annachan

When I was in Japan last year, quite a few restaurants we booked specifically ask the guests not to wear perfume. Not sure what happens if someone ignores the rule as we didn't encounter any. I was cautious even putting on lotion from the hotel before going to a meal, in case it caused me to miss out on great food....

I recently finished On the Noodle Road: From Beijing to Rome, with Love and Pasta by Jen Lin-Liu. Quite an interesting read. Also enjoyed Spoon Fed by Kim Severson

It depends on which bones you use. I tend to go with leg bones, which usually have a small amount of meat attached at the joint area. I like leg bones because of the marrow. If you end up with a lot of meat, sandwich, meat pie, etc. would be great.

I generally don't strain the broth and just add the other ingredients in. I grew up eating the meat off the bone from soups, especially pork. Love dipping it in some soy sauce and sesame oil. Now, we generally don't use bone with a lot of meat on it. The small amount of meat next to the bone is usually quite tender.

Yelp can be useful, if you know how to sort out the useless reviews. It also helps if you know the yelpers, such as who just write reviews to be popular and who actually put in an honest effort. Places are popular for various reasons. Some for the food; some for the price; some for the service. And there are those restaurants out there with reputations that foodies are supposed to love, therefore many foodies do love, regardless of if the food, service, etc. are actually good.

While that may be your experience, my experience has been quite the opposite. Most of my experience in mainland was in the 70s/80s, when I used to go on business trips with my parents. Fruits was almost always presented at the end of the meal and often other sweets. My dad grew up in China and he knows what desserts to order for which regional cuisines. As for in the US, the complimentary desserts don't always cater to the American clientele, in my experience. In San Francisco, I've been served quite a lot of dessert soups, which isn't very popular with the non-Asian crowd. Frankly, if you are not Asian, some restaurants won't bother to bring out complimentary desserts.

I grew up in Hong Kong and desserts were always part of banquets. Even when we've had banquets in mainland China, there were desserts. Even for the more casual meals, desserts/fruits were usually served, sometimes complimentary by the restaurants. This has been the case when I was a kid and when I visited Hong Kong/China as an adult. At home (ours or friends/relatives), we've always had fruits at the end of the meal. Sometimes, there were other sweets such as ice cream, baked puddings, sweet dumplings, dessert soups, jello or cake. My family owned several Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong when I was a kid. My parents also did business in China. So we ate out very often. Dessert was usually part of the meal.

I am not quite sure I agree with you. During banquets, there is always a sweet course at the end. That is at least with Cantonese cuisine. Dessert can be fruits, dessert soup, sweet buns, etc. Even through you can order sweet items at any time during dim sum, growing up, sweets were always ordered at the end. We've also always had something sweet at the end for Shanghainese and Pekingnese meals, such as caramel coated fruit or red bean pancakes.

I like making adobo (Filipino). Put chicken pieces in a pot, add vinegar (plam, coconut, white, apple or a combination that you like), soy sauce, peppercorn, garlic (lots of it), bay leaves. Cook covered for 20-30 minutes, until the chicken is about 10 minutes from being cooked through. Uncovered and add sugar to taste. Continued to cook until done. I usually use wings for this, but bone in, skin on chicken thights would work. For thights, I usually like the version with coconut milk. Same flavors as above plus coconut milk, chilis and tumeric. I would usually marinade the chicken the night before and then everything goes into a pot to cook. I don't really have measurements for adobo as I just make it by taste. You can marinade the chicken using the non-coconut version of adobo as flavoring and then bake. I tried a miso-butter-honey roasted thighs a while back and that was nice.

There are different types of dried shrimps and their uses are different. The little ones, har mai, is often used to add flavor to a variety of dishes: stir-fry, steamed daikon/taro cakes, etc. The larger dried shrimps can be eaten as jerky (used to get these really large ones in Hong Kong when I was a kid and they're so sweet!) or just steamed with a little soy sauce. They can be added to other dishes as well.

