Gary Soup

My wife always returns from Shanghai with a copious supply of McCormick's mapo doufu seasoning packets.

I'm originally from the East Coast, and have quite a few years on Calvin Trillin (one of his daughters was a student of my daughter at Brown U.) . Perhaps I'm guilty of just not paying Kraft Macaroni and Cheese its due attention.

Great pics there. I haven't had a good sparrow on a stick since 1992 (at a temple fair in Shanghai). It was deep-fried, though, not grilled.

I'd say the baby corn is a dead giveaway to that.

Well, I've known Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for a long time, of course, but have never heard of it being called "Kraft Dinner" in the US. One more reason for Quebec to secede from Cadada, IMHO.

The ultimate challenge would be the dumplings made by Bai Ling in the new Fruit Chan movie "Dumplings."

Mac 'n' cheese, perhaps? I've never heard it called that.

Thanks for the thoughtful piece, Jamie. It and the inconclusive EU White Paper on foie gras production reinforce my philosophy of "when in doubt, do without."

I'll bite, what's KD?

With a one-child-per-family policy, there's not much need for generation names within a family, at least. For the same reason, and also because the old system is considered by many to be "feudal", there's been a rise in one-character given names. My Stepdaughter and one of her two cousins both have one-character names (her other cousin, Xiao Qing, was so named because her father was nuts about the actress Liu Xiao Qing).

Chinese 'Smores? I wonder when they will catch on to deep-frying them at temple fairs. THAT might make then edible!

Churchillian? Well, I can kind of see Winston doing some serious flat pickin', though I can't see him cooking up chow. And he definitely wouldn't have looked as good in a scoop-neck gown. On the other hand, I can't see Dejah holding a candle to him in the boozing department.

Sounds like your SIL's need some education. I don't have any comparable survey to report, as my side of the family lives 3,000 mile from us, and because of my wife's work commitments I usually travel alone when I visit my mother. My multitude of siblings, nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews and their spouses all profess to like Chinese food, though (such as it is in my mother's small town.) You did remind me, though, that the biggest food-related cultural gap between me and my wife is that I have the gweilo Fear of Fishbones and prefer my shellfish shelled (too much hassle otherwise, though a good-sized Dungeness has a tolerable reward-to-effort ratio). My wife will sometimes deign to serve me "xiaren", but has no use at all for filleted fish.

Whoa, Dejah! Hope this is on-topic, but I just noticed and checked out the URL in your new signature line. Who'da thunk you were (are?) a rising Country music queen, opening for Jeannie C. Riley, no less (and a babe too, I might add). I guess you weren't being coy with all your references to being a "prairie woman." Any stories about Chinese restaurants on the rodeo circuit? Whoo-eee! Thanks for "coming out."

Joan, you still haven't gotten the lay of the land up here. Koi Palace IS down south. I hasten to add that you've named two that would be on my list (KP and SDS), and have in the past sympathized with my depraved appreciation of Y. Ben House. A special Oscar for Star Lunch for finally precisely calibrating their Stinky Tofu ($3.75 for a large plate), a feat which Thomas Keller has yet to equal. Just to show that I can branch out, Saigon Sandwich. Just say no to Yank Sing

I'm conflicted (is that really a word?) about Squirrel Fish. Traditionally, it calls for a Mandarin fish, but burying a fish in an intense sauce seems a more suitable preparation for an inferior fish. (As Narsai David once said to a radio talk-show caller with a question about blackened redfish, "Madam, that's a TERRIBLE thing to do to a fish!") Tasty, though. IMHO, the topping for a "Squirrel Fish" should always have pine nuts in it.

400 year old eggs? I've heard of "thousand year old eggs" and "hundred year old eggs" but that's a new one to me.

Do they taste like beef liver, or is it because they look lke a cow's liver?

At least you know the Latin name. It's better known as Porcini, but that's probably Italian. Does it have an "English" name?

Here's the uncommonly informative and refreshingly forthcoming web site of one of the major producers: Chinese Truffles They tell you right up front:

No, I'm in North Beach. Actually, we're on the north slope of Russian Hill, where we get the fog/low overcast that comes in through the Golden Gate. To tell the truth, I didn't look for the moon, but it was so dark outside it wasn't asserting itself even if it was visible through the haze. You'd probably be underwhelmed by mooncakes from anywhere, IMHO. The mooncakes at GG might be a degree more artful, but they're an acquired taste and probably have to do more with memories than anything else.

I always thought that plum sauce was traditional for Beijing Duck.

It was so foggy here in SF the moon wasn't visible at all. Nor were mooncakes visible on our table, though my wife flashed one given to her by one of her clients. We had our baby taro and duck, of course, though prepared separately (I prefer them mingling in soup, as the traditional baby taro is too bland by itself). To complicate our celebration, it happened to be our wedding anniversary, and we were also looking ahead to National Day in three days and Ju Ju's birthday four days after that.

My wife always chops her own "ground" pork with a cleaver. She doesn't trust the ground pork at the markets, and I think it makes for a better texture. She usually uses lean pork loin; the juiciness isn't really an issue as she always boils her jiaozi. I've never heard of bean thread or tofu being used, but doufu gan might make an interesting extender. Ju Ju also like to make jiaozi with a mostly jiu cai (gau choy) filler. Mixed with dry tofu, it might make a nice vegetarian version.

Sometimes it takes a tongue-lashing to make you 'fess up, I guess.