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Gastro888

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    Anyone know what Chinese food/medicine...

    in China: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    Oh by the way, I learned that rice wine plus salt greatly improves the flavor of a bland fu yee!  It actually works!

    Maybe I have misunderstood something. Are we talking about the fermented bean curds? They are heavily salted. And you need to add salt to improves its flavor?

    Yeap. Trust me, it was soooooooooooooooo bland. It was like eating a "phay" as my mom says. ("Ho chee sec a phay". Oh so unladylike of her but it's funny as hell.) To a very small 2oz jar, I had to add like a tablespoon of salt. The next day, it was soooo good.

    FAGE (Fa'-yeh!) Total Greek Yogurt

    in Ready to Eat

    Posted

    You can try it but I'll guarantee that it will not work. I did it before and it just isn't the same. It was better than the conventional yogurts but nothing like Fage's yogurt. It's not just the straining process that makes it the way it is, I believe it's the actually production along with the straining that creates this great yogurt.

    Southeast Asian cuisines you may have missed

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    It would be nice to find authentic Laotian cuisine. What *is* Laotian cuisine?

    I have heard that Issan food is much spicier than other regions - that it's the "soul food" of Thai cuisine.

    It would be great is somehow we could have hawker stands in the city ala SE Asia. Imagine on Sundays when the Greenmarket isn't open...

    Was I wrong to not order anything?

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted · Edited by Gastro888 (log)

    Three examples:

    My entire family was at my sister’s house for lunch, and for some reason for another my brother-in-law neglected to pour a cup of tea for my dad.  Growing up in a Chinese household, I was taught to pour tea for my elders.  BIL is not Chinese, but he and my sister had been married long enough by that time for him to have known.  My dad was furious, and from that day on until he died, my dad kept saying how he hated SIL, citing that particular event.  (A little melodramatic maybe, but he found it to be a personal insult.)

    My brother brought his girlfriend home to meet the family.  My parents prepared a great meal, but when girlfriend (who is not Chinese) sat at the table, she flat out stated that she did not eat Chinese food.  Not only that, she want on to proudly state the (incredibly long) list of foods she did not eat, many of which were on the table.  I think all she had was white rice that night.  My parents were not happy, and during the my brother and she were together had to bend over backwards to please her, grumbling all the while.

    My friend invited me and another friend to his parent’s house for dinner before we went to a baseball game.  His mother cooked a delicious Turkish meal, which included an eggplant stew.  Back then, I was not a big fan of eggplant, but I ate since it was the polite thing to do.  Not only did I love it, I’m still trying to get the recipe from her.  Twenty years later, he tells me that his mother still talks about that night, how nice we were, and what a great time she had.

    Yes, I think you were rude.   This is something that your in-laws will remember for a long, long time.  Not only that, what's going to happen the next time you visit them?  You're setting yourself and them up for a very uncomfortable situation.  Everybody has different tastes and styles of food, and there will be many situations when you go out with friends or relatives that don’t share your taste.  Particularly in family situations if you want to keep peace, you should have just sucked it up and ordered something — anything.

    How do you feel about your father's ire?

    Just my two cents:

    I can understand why he was (if albeit melodramatically) furious at the SIL. It would be incredibly disrespectful not to serve the head of the family tea if you're serving everyone else. Sounds trite but that's how the Chinese culture is and how deep the traditions run. He definitely should've known better.

    ETA: Sorry if I sound a little preachy, I apologize. I could imagine it wasn't a pleasant situation for anyone involved but I can see where the father was coming from and that it could've been an innocent mistake on behalf of the SIL.

    Was I wrong to not order anything?

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    ...My entire family was at my sister’s house for lunch, and for some reason for another my brother-in-law neglected to pour a cup of tea for my dad.  Growing up in a Chinese household, I was taught to pour tea for my elders.  BIL is not Chinese, but he and my sister had been married long enough by that time for him to have known.  My dad was furious, and from that day on until he died, my dad kept saying how he hated SIL, citing that particular event.  (A little melodramatic maybe, but he found it to be a personal insult.)

