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Gastro888

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Everything posted by Gastro888

  1. If you can go all 3 days, go for all 3 days. The NASFT show is alot of fun for foodies. Sunday is when all the vendors expect the non-professionals to attend to sample food. Monday & Tuesday is when business deals are made. If you have time, go Tuesday and linger until they're about to close. That's when you score big at the booths. Depending on the vendor, they'll just give stuff away to anyone because they don't want to lug it back home. Wear comfortable shoes & clothes but try to be a step above casual. Vendors respond better if you don't look sloppy. Just my thoughts...
  2. Ai yo, egullet won't be the same without Ah Leung Goh. Thank you so much for your recipes, hints, tricks, tips and wit. I hope you will post from time to time and I wish you the best in whatever you do. Cheers to Ah Leung Goh!
  3. Hi everyone - Summer's here! That means heat, humidity and a good reason to eat nyang mun. This weekend, we ate nyang mun in Flushing, NY at this great Korean restaurant. (I'll post the details later). I really enjoy this dish but I have no clue how to make it. I'm sure it's super easy but if anyone would be so kind to share a recipe plus explain more details about the dish (why are some served with beef, why are some red and some clear, etc.) it would be most appreciated. With these hot summer days coming around, I need to learn how to make something cooling, healthy and quick! Thanks!
  4. My mom wraps our joong in the pillow shape. Is that traditional Toisanese? She knows how to do the twist pillow but that's hard. She dislikes how I wrap my joong. They look like mishappened lumps of coal.
  5. I made chicken cha-siu and ham fried rice last night. (Very peasant compared to the duck breast! Wow, it looks yummy!) I took boneless, skinless chicken thighs and marinated them in a homemade cha-siu sauce and then while it was cooking in the oven made the fried rice with garlic, shallots, onions, peppers, celery, carrots and ham. No egg this time but lots of white pepper as always.
  6. Maybe it's the weather that affected my shiitakes. It's been quite crazy here in the city - hot, cold, rainy, windy, humid all in one week! My mom's always kept her shiitakes in a bag and never had any problem. I do remember that she'll sun her mushrooms every so often. I guess I'll have to get another batch and then sun them. Ack, damn bugs. So wait, if the eggs were in the mushrooms when I purchased them that means that I probably ate the damn larvae the last time I had the shiitakes. Gross.
  7. While prepping in advance for dinner tomorrow night, I decide to get some shiitake mushrooms to soak in water overnight in the fridge. I grab the bag and...ACK! AI YA! ...hundreds of tiny, tiny red insects have infested my doong goo. Needless to say, they were tossed in the trash. The shiitakes were brittle and crumbled when I touched them. (I then washed my hands a million times. I still feel those bugs...ick!) What happened? I stored them in the pantry like my mom does. This has NEVER happened before. I'm pretty cheesed off because these were doong goo that my mom bought for me in Manhattan's Chinatown. Granted they were the small, inexpensive ones (USD 8/lb) but my MOM bought them for me so that's why I'm pissed off those stupid insects ruined my batch. Luckly it was only about 1/4 lb (maybe less) that I tossed so money-wise it's not bad. But practical-wise and sentimental-wise (are those words?) it sucks butt! Can anyone clue me in on what happened? Thanks!
  8. Thank you Ben Sook and C. Sapidus for your ideas! I appreciate it. I have trouble cooking during the weeknights as I can't seem to do things fast enough and without making a "mess". I use too many plates/bowls for my mise en place. Having a small kitchen is no benefit, either. I usually make a choy or I do the standard cucumber salad which is easy to do. I think with time and practice, I'll be better in a few months. I would like to do the steamed egg custard dish but my cholestrol's kinda high so I gotta be on guard. (PS: I've been MIA on eG due to very strict 'net regulations at work. Long story short, I refer to work as prison now. It's not, "Honey, I'm going to work and I'll see you later." but "I'm off to prison, be free soon.")
  9. Every weeknight I cook, I try to prep, cook and clean within one hour. That way when I sit down to eat, all I have to clean are the dishes I eat from. I tend to be overambitious and try to make 2-3 dishes each night. This is difficult given how small my kitchen is and how many dishes I use to prep and cook. I learned by chance that fried rice, if I have the right ingredients, is a good standby for a weeknight. That's why I've been eating it for the past two weeks! Having grown up in a Chinese-American carryout, I feel my fried rice is incomplete without bean sprouts and egg. Alas, given that fresh bean sprouts are kinda hard for a singleton to keep (ie, schedules can change at the last minute) I subsitute frozen peas and carrots instead. But I have to have my egg. And Maggi sauce. Oh man. That's good stuff. Anyone have any suggestions for a quick weeknight meal? I'm tired of spending too much time in the kitchen but I loathe to eat the same thing every day. Ah, well.
  10. Institute of Culinary Education hosts private events like what you're requesting. Go to www.iceculinary.com or call 212-847-0700.
  11. I would second the recommendation for Teaism. There are some standard items on the menu that a non-foodie would enjoy. (Scones, cookies) It's a DC institution and I highly recommend going. They have very tasty baked goods.
  12. OK, cool! Thanks for the information. So is there anyway for me to identify a capon by sight only or do I have to get up close and personal? (Please tell me this is unnecessary.) Feeling under the weather, I made chicken jook last night. I love the broken rice from the Vietnamese market for this. Cooking it in my mini rice cooker, made for a creamy, thick jook in about an hour. For flavor, I added the chicken head with the attacted head right before I pushed the button down to cook. It was amusing to see the chicken head bubbling away in my jook but boy, did it make for a tasty meal! I ate this with my fu yee (and yes, adding more rice wine and salt did improve the flavor but it's nothing like my mom's brand!) and some dried seaweed on top. Jook. It's a good thing!
  13. I see. So it doesn't help you loose weight per se, but you don't gain weight. OK, cool. I have a hard time not eating rice when there is alot of sung with jup involved!
  14. Calvin Trillin writes hilariously about how one of his daughters would refuse to enter a Chinese restaurant without a bagel, "just in case." ← If you want, try stopping off at a Chinese bakery before hand to get a small piece of bao (steamed or baked bun, filled with sweet or savory items or not) for your picky eaters. That's just funny his daughter did that. Imagine if I went into Craft with a box of Pocky "just in case"!
  15. Didn't Varmit host a pig roast? Or am I remembering incorrectly? If he did, wouldn't his kids be used to animal parts? They just might like chicken feet and tripe. There are no duck bills on the menu or any Chinese menu for that matter. You'd have to special order the duck tongues and the duck feet are readily available at the hot station in the far right corner.
  16. What did you have for lunch?
  17. Chinese food in Chinatown is insipid and the only semi-decent restaurant is Chinatown Express which is somewhat authenthic. I don't think your friend would enjoy it. Cordoury is a very good restaurant and not stuffy at all. I would second the recommendation. I've never been to Olives in D.C. but I've heard good things about Olives in general. Maybe there? What is your budget? What type of cuisine are you looking for? Is he a meat and potatoes person?
  18. Thanks for all the advice, alamonana (I love the Alamonana Mall in Hawaii!). I was able to purchase some dried shrimp and tamarind concentrate for tonight's meal. Yay! I don't have the peanuts and I didn't want to include the string beans. (I have this thing against raw string beans...). So it's garlic, fish sauce, palm sugar, dried shrimp, tamarind, and chili flakes?
  19. alamonana, thanks for your hints, I appreciate it! Luckily, I'll be able to get some tamarind today and I'm going to try the recipe. I am thinking about getting a motar and pestle but unsure if I should invest. How much does one cost?
  20. Gastro888

