aprilmei

I saw scorpioins being sold at the markets in Guangzhou but they were alive, not cooked, and since I had no idea how to prepare them, I didn't buy them (not sure if I wanted to bring them back to Hong Kong anyway - what if they got loose?). But I have eaten bugs in Bangkok where they're sold as street food. The vendor I went to had about eight different types of bugs, including large grasshoppers and "things-with-wings" several inches long, that I was too scared to examine more closely. There were also these water beetles that terrify me - they're about 2" long and when they fly or crawl into my flat, I run screaming from them. I'm a very adventurous eater but I had a hard time eating bugs, mostly because I'm a scaredy-cat and am afraid of them even when they're alive. I decided that this was a stupid phobia that I needed to overcome, and so, with the help of my Thai friend, I bought three types - small grubs about 1/4" long and fairly round, what Supapohn called "express trains", which were long (about 1") and very thin, and crickets. They had all been fried and the vendor sprinkled some white powder on it (it might have been MSG - I should have asked) and what I believe was Maggi sauce. The express trains were good - I had no problems with them at all. The grubs were fine too, once I got over my initial squeamishness. A faintly crisp bite on the outside and soft inside, but not squishy. I guess the texture of the interior is closest to eating all that yummy stuff on the inside of the crab shells (I think it's the guts and/or roe). The crickets were the hardest. I ate the wings (very crisp) but I just couldn't eat the body/head parts - the eyes were staring up at me! I tried but failed...

I've been looking to purchase a bulk quantity (500 grams) of vanilla beans and came across this website, www.vanillaplantations.com. They have Australian-grown Tahitian and Bourbon vanilla beans "A Grade" for US$119.95 including DHL delivery anywhere in the world. It says on the website that 500 grams will mean approximately 200 beans. All the other sites I've checked are much more expensive and they also estimate that 500 grams contain about 120 beans. I e-mailed Vanilla Plantations with a few questions, including wondering if their beans were perhaps smaller than what the other companies were offering (which isn't a problem) or if they were more dried out (which could be). They replied only saying that if I ordered 500 grams, they guarantee I would receive 200 "A Grade" beans. The price is tempting but once before I bought some inexpensive vanilla beans that were like completely dessicated twigs - they weren't worth the low price I paid. Has anybody out there ever tried vanilla beans from Australia? Until I found this site, I wasn't even aware they grew them there. Also, I tried looking up the grading of vanilla beans but could only find that grading differs from country to country - there's no standard. Does anybody know what A Grade means when referring to Australian grown vanilla beans (it's not necessarily the best, if they're graded like eggs - AA, A or B). Thanks in advance.

Yeah, I guess that was a bit emphatic. But Hong Kong is much more interesting than the HKTB makes it appear.

Actually, they do sometimes serve tea in those glasses. Not quite sure why - glasses with hot tea aren't the most comfortable things to handle. But it might be wine too, because it's becoming more fashionable to drink wine with Chinese food.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board is absolutely awful. They used to be called the Hong Kong Tourism Association (HKTA) but when they renamed themselves the HK Tourism Board, they objected to the acronym of HKTB because (they said) the TB sounds like - you guessed it - tuberculosis. It's stupid, but why they didn't think of that BEFORE changing their name is anyone's guess. Then during SARS last year, their ad campaign was "Hong Kong will take your breath away." Clever, huh? Come visit Hong Kong and catch severe acute respiratory syndrome! And in the lead-up to the handover in 1997 (an EXTREMELY big event, in case you didn't know), they had such a stupid campaign which they called "100 days of wonders" (street jugglers and mime "artists") that the local press re-named it "100 days of blunders". To get back on-topic (slightly), I know that Jumbo is trying to reposition itself as a more upscale dining experience than it was previously (it was a place only for tourists) but this picture doesn't make it look much better - it's completely tacky.

I'm ABC and going out with a British guy. He's pretty good with Chinese food because he's been living in Hong Kong longer than I have. He ate Chinese-British food when he was growing up in England - at some of the places there, they offer the option of chips (French fries, to you and me) instead of rice!!