    My brother brought his girlfriend home to meet the family.  My parents prepared a great meal, but when girlfriend (who is not Chinese) sat at the table, she flat out stated that she did not eat Chinese food.  Not only that, she want on to proudly state the (incredibly long) list of foods she did not eat, many of which were on the table.  I think all she had was white rice that night.  My parents were not happy, and during the my brother and she were together had to bend over backwards to please her, grumbling all the while.

    ...

    Holy crap! I can't believe that happened! Wow. Those would be serious offenses in my family. I am surprised at such behavior. Especially at the girlfriend's. What the hell - you're dating a Chinese person, what makes you think they don't eat Chinese food?

    Southeast Asian cuisines you may have missed

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    There's a good number of Malaysian restuarants in the area in Manhattan & Queens. Penang can be found all over the city and each outlet in the chain varies in terms of decor, service, food and sometimes quality. Personally, I like the Penang in Elmhurst, Queens because it's the only one of that has mee remus (sp?) - a really tasty seafood egg noodle dish that has this thick seafood-sweet potato-chile gravy and is served with a prawn cracker. You squirt some lime juice on top and you get this happy, messy, tasty bit of carb heaven. Granted, it's not the same as the hawker stalls in Penang but it's as close as I'll get without having to fly.

    I have a hard time finding the kuehs that are so popular in Malaysian cuisine. Sanyur in Chinatown (Manhattan) carries some but they're very limited. I would think given the demographics here, it would be easier to find.

    Chinatown produce--how do they do it?

    in New York: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    I wonder if the Chinese vegetables and the conventional Western vegetables are grown in the same manner. As I previously mentioned, a part of the low cost could be contributed to the low overhead. Their profit margin per sale might be lower but the overall sales volume could explain why they're still in business.

    In regards to fake foods in China unfortunately, that's something you need to look out for. Fatt choy (a seaweed consumed during the Lunar New Year) has been replicated using who knows what. The lack of regulation in China scares me and I question how their regulations ensure that product is grown organically. Then again, I think the same thing about the regulations here in the US.

    Chinatown produce--how do they do it?

    in New York: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    I believe that because the Chinese are extremely picky about freshness and price they're forced to deliver what the market wants. It would be one thing if there was only one stand around but there's so many that they have to be competitive and address all the needs of the market (ie freshness, variety, quality, and price). Not alot is spent on overhead - this ain't no Whole Foods. Also, if you look carefully all those cardboard signs have a different price on the opposite end that the vendors display towards the end of the day. So those baby bok choy that were 1.50/lb in the morning would be 1.00/lb night.

    Anyone know what Chinese food/medicine...

    in China: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    Hi everyone, thanks for all your help! Everyone's been so nice and helpful! I ended up making bak jook with fu yee (turns out my fu yee had NO FLAVOR - again - so I added more salt and yup, rice wine to the mix. Hopefully it'll get more flavor later on.) and the ginger tea. I took a small hand of ginger, chopped it up and added water with bing tong. It took me a few times to get the right ratio - at first it was too sharp in taste. Ultimately I ended up using alot of honey as well. Now I've got this ginger tea "base" in the fridge which I use 1:1 with plain water.

    Hot and Sour soup...yum. I think I'll get some later on this week.

    Memorial service / Wedding anniv trip to NYC

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    Please DON'T go to Jin Fong. Their dim sum is so poorly done. I've heard Dim Sum Go Go is better. If you want soup dumplings, go to Goodie's. Very tasty, not too fatty, and well-priced.

    You could try the following in Chinatown:

    Congee Village

    Egg Custard Tart King

    Great NY Noodletown (Lobster & E-fu mein is good there)

    New Big Wong

    Big Wong's

    Mei Lai Wah

    Vosges Chocolate and Grandaisy Bakery (formally Sullivan Street Bakery) are near Kee's Chocolate and they would be worth taking a gander. If you're on the UES, why not try Cafe D'Alsace? That's a great little bistro with wonderful food. I love the marrow bones.

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