    Dinner! 2007

    I roasted a fresh chicken for the first time last night and I was blown away by the flavor. I'll try and post pictures later tonight. I did a cross posting in Roasting a Chicken.
  21. Have you lost weight since you've adopted this style of eating?
  22. Gastro888

    Roasting a Chicken

    I roasted the chicken last night and I had excellent results. I think this was due to the method of roasting and the fact I had a chicken that was alive and clucking only 5 hours before I purchased it. Upon returning home, I took the fresh chicken and removed any stray feathers. Then I rinsed and cleaned it and applied a generous amount of: -salt -5 spice powder -white pepper -garlic powder -soy sauce I roasted the chicken for 15 minutes at 450 and then for 40 minutes at 365. This made for a chicken that was very, very faintly pink at the bone - perfect for me. I dislike well-done chicken. WOW. It was a *HUGE* difference in taste between my chicken and the standard supermarket one. Even from the ones you get from the Chinese market! The meat was tender, moist and had a flavor to it that was so rich and meaty. Thanks to snowangel for encouraging me to roast a chicken even without the air drying.
  23. Thanks to everyone who gave pork belly hints! I really appreciate it. One day, I'll try it. Maybe when it gets colder. Now that it's getting warmer, I want lighter stuff. I need to keep me girlish figure! Last night, I roasted a chicken that I picked from the live poultry market. This was my first time cooking something that was alive and moving before I cooked it. (Actually, it was freshly killed about 5 hours before I roasted the chicken. Sorry for the gory details but I'm telling you this so you know the full story). I took the chicken home, cleaned off the remaining feathers, rinsed it and seasoned the chicken. I seasoned it with: -salt -5 spice powder -white pepper -garlic powder -soy sauce (OK so does having a Chinese girl roasting a chicken seasoned with 5 spice and soy sauce qualify this meal as Chinese food? ) I roasted the chicken for 15 minutes at 450 and then for 40 minutes at 365. This made for a chicken that was very, very faintly pink at the bone - perfect for me. I dislike well-done chicken. WOW. It was a *HUGE* difference in taste between my chicken and the standard supermarket one. Even from the ones you get from the Chinese market! The meat was tender, moist and had a flavor to it that was so rich and meaty. I'm never buying supermarket chicken again. I'm already planning to purchase a bird next week to brine. It was really tasty and the cost is worth it - $1.79/lb! I bought a 4.5 pound bird for $8. That was only a couple dollars more than what I would've paid at the local supermarket. So tasty and definitely worth it. (Although I must admit, I felt a twang of guilt when I was selecting the chicken and then being reminded by my devout Buddhist friend that I committed a big no-no on the karma scale. Oops. Do most Chinese people who follow Buddhist tradition -not the devout ones - feel guilty? Just wondering. No, I'm not trying to start a religious conversation, only asking a question in the context of quality of food (freshly killed chicken is tasty) versus beliefs. I'm getting something that's fresh and hasn't been sitting around but I feel a bit guilty. I wonder if other people who have a strong food culture like ours feel this way.)
  24. Gastro888

    Roasting a Chicken

    Really? Wow, that's great to hear Kouign Aman. Thanks for your post. I got the live chicken because the cost is about the same as a regular chicken from the market. Hell, at least I know it's fresh. 2 hours? Wow, that sounds like a long time...
  25. Gastro888

    Roasting a Chicken

    I don't know if it's "great" or not...it was clucking before I paid for it. Less than 10 minutes later, I got a bag with a cleaned chicken inside 4.5lbs for $7. And yes, it was still warm to the touch. I was poking the bag with morbid fascination. It's been in the fridge.
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