them moist. Cooking Instructions: I steamed the chicken in 2 dishes (all the ingredients are too much to fit in one dish). Use a deep dish, line one lotus leaf at the bottom. Scoop half of the marinated chicken, fish maw and other ingredients and place them on top of the lotus leaf. Place the dish in a steamer. Lay another piece of lotus leaf on top to cover the ingredients. Repeat the same procedure for the second dish. Steam with lid on for 30 minutes. This is what it looks like after 30 minutes of steaming. Remove and discard the top leaf and place the steaming dish on top of a serving plate. Picture of the finished dish. (Sorry, I should have trimmed off the edges of the lotus leaf or tuck them under to make a better presentation.)

They do look like long beans at my first glance. But when I looked closer, I was not so sure. The ones in the picture are more dark green than the long beans I have seen. Also, long beans are even in color along the length and don't have "notches" like the ones shown in the picture. (Some pictures of long beans)

Until I came to USA, that's the only variety of eggplants I knew. I didn't know eggplants can be so thick! Yes, winter melons indeed. Looks like your farmer's market carries quite a bit of Asian vegetables. Asian pears are in season only in the winter. The yellow ones, especially if from Tian Jien, are really sweet. My favorite!

Until you pointed out, I didn't realize there is a difference between celery and "Chinese" celery. I know the difference between American Broccoli and Chinese Broccoli - they are different species. Are there differences in celeries? As for using it in this dish: the Chinese Sticky Rice (Fried) that I grew up eating in Hong Kong does not have celery. May be it's a Chiu Chow style? They do put roasted peanut (with skin and a bit of salt) in the sticky rice.

Thank you Erik. They seem to look very similar. My line of fuzzy logic forward chaining was like this: Margaritas... popular cocktail in Mexico... pale green, lime on rim, salt on rim. Your picture of Presidente Vincent... pale green, lime on rim, (what looked like) salt on rim. Mexican President (Presidente): Vincente Fox... Vincent Fox... ==> Presidente Vincent = Margaritas (???) Note to self: Google first before posting stupid questions.

Is this just a more fancy name for a Margaritas? Or there are more to it?

Hmmm... that indeed looks very delicious! Is it a Malaysian Curry Mee? I wish I can find something like that in Sacramento. Next time I visit SF, I think I need to look that up! Geeks get hungry 2! usually ~midnite!

msphoebe: Thank you for your feedbacks and kind words. In this day and age, most of the time I just use canned chicken broth which is widely available in any Asian market. Regular American markets carry them too though the prices (e.g. Campbell's Soup) are much higher and variety is less. In the Asian markets, I can get a small can for about 33c/can when they are on sale. It is much easier than making my own superior broth. You can certainly make your own. Use some meats and bones (or fish). Some add a few stalks of green onions in the broth. Others add different things but the basic scheme is the same. Bring to a first boil and lower to a simmer and let it bubble for 2 to 3 hours.

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Yes it is.

My favorite shows. But more Daily Show than Colbert. Nice to read your blog, Erik. Years ago (87) my wife and I lived in a studio in Sunset for a short time. Back then we were paying something > $400 a month just to have a small room. I don't know how people can afford to live in San Francisco nowadays. My dream home would be, of course, one of those that's near Twin Peaks overlooking the Bay. $5 million or something like that, is it? Perhaps more? Let's go to Ton Kiang for some dim sum lunch some day. Perhaps with you I would actually get some service. And after that, you can take me to the Wok Shop to buy the wok burner... LOL Driving in San Francisco is really tough. The MUNI and BART are great ways to get around. Look forward to read more on life in the city.

The episode #7 of the Kylie Kwong show has a really nice small segment on making Hong Kong style spring rolls. I wanted to say "authentic" but let me just say it's a different "style". They said the key is to use thin wrapper. Most of the egg roll wrappers I found in the USA are thicker than what I like. If you look at the packaging, for equal weight packges the one with more sheets would be thinner (better). The best is to see the wrapper being very translucent. Second tip is the filling should be dry. If the filling is moist, the spring roll skin will not get crispy. The third tip (from me) is the temperature of the frying oil must be right: not overly hot and not too "cold". When the spring rolls get dropped in the oil, they should start bubbling (but not explosively). Applying even heat (through the hot oil) outside the spring rolls is the key to making an evenly browned, crispy skin.

Too greasy? Compared to steamed fatty pork spareribs, braising pork belly, steamed laap cheung over rice, deep-fried egg rolls?