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This has been the case for a long time. The dwindling number of local fishermen cannot possibly keep up with the demand for fresh seafood from >7 million residence, plus of course millions of tourists each year.

Forget about SF Chinatown. The latest gastronomic activities that worth any salt (or any MSG) all radiated away from the good old Grant Ave. Unless you want to visit some over-the-hill restaurants or do some touristy thing. New places within the city: - Along Geary (from 6th on to 25th or so?) - Along Clement (from 6th to 12th or so?) - Sunset district - along Noriega, from 19th on to 34th - Skyline: anchored around 99 Ranch market (Daly City or Pacifica?) The bests are along El Camino Real at Milbrae: (Zen Peninsula, Fook Yuen are the bests on my book) And of course there is Coy Palace in Daly City. My other favorites include Hong Kong East Ocean in Emeryville and Saigon Seafood Harbor, Daimo and Asian Pearl village in Richmond. And if you go as far south as San Jose/Milpitas, that's a whole different world...

#70, Mussels Stir-Fried with Thai Basil (九層塔炒淡菜)

Pictorial Recipe Mussels Stir-Fried with Thai Basil (九層塔炒淡菜) Some Chinese restaurants offer mussel dishes. However, most that I have seen are cooked in Kung Pao style, with garlic and green onions, or with black bean sauce. I am inspired by some Thai/Vietnamese style stir-fries which cook mussels with Thai basil. The dish presented here is not a traditional Chinese dish but it is very delicious. Picture of the finished dish: Serving Suggestion: 2-3 Preparations: Main ingredients (upper right, clockwise): - Shelled mussels, about 1 to 1 1/2 lb - 3 stalks of green onions - Garlic, use 5-6 cloves - 1 Chili pepper (e.g. jalapeno pepper) - 2 large shallots - Ginger, use 2-inch in length - (Special feature) Thai sweet basil sauce, use about 3-4 tblsp - 1 large onion - Fresh Thai basil, about 4-6 oz This is the feature of this dish: Fresh Thai basil. The stems are very tough. Peel off the leaves from the stems. Discard the stems. Trim, peel and wedge 1 onion. Trim ends on the green onions, cut diagonally into thin shreds. Peel and finely chop 2 shallots. Peel and mince 5-6 cloves of garlic. Grate about 2-inch worth of ginger. Trim ends and thinly slice 1 jalapeno pepper. This is another feature of this dish: Chili Paste with Thai Basil (Holy Basil). This is what the "Chili Paste with Thai Basil" looks like. Use 3-4 tblsp of this paste to cook. To add more flavor, I used 1 tblsp of Yank Sing Hot Chili Sauce. You may also use some other chili sauces. Cooking Instructions: Use a pan/wok, set stove to high. Add enough water to parboil the mussels. Add a few slivers of ginger to the mixture. Boil for about 2-3 minutes. Drain the mussels using a colander. Discard the ginger slivers. Clean and dry the pan/wok. Set stove to high. Wait until pan/wok is hot. Add 3 tblsp of cooking oil. Add minced garlic, shredded green onions, chopped shallots, sliced chili pepper, and grated ginger. Add 1/4 of salt (or to taste). Stir well. Dash in 2 tsp of ShaoHsing cooking wine. Add 3-4 tblsp of the featured Chili Paste with Thai Basil and 2 tsp of Yank Sing Hot Chili Sauce. Add wedged onion and stir well. Return the mussels and add the Thai basil. Continue to stir-fry for a few minutes and stir well. Add 2-3 tsp of sugar and a dash of light soy sauce (or fish sauce) towards the end. Finished. Transfer to a serving plate. I like this dish dry. If you want it saucey, simple add some water or chicken broth. Use corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce. Picture of the finished dish. (Note: The quantity of food made in this recipe is about twice the portion shown in this picture.) Variations You may use chicken, shrimp, squid or clams to cook this dish. The cooking method is very similar.

I think the best Chinese food can be had in Canada (Vancouver, Toronto), outside of China. Even better than what you can find in China because of the availability of best ingredients and the labor pool. If you are in London, Sydney, you probably can find very good restaurants too. My father who had been to some Asian countries (Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, The Phillipines, etc.) said Chinese food (the only thing he would eat) in those countries are okay. Not great but not too bad generally. I personally had some excellent Chinese meals in Singapore. But not sure about elsewhere in the European countries, South Americas or African countries.

Winter melon rind carving is really a work of art. Some have very sophiscated patterns.

The flavor of the chicken meat all goes into the soup after 3 hours of simmering. Usually not worthy to eat. The meat is very dry and rather bland. I sometimes like to chew on the chicken thigh and drum sticks here and there. The breast can pretty much be discarded. Yes "Mut Zho" is the plam date, I think you are right.