I think he means taro.

Just thought of something - sorry for not suggesting this before. If there's a good Chinese restaurant near your house, especially one that makes dim sum, I'm sure they can make long life buns for you. You can re-steam them at home and it will be a lot easier for you. Dejah's suggestion of glutinous rice flour dumplings is good. It's just glutinous rice flour mixed with water to make a pliant, non-sticky paste. Then you shape them into small balls (about 1cm or smaller) then boil them - when they float to the top, they're ready. These can be served in lots of sweet and savoury dishes but for this dessert for your party, make a ginger broth - just simmer lots of sliced ginger in water and sweeten to taste with Chinese brown sugar. Dilute (if necessary) with more hot water and then serve the tong yuen in them. If you want to make these even nicer, put a small amount of black sesame paste in the centre of each tong yuen - you'll have to make these balls a bit larger, though. Then there's good-old mango pudding with condensed milk. You can buy packaged ones (like Jell-O!) but they're rubbery and not very mango-y tasting. I might have a recipe somewhere.... In fact, I think SFGate recently had a recipe - you might want to look it up. But if I remember correctly, the writer didn't suggest pouring a drizzle of condensed milk over the top - and that makes it even better.

I've only made these in extremely large quantities (you don't need hundreds, do you?) and I'm not sure if I can find the recipe anyway. I think Florence Lin gives a recipe in her noodles and dumplings cookbook; if nobody else replies with a recipe, I'll look it up and PM you. If you do choose these dessert, though, you might want to get started on looking for (or making) the lotus seed paste, considering there's no Chinatown near you. It would also be good with red bean paste but I'm not sure if that would be any easier for you to find.

For a 70th birthday party, you should definitely make long-life buns. It's just slightly sweetened dough filled with lotus paste then made into the shape of peaches - the symbol of longevity. You just need to taper the tip of the bun at one end and the other, rounded side should be gently and shallowly "bisected" with the back of a knife - not entirely, just to make it resemble a a peach. Spray it LIGHTLY with red food colouring (works best if you use a toothbrush - dip it in the liquid colouring then brush the bristles with the back of a knife, directing the resulting spray onto the buns). Steam and serve. This sounds complicated but it's not. On the other hand, if you live near a good Chinese bakery, you might want to just order them.

Hi Yuki, was this at Shui Hu Ju/Water Margin/Hutong? This group of restaurants has the same owners and they like to serve their beer in bowls. The alcohol served with crabs - isn't it just Chinese rice wine? As you said, it can be pretty good (in small quantities) if it's not the really cheap stuff. People add the preserved plum to make it more palatable. I think it's considered warming to counter-affect the "cooling" properties of the crabs.

One of the markets is selling UHT goat milk at a very good prices (about US$1.25 for 500ml). Of course I bought some but what can I make with it? It's UHT so I don't think it would be very good for cheese or yoghurt, assuming I had the equipment or knowledge (which I don't). After googling it seems most recipes want raw goat milk. What can I make? would it work for dulce de leche? Thanks in advance...

The food in Taiwan is absolutely amazing. I live in Hong Kong and like to go to Taipei just for weekends of gorging. If you have time, go to one of the teahouses in the mountains of Taipei. You'll either have to drive or take a taxi. It's really beautiful up there. You buy snacks (nuts, dried fish or cuttlefish and stuff like that) from the teahouse and choose what type of tea you want to drink. It's best to go there with a group. If you want to buy gifts to bring home to friends, get pineapple cakes and small, very delicate sweet cakes made with sesame, peanuts, green beans and other things. They're very pretty and delicate and great with hot tea. You should be able to buy pineapple cakes at the airport because they're very popular. Street food is excellent, so are the dumplings, noodles, Taiwanese hotpot (very spicy and numbing - similar to Sichuanese hotpot). If you like rice dumplings, try the ones in Taipei - they're very different than the Cantonese type. They're lighter, without much filling, but the rice is really good. If you're there for quite a long time, try the Japanese and Korean food too.