When I am able to get racks of lamb ribs, I usually steam them first. I then put on a dry rub and broil them till crispy. I cooked them till they look quite dark. But because of the fat, the ribs won't dry out.

We cook at home regularly. So for VD, we go out. This year, it's a special Iron Chef (Japanese ones) dinner.

This makes really great crispy skin: http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/12/the-food-lab-ultra-crisp-skinned-slow-roasted-pork-shoulder.html That's what I make for NYE.

Do a search for crispy pata - Filipino style crispy pork hock

I steam it in my rice cooker. I don't pay too much attention to the time. I say it let it steam for about 45 minutes to an hour, as long as they are tender. I don't recall a lot of fat being rendered while steaming. More fat is released when broiled. One of the butchers usually has lamb ribs, already cut into individual ribs. I have to preorder if I want the rack whole.

I love lamb ribs. It's a pain that I have to preorder from the butcher when I want them as they don't usually have them available. I usually just steam the racks until tender, then cut them into individual ribs, put on a dry rub (cumin/garlic as main flavors) and put them under the broiler. Now that we have a BBQ, I'll have to try them grilled.

Got mine today. Made some eggs to test it out and those 63/63 beauties came out perfect. I guess it's time to get a foodsaver....

Mac n cheese Claypot rice Fideau & paella Rice noodle w/ satay beef Macaroni in soup, ham and egg as toppings

Just picked up some Megachef oyster sauce and fish sauce at the store. Haven't opened the bottles but hope they're good. The oyster sauce was quite cheap ($3.99 for 600ml, ~20oz). The LKK premium was over $7 for a smaller bottle. Can't believe how much Amazon is charging for Megachef.

While restaurant websites can be annoying, I go there for their food, not for web development. I don't care how annoying Morimoto's website is, that in itself won't keep me away from the amazing food. If a website doesn't provide enough information, I would usually go to other sites (Yelp, Urbanspoon, etc.) or google the place. More work, but worth it when you find good food.

I'm not a fan of websites with a bunch of unnecassery stuff. But, I much rather go to those websites than those without useful information. Websites without menus are annoying, but not as annoying as the ones that don't even have opening hours listed!

I'm not a fan of five spice. I don't use it in char siu or siu yook. For char siu, I use this recipe and it's always work out well for me: http://www.foodcanon.com/2011/09/auntie-ruby-char-siew-summary.html I like the balance of flavor and I don't find it too sweet. You can try it once and see how that goes. If it's too sweet for you, cut down the sugar/honey. By the way, when you stir fry with char siu, soy sauce is usually added to the dish. Therefore, the char siu would taste more savory than on its own.

Don't care for cinnamon and such either. I use vanilla instead. Sometimes vanilla and lemon zest.

If you're still new to cooking, I wouldn't necessary go with the really expensive pieces first. Yes, you can cook basic dishes with a Theromix, but that is kind of a waste of money, IMO. Machines are fun but until you know what you like to cook, they may end up just sitting there collecting dust. Don't get me wrong, I am not against machines. In fact, I love them too much. Which means I end up with quite a few of them in storage and some of them don't even get use once a year. Another reason not to rush into it: new products are always being released. If you buy a bunch of machines now, before you know what you really want them for, chances are, you will end seeing something you like better a few months down the road, and it may end up suiting your cooking style better. I have a multi cooker (rice cooker, slow cooker, sear, risotto) and it works for me. I have a small kitchen and it replaced by old rice cooker. Other than rice, I make porridge, soups and stews in it. It has a deep basket so it's great for steaming as week. I do use it at least 3-4 times a week.

In Hong Kong, I always love a plate of soy sauce noodle (thin noodles, bean sprout, green onion and soy sauce mixture) with porridge. Macaroni in soup with various toppings (fried egg, satay beef, ham/spam, etc) is also popular. There are also rice noodle rolls, steamed or stirred fried.