Chinese believe that in order for the soup to be "pure", we need to get rid of the suds and "filth" in the soup - which is basically blood cooked in boiling water. The fist boil will make the blood solidified and make it float on the top. Rinsing the chicken/duck/meat-bone under water will wash them away, and discarding the water used in the first round, will provide soup that is not cloudy (thus more "pure"). That's why the first boil should be quick. Flavor will take hours to extract from the meat and bones. Discarding the quick-boiled, first round liquid is okay.

The dish described above is the winter melon soup, banquet style. The winter melon is the vessel holding the soup, as well as the ingredient to make the soup. The whole melon is steamed in a steamer holding the broth inside. In essence this is the Chinese "Dun" method (steam-boiling) - only to use the melon body as the cooking vessel. In Cantonese, this banquet-style winter melon soup is called "Dong Qua Zhun", as opposed to the day-to-day home style soup making which is called "Dong Qua Tong".

#69, Winter Melon Chicken Soup (冬瓜雞湯)

Pictorial Recipe Winter Melon Chicken Soup (冬瓜雞湯) This is Chinese soup at its best, Cantonese soup simmered over slow fire for hours. Picture of the finished dish: Serving Suggestion: 10-12 Preparations: Featured: 1 whole chicken, about 3 lb. You may also use a whole duck (even better) or other poultries. The aged the better. Featured: Winter melon. This particular melon is about 12 lb. Use about 1/3 of the melon, about 3-4 lbs. This is a picture of the black eyed beans. This is a picture of the red beans. This is a picture of the Chinese dried dates ("Mut Zho" in Cantonese). This is a picture of the Chinese red dates ("Hung Zho" in Cantonese). Remaining ingredients for the soup: - (Bowl on upper right) About 10 dried oysters - (Bowl on the lower right) About 7-8 dried scallops - (On the round plate, clockwise from the top): - 15 dried black mushrooms - Chinese red beans, about 1/4 cup - Black eyed beans, about 1/4 cup - Chinese red dates, about 20 - Chinese dried dates, about 6-7 - Dried olive kerneis. (南北杏), about 3 tblsp It is best to soak the dried scallop overnight. If not, at least 1 to 2 hours. Save the soaking liquid and use it in the soup. Soak the dried black mushrooms for 1-2 hours. Trim the stems off when soft. You may also save the soaking liquid and use it in the soup. Also soak the red beans, black eyed beans (for a few hours or overnight), and Chinese red dates for 1-2 hours. Soak the dried oyster for 1-2 hours. Drain and discard the soaking liquid before use. Use a sharp knife to cut the winter melon at about 1/3. Use a small spoon to scoop off the seeds. Rinse and cut the melon into smaller pieces. Remove the rind and cut the melon to about 1 inch X 2 inch. Some likes to leave the winter melon rind on when making soup. It is okay too. All the winter melon pieces. Cooking Instructions: This is to illustrate the Chinese "double boil" method in making soup. First, boil the whole chicken in just enough water to cover most of the bird. Boil for only 3-5 minutes, no longer. Remove the chicken and place in a colander. Rinse under cold water to wash away the suds. Drain the first pot of water and rinse the pot. Boil about 10-12 cups of water, about 1/3 to 1/2 of the pot of this size. Return the chicken to the boiling water, and add the soaked dried scallops, soaked dried oysters, red beans, black eyed beans and olive kerneis. Once the water starts boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for about 1 1/2 hour with the lid on. This is how it looked after 1 1/2 hour of simmering. Add the remaining of the ingredients: soaked dried black mushrooms, Chinese dried red dates, Chinese dried dates, and the winter melons. Continue to simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 more hours. This is how it looked after another 1 1/2 hour of simmering. At last, add about 1-2 tsp of salt (or to taste). The winter melon is very soft after 2 hours of simmering. Ready to serve. Transfer to the serving bowl. Picture of the finished dish.

Did they fly underneath the Golden Bridge? The Spinnaker has been my favorite too. Food is good and the view of San Francisco skyline is gorgeous!

Maybe that was before my time. For the first half of my life where I lived and grew up in Hong Kong in the 60's/70's, I had always seen regular onions used in restaurant dishes. e.g. in stir-fries with fermented black beans, Hong Kong style curry. When you said "red onions" I assume you meant shallots but not the big red sweet onions used in salad. Shallots are used too in Cantonese style but not as common.

Here are some pictures of Nam Yu that I used in some of the pictorial recipes: The ones I used are smaller in size than the Shanghai variety.