There are some places in Hong Kong that still make their own turtle jelly. They always have a big, brass turtle outside the shop. They also have lots of turtle shells (whole, with the meat taken out) laid out over this big, round (about 3 feet in diameter) ... not quite sure what to call it, but it seems to be emitting a faint, smokey smell and a steamy feel. I haven't been able to look closely at the whatever-it's-called because the turtle shells cover the top of it completely. I don't know if there's actually a fire or charcoal below the shells but I can't imagine that because it's INSIDE the shop - and that wouldn't be very healthy for the workers.

Isn't agar agar what Ferran Adria is using to make his warm jelly?

I enjoy it, although it's not something I seek out. If it's on the menu, I might order it. It's considered cooling so it's good to eat at this time of year. It's good with coconut milk. If you think grass jelly is bitter, you should try turtle jelly, which is made from turtle shells. yikes, that stuff is very bitter.

I ate lunch there four years ago and it was, as you say, exceptional. We were there for five hours and everything from the food to the service was perfect. The pumpkin ravioli were amazing. I also had gorgeous little frogs legs and then some calves liver with fried artichokes. For the cheese course they served this goat's cheese that was ethereal - like eating a cloud. I wish I knew the name. Over coffee and petits fours in the garden, we had a great conversation with Nadia and her son, Giovanni, who was (I believe) still attending university. He worked at the restaurant (making pastries) during school breaks - he was lovely to talk to.

It's still called Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank - at least it is here in Hong Kong - it might be different overseas. And Shanghainese people still have a big influence in Hong Kong - although I'm not sure if they actually contribute anything. Our chief executive Tung Chee-hwa is Shanghainese but the only people who benefit from him are real estate developers, big businesses and the mainland.

There's a really good banquet dish that's VERY luxurious called, poetically, "jade bracelets". I've never made it but I don't think it would be very difficult - just expensive. Take sze gwah (fuzzy melon), peel off the fuzz, slice it into rings and then remove the seeds (that's the jade bracelet part - the rings have to be intact). You need large (ie, expensive) whole dried scallops that completely fill the hole in the middle of the jade bracelet where the seeds were. I assume that they soak the scallops first. Steam the jade bracelets until the scallops are tender. Cook bean sprouts with sliced, dried Chinese mushrooms and whole garlic cloves that have been deep-fried. Season with the usual seasonings of soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, white pepper etc, and probably some supreme chicken stock to make a thin sauce. Put the bean sprouts etc on the bottom of a steamer dish, arrange the jade bracelets on top, spoon some of the sauce (from the bean sprouts) over the top of the jade bracelets and steam again to heat things through. The bean sprouts will be very tender - not al dente, and the garlic cloves should be very soft and melting. It's fabulous.

Oops, sorry. It's in Hong Kong. One of the most famous Chinese restaurants here.

Wow, that's interesting - never realised it. I should have checked the ingredients label; I thought it was made from fermented bean curd as well. There are places that make their own fu yu and it can be incredible; really different with a very fine, silky texture. Yung Kee - a restaurant famous for its roast goose - makes fu yu and they serve it with a wonderful winter dish of mutton casserole with bean curd sheets and mushrooms. They also serve it with crispy-skinned chicken.

I've heard this one too. A similar one is that it means your husband/wife will come from a country that is far from your own.

It's fabulous as a marinade for pork spareribs. Mash up a couple cubes of it with soy sauce, a little rice wine (or some of the liquid from the jar) and sliced garlic and mix it with the spareribs (which have been cut into 1-inch pieces). Marinate for a few hours then dip in corn starch and fry. This also works well for small chunks of chicken, preferably dark meat. FYI, there are several types of fermented bean curd. I think the kind in jars is fu yu if it doesn't have chilli; the type with chilli is known as naam yu.

Hi Jeannie, are you referring to "san cheen bao"? What's the dough like on the ones you're talking about?

Haven't ever tried it with frozen liver. It works fine with frozen kidneys though. SG - haggis is delicious. I was surprised at how peppery it is. Everything is finely minced so you don't really notice that it's offal at all.