KateC

Yes, in my country we do eat chicken feet and pork ears, feet and tail. I'm Brazilian. Chicken feet is part of our traditional chicken soup, canja, and the above mentioned pork parts, make for a creamy feijoada. The colagen realesed during the cooking makes everything taste better and enhances the food texture, although there is a trend for "light" -tasteless, bland- feijoada nowadays. Ugh... BTW, on Saturdays we went to the Asian hood to get chicken feet at the Chinese grocery. Yummy!

I found Tastespotting couple weeks ago and loved it! So inspiring. There are so many theories around the WWW on why the site is gone, but I still can't get the reason why they closed though. I wish the sites owner could elaborate a bit more her front page farewell note. What a shame...

I'm not a big fan of string beans due their raw "green" bean after taste, similar to uncooked sprout beans. If cooked in order to lose that unplesant taste, they became mushy and discolored. Actually, I was never fond of string beans, however, I made this recipe and it changed my mind about string beans! Great recipe, Ah Leung!

Looks great and quite yummy!

Another beautiful creation, Ah Leung! And another fantastic pictorial, as usual. I love oxtail. I can't wait to give it a try. Thank you

I'm saving your instructions, as well as others in this tread! I'm not a huge fan of dried rice noodles, which I've been using in Thai dishes. I'm looking forward to replace those with the fresh ones, from now on. I loved how it looks at the Chinese grocery and at Ah Leung pics.

Thank you Ah Leung And also thank you for share your culinary expertise. I can't wait to get the fresh rice noodles next time I visit the Chinese grocery and try my hand in this beautiful recipe.

Dejah, The fresh rice noodles I saw at the Chinese store are fresh, not vacuum packed. I had the package in my hands last time I went there.The sheets are soft and glistening. Things like shiu mai, char siu, ducks and chicken feet ( love those!), joong, jaozi spring rolls and wonton wraps, as well as rice noodles are delivered there every day, always in small quantities to keep their freshness. Thanks a lot for your directions in how to get a nice fresh rice nodles. Your instructions are very important. I didn't know the threads could clump together. I have a hand hammered wok bought in Hong Kong, very well seasoned. I've been using it around 8 years. Its like a nonstick pan by now. Do the rice noodles would stick in it still? Yes, I'm still fond of bittergourds or bitter melons. Around here they are called Japanese cucumbers. Your suggestions are great! Thank you

Seems delicious. Now I know how to use the fresh rice noodles I've seen at the Chinese grocery. I've been using dry rice noodles in my cooking so far. Thank you for such great pictorials Ah Leung.

Hi Dejah! Thank you for the warm welcome. I drool over your food pictures. I cook Chinese meals 2-3 times in a week. I learned to cook Chinese following Irene Kuos didact and classic Key to Chinese Cook. But I'm very curiuos and I'm always trying new recipes. My last passion is cooking with bittergourd. Its almost over though When I read a recipe I kind of "feel" it with all my senses, and if I began to salivate, I have to do it! Right now I'm trying my hand in Leungs pictorials recipes because they seem very homely. I only shy away from recipes called "quick" or "fast". Cooking requires some decication and time. By the way, I didn't make my joong. I bought them at the Chinese store and they were yummy! We have something similar around here, made of corn, more or less like Mexican tamales called pamonha. Actually joong is sold here by the name Chinese pamonha. The most popular Chinese cuisines in my city are the Szchuanese, Hunanese and Cantonese. Your half-Japanese student must know the Japanese 'hood around here. Its name is Liberdade. No, I'm not Asiatic. I'm Brazilian, Irish descendent, but fond of Asiatic culinary. When I get a decent cam, I'll take some pics and upload in here. Oh my... get nice food pics is an art I don't master!

Thank you Jason Japanese food and ingredients are part of our culture. The influence of the Japanese culinary culture is quite strong in here. The Asiatic neighborhood I mentioded is Japanese and huge. We can get everything Japanese, grown here, made here, fresh, canned, preserved, name it, as well as imported easily. I heard that our Japanese community is the biggest one outside Japan. I'm glad some Chinese ingredients are similar to the Japanese though. But to get authentic Chinese goodies I need to go downtown by subway and I hate it. But the travel worth. Near my home, in the central wich distributes fresh produce, I can find most of Chinese greens, fresh packed bamboo shoots in brine and lotus root.

New here and loving it. I'm Brazilian and totally in love with Chinese cuisine. Chinese restaurants and take outs are quite common in here, particularlly in the city where I live. We have awesome Chinese restaurants and the usually starch laded take outs. However, Chinese ingredients are only found in one supplier in the Asiatic neighborhood, but this shop carries just about everything necessary to make Chinese meals at home, include my fave lop cheong. My visits to that store are the apex of my week! This week I decided to try again a Joong/Jongzi after some disappointments in the past. I had a great surprise. Those were just made like in Leungs pictorial found in this forum. The same ingredients, very rich and very tasty. Just perfect! I thought I should share how much I enjoy to make my own Chinese meals as well as my findings around here.