wonderbread

I used to work at a regional glossy magazine like Seattle mag and our lead time was 3 months. So we would have put the March 2006 issue to bed in December 2005. It would have been impossible to rush something into the magazine the week before it hit news stands.

Wow! Thank you for everyone's help. This message board is a fount of wisdom.

Wonderbread, can you post the recipe for the Yu Sheng Salad? It looks great and I tried going back to the website you mentioned, but it's down. Thanks! ← Here is the Yu Sheng link - I found it on the Way Back Machine, which archives old Web pages. Scroll down - there is a Part I and a Part II to her Yu Sheng recipe. I couldn't find all the pickled vegetables she used, so I substituted Japanese pickles, and I fried up small squares of wonton wrappers. Jo-Mel: Thanks! Still looking for an e-fu recipe if you have it! I scanned the aisles of an Asian market and am slightly embarassed to say I couldn't figure out what the e fu package looks like. I've only had it cooked in restaurants before.

Here are the photos! The dinner turned out great. I'm normally not a 5 spice fan but the spice store down on Western Ave in Pike Place Market, Seattle, makes a delicious blend. They sell it whole and I roast and grind it at home. I ended up making a Shrimp and Bean Thread dish for the noodle dish, and added the law bok gow/turnip cake at my mom's suggestion instead of the bok choy. Everyone loved the yu sheng, and the dogs loved the flying vegetables. My friends brought oranges, a lavendar goat cheese with rice crackers, key lime pie and an Alsatian Pinot Blanc and Gewurztraminer.

My coworkers and I just started a banh mi blog since we were eating them every week. Check it out and please feel free to post your own favorites! Banh Mi Chronicles

I can't get home to see my family for CNY, so I'm inviting non-Chinese friends over for dinner. I'm open to suggestions if you have them. Here's what I'm thinking: Appetizer: Oysters on the half shell - The live oysters here (Seattle) are fantastic. It's more ho, than ho see, but I figure it's good enough. How's that for a bad Cantonese pun? First course: Yu Sheng Salad. I am hoping to use Renee Kho's recipe, which can be found on Web archives since her site www.shiokadelicious.com is now gone...very sad. I've never had this before since my parents are from Hong Kong, but I think it will be fantastic with some sushi-grade Alaskan salmon. Main courses: 5-Spice Roast Chicken. I have to admit, I'm partial to Tom Douglas' recipe in Big Dinners. It's not authentic, but damn, it is good. Steamed tilapia with ginger and scallions Stir-fried baby bok choy with Chinese ham Noodle dish. For long life! I'm in search of an e-fu noodle dish, possibly with seafood - anyone have suggestions? Steamed rice, of course. Dessert: Undecided. I don't like nian gao, and I doubt anyone is going to bring any. Possibly some kind of tong shui.

This wasn't in my family's repertory, but I just made it for the first time and it was awesome! Good enough for non-Chinese guests. I'm definitely adding it to the weeknight lineup. I only added dried shrimp and it was delicious even without the peidan and conpoy.

I bought this book a few years back. The recipes are great for casual home-style cooking. I liked the recipes for chow shung ding and the tofu stir fried with hoisin and ground pork. I made the noodle pancake (browned double side, HK style) that came out very well. Some weren't as good - the Mongolian-style steak covered with brown bean sauce was overly salty, for instance. I didn't like the beef stir fried with tomato and basil either. I look at the book less frequently now - when I want a reference book, I turn to Yan Kit-So's Classic Chinese Cuisine or Martin Yan's Chinatown book. Also just bought Grace Young's Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen.

If you're really desperate, I just saw them for sale at the Bartells in Jefferson Square in West Seattle.

Just made this last night for dinner! Thank you to Ah Leung for putting another great pictorial together. Cutting tip: I was having trouble getting a knife through the shell and body without mangling the shrimp. I used kitchen scissors to trim the spiky barb and whiskers from the heads, then cut through head and backs. Then I used a boning knife to cut through the the rest of the body. My two plates steamed in 5 minutes in a double tier aluminum steamer.