Agreed with this for bone-in, skin-on dark meat. If browning boneless chicken breast first then braising, it will tend to overcook.

Agreed. Note to self: in next life find a spouse who would eat dark meat.

By any chance would these be dried slices of Monkey Head Mushrooms (猴頭菇)? (Images on Google) If so, they can be used in stir-fries and soups.

From your pictures, these are definitely Nam Yu, or what we hereby usually referred to as "Red Fermented Beancurds". It is different from the regular fermented beancurds "fu yu" (which is milky yellow in color). The Chinese label does say it is "nam yu", though the English translation was made as "beancurds in brine". These Nam Yu looks quite normal to me. Unlike Fu Yu, which could be consumed by itself or used in cooking, Nam Yu is rarely eaten as is. It is typically used for cooking and as a condiment. I don't see anything wrong with the jar of Nam Yu you showed in the picture. They are just a different variety than the one you were expecting.

This dish takes about 30 minutes to cook. And you need to spend some time for the preparation. But during the braising time you can attend other matters. "Why a 30 minute meal takes longer than 30 minutes..."

#68, Braised Chicken with Ginger and Green Onion (薑蔥炆雞)

Pictorial Recipe Braised Chicken with Ginger and Green Onion (薑蔥炆雞) If you like to make something quick, simple and tasty, I can recommend you to make this "Braised Chicken with Ginger and Green Onion" dish. It takes only about 30 minutes to cook with minimum amount of work. Picture of the finished dish: Serving Suggestion: 2-3 Preparations: Main ingredients (upper right, clockwise): - Boneless chicken breast, about 1 1/2 lb - 10 to 12 stalks of green onions - Garlic, use 5-6 cloves - Ginger, use 3-inch in length - 1 large onion Note: I used boneless chicken breast for this dish. You may use bone-in chicken pieces (breasts with rib bones, chicken thighs, chicken legs, etc.) to make this dish - which will carry more flavor. Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes. If you use bone-in chicken, chop them into bite-size pieces. To marinate the chicken: Put all chicken pieces in a mixing bowl. Add 1-2 tsp of sesame oil, 2 tsp of ShaoHsing cooking wine, 1-2 tsp of oyster sauce, 2 tsp of corn starch, 1-2 tsp of light soy sauce, 1 tsp of ground white pepper and 1/4 tsp of salt (or to taste). Mix well in the mixing bowl. Set aside for 30 minutes before cooking. Trim ends and cut the green onions and ginger into thin shreds. Peel, trim and mince 5-6 cloves of garlic. Peel, trim and wedge the large onion. Cooking Instructions: Use a medium size pot. Set stove to high. Add 2-3 tblsp of cooking oil. Wait until oil starts fuming. Add minced garlic, half of the portion of shredded green onions, wedged onion, ginger shreds and 1/2 tsp of salt. Dash in 2 tsp of ShaoHsing cooking wine. Mix well. After 2 minutes of sauteing the garlic/ginger/green onion mixture, add the marinated diced chicken. Add 2 tsp of oyster sauce, 1/4 cup of chicken broth and 2 tsp of sugar. Mix well. Reduce the stove to medium-low setting. Braise with lid on for 30 minutes or so. This is how it looks after 30 minutes. Add some corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce a little bit. (e.g 1 tsp of corn starch in 2-3 tsp of water. Adjust.) Before serving, add the remaining portion of the shredded green onions. Mix well. Transfer to the serving plate. Picture of the finished dish. (Note: The quantity of food made in this recipe is about twice the portion shown in this picture.)

My eyes are set on the grill portion of this raclette. You can make a lot of things on it. For things that I usually make: 1) Get some thinly sliced beef or pork, marinate them with chopped garlic, shallot and fish sauce, plus a squeeze of lime juice. Grill the beef/pork slices. You get Vietnamese. (Eat with white rice or briefly soaked rice papper) 2) Get some chicken breasts or beef slices, marinate with just salt and pepper. Grill some sliced onions, bell peppers, tomato, jalapeno and such. Sprinkle some salt and cumin powder and squeeze some lime juice, mix with the chicken/beef. You get some Mexican Fajita! Eat with tortilla, of course. 3) Slice some Italian squash, egg plant, red/orange/green bell pepper, etc.. Grill them, and brush on some extra virgin olive oil, some pressed garlic, sprinkle on some salt and pepper and some fresh herbs. You get some Italian. Eat with pasta?

Fantastic! Thanks yimay. My method is a lazy-boy method. No wonder it doesn't look like the ones in the restaurants.

Be careful, we have animal rights advocates on board!

#67, Pot Stickers (鍋貼)