Banh Mi Xa Xiu at Banh Cuon Tan Dinh in the ID, 1212 S. Main St., Suite A. A weekly foray. Reuben Sandwich at EATS in Westwood Village, West Seattle, where they make their own pastrami. Their club sandwich is great too - with candied bacon. Follow it with a chocolate cupcake. Meatloaf Sandwich at Three Girls Bakery, Pike Place. I love the cheeky counter staff. Crab Cake Sandwich, Dahlia Lounge.

I'm going to a trunk show at El Camino today to pick up some gifts from Zen Boy Chocolates, a local boutique chocolate company. (They also sell at the Ballard farmer's market.) Which prompted me to wonder about other local chocolatiers - where do you go to get the best chocolate in Seattle? What's your favorite bar/truffle/bark? P.S. There's a big chocolate spread in December Food and Wine.

I've eaten at Cascadia at full price, and during the $25 deals. I wasn't blown away by the $90 tasting menu I had, but the food I had during the $25 promotion was definitely substandard. I ordered a turbot that was past its serve-by date - very fishy. My friends who ordered the same dish had the same problem with theirs. I was surprised, since the restaurant seems to pride itself on local fresh ingredients. I've had a positive experience with the happy hour, but I don't plan to return for dinner.

I like to cook the non-flowering chives when we have hot pot - toward the end, after everyone has had their fill of meat, but before we cook the noodles.

I eventually got fed up with the Ground Bean Sauce by Koon Chun - it tasted like salt paste. Then I bought a jar of Yeo's Salted Beans. But I recently discovered Healthy Boy, a Thai brand of Soybean Sauce, which trumps everything. It comes in a tall bottle similar to oyster sauce.

Ah Leung - it's like you're channeling my mom with all your pictorials.

I deep-fried the green beans, then sauteed them with ground pork, garlic, soy, chili-garlic bean sauce, sugar and some sesame oil. They tasted fantastic, exactly the way I remember them at the restaurant. I did however, get lazy and try to deep-fry too many beans at once instead of doing more batches and they didn't come out as crispy as I had hoped. Thanks for the advice!

Awesome - thanks for the recipe! My favorite at restaurants is the tofu with the deep-fried fish pieces. I have never had it with oysters, but it sounds far more more manageable for a dish at home. I adore the clay pot in the winter time.

Seven Star is my personal favorite. Chiang's Gourmet on Lake City Way has a great Taiwanese breakfast (the salty and sweet soy milk), and a lot of people like their dinner fare as well. They have great Shanghai noodles.

Thanks for the suggestions! Don't know how hzrt8w happened to have a photo of green beans lying around. I haven't cooked with sa cha sauce before but I will pick up a jar this week. And I will deep fry the green beans first - I agree that the ground pork is a must.

My mom, who is an amazing talent with Cantonese cuisine, was never able to master Thanksgiving. The woman could wrought wonders from a whole fish steamed with scallions and ginger. But come November, we would all have to choke down a dry turkey, bland sweet potatoes, frozen pumpkin pie and thin mashed potatoes. Now that the kids are gone, she's spending next week in Hong Kong and Chiang Mai. I'll be making mostly American Thanksgiving dishes (brined fresh turkey, oyster bread stuffing, gratin dauphinois) but I thought I'd make dry-fried string beans as one of the side dishes. Anybody made this before and have a good recipe to refer me to? Also have been debating over biscuits vs Peking duck flatbreads (bao bing?) to wrap up turkey with scallions and hoisin sauce. Will probably end up choosing biscuits since the flatbreads would require a lot of last minute prep.

I just drove by and saw the Thanh Brothers pho place is open for business at the Alaska Junction in West Seattle. This doubles the possibilities for fast good food at the junction (plus Guaymas).

There's a Peruvian restaurant called El Chalan in Burien. Here is the Seattle Times review Also, I've heard good things about Thai Thai on 16th Ave SW.

Irwin: How about sending it to a camera cell phone?

I was in Lam's Seafood Market (Little Saigon, King St between 12th Ave and Rainier) last week and they were selling fresh "bull penis and fry." Plastic wrapped on the foam tray and everything. The Hop Thanh Market is selling frozen rabbit at the Hop Thanh (southwest corner of 12th and Jackson).