eG Foodblog: Dejah - Dejah of the Canadian Prairies

[Dejah]

It's a "Moody Manitoba Morning" . . . more rain today.

Transferred my daughter from her midnight shift to her day shift at the hospital. She ate 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with blackberry jam enroute. (7 a.m. yawn . . . )

Had my first cup of coffee while waiting for the icing from the fridge to warm up.

Made simple decorations with the mauve icing.

I need to plan my "writing" better before putting it on the cake! But, Anita will understand when I tell her I baked the cake at 11 p.m. and decorated her cake at 7 a.m.

I'll post a picture after the colour intensifes.

The licks of cream cheese icing will qualify for breakfast . . . until cake time at 10 a.m.

[Dejah]

awwww, Ben, thanks for the compliments.

We are proud of our kids.

And, you know what!? They can all cook!

[Dejah]

By the way, not to sidetrack the thread (we could discuss this further in another thread, if people are really interested), but lunch is "lunch" where I come from. Somehow, I think there's been a previous thread about which meal is called "dinner," but I wouldn't be too sure how to search for it.

My mind is a bit clearer this morning, inspite of the rain.

Hubby reminded me that I needed to make a correction about the "lunch or dinner" comment made in an earlier post ( posted August 8th)

What I meant to say was: the meal at around noon is lunch. But the evening meal may be called dinner, as perhaps in the U.S. and supper for those raised on the prairies. In England, called "tea"?

To make it more confusing, Bill said when he was growing up, the big meal was at noon, for the farmhands, so it was breakfast, dinner, supper.

To me, food is food! I'll eat anytime.

[Laksa]

Dejah,

c'mon, tell us the truth. You have successfully created clones of yourself. That's how you managed to rehearse and perform in a band, prepare all that magnificent food and post pictures to this blog, be a chauffeur, a mother, and the zillion other things that we all have to do. Amazing!

The food looks marvellous (yes, it does bear repeating ) I would like to use your picture of the dim sum items and jook for my desktop. Do you have a larger image that you are willing to share?

[Dejah]

Dejah,

c'mon, tell us the truth.  You have successfully created clones of yourself.  That's how you managed to rehearse and perform in a band, prepare all that magnificent food and post pictures to this blog, be a chauffeur, a mother, and the zillion other things that we all have to do.  Amazing!

The food looks marvellous (yes, it does bear repeating  )  I would like to use your picture of the dim sum items and jook for my desktop.  Do you have a larger image that you are willing to share?

Ummm, you found me out. I have a vat that clones me whenever I need extra hands.

Also, I have all the little old Chinese aunties from the city and my Mom locked up in the backroom. I just slip my orders through a little window.

I am lucky at the moment...freedom from teaching duties until Sept. 7! Yay!!!

The pictures I have been using have all been cropped. What size do you need? You are talking about the cooked dim sum picture? I would be happy to send that to you. . . the picture, that is!

Edited August 9, 2004 by Dejah (log)

[Fred12fred]

Dejah,

I'm just catching up on this thread from the weekend and was knocked out by how wonderful the dim sum looked!

One question: your bao's look incredible! Could you please post your dough recipe? Mine don't turn out nearly as well...instead of white, light and fluffy, my baos turn out grey and doughy

Thank you!

[Abra]

Wow, Dejah, you are obviously a formidable cook, as well as a world-class multi-tasker. I bow to your beautiful blog, and I echo the others' call for recipes - everything looks so delicious.

Edited August 9, 2004 by Abra (log)

[Laksa]

Trying to get a handle on the taste and texture, which is so hard to convey via photographs.

You mean to say you haven't installed Taste-o-vision 2.0 on your computer?

It's from the same people who brought you Smell-o-vision.

[Dejah]

Monday, Day 5

The carrot cake in mauve icing and coffee was a big surprise for Anita. She always remembered our birthdays, but hers is during summer break when she is alone at the office. So, it was pay back time.

Mauve is Anita's favorite colour.

Arrived home before lunch, just enough time to bake a sour cream chocolate cake from scratch. This is a Spider-Man cake for our neighbor's son Joshua's 6th birthday party tomorrow. Our grandson and he are Game Boy buddies.

For lunch, Bill requested one of his favourite dishes, an omelette with leftover rice mixed in the eggs. I made a cheese sauce to ladle over it after it is cooked. I was craving vegetables, so it was "clean out the vegetable cooler" omelette for me. There was zucchini, mushrooms, half a banana pepper, orange pepper, asparagus, bean sprouts. I put slices of cheddar on one half of the omelette then folded the other half over it. Man! It was good.

That piece of birthday cake and lunch knocked me out. I had a nap on the couch before picking China up from work at 3. Stopped in at Superstore and picked up some chicken breasts for supper, Gold Fish crackers for China's snacks, and a big Caribbean red papaya for us.

For supper, we had curry chicken with onions and banana peppers. I silkened the chicken, then just stir-fried it with Chinese curry powder and dried chili peppers. For vegetables, we had a medley of lotus root, wood ear, baby corn, asparagus, bell peppers, pea pods, fresh ginger and garlic, topped with shrimp. Soup du jour was simple watercress in pork broth. We had our usual jasmine rice.

The chocolate cake turned out level! Covered it with white butter cream icing. I made up a batch of royal icing, tinted up different portions in red, blue, black, green, yellow. (Joshua coloured one of his favourite pictures for me to copy onto his cake.) China and I made the Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus topping on wax paper tonight. It needs to harden before we can transfer it to the cake.

Tomorrow, we are hosting my sister, her family, my Mom, my brother and his family for breakfast and supper. My sister and her crew will be flying back to Burnaby the next day. We'll be BBQing bison steaks for supper.

[Dejah]

Dejah,

I'm just catching up on this thread from the weekend and was knocked out by how wonderful the dim sum looked!

One question: your bao's look incredible!  Could you please post your dough recipe?  Mine don't turn out nearly as well...instead of white, light and fluffy, my baos turn out grey and doughy 

Thank you!

Fred12fred et al:

I will post requested recipes after I finish my week of blogging . . . this Wednesday.

Thanks for all the compliments and feedback. It's very much appreciated by this newbie.

[mrbigjas]

That piece of birthday cake and lunch knocked me out. I had a nap on the couch before picking China up from work at 3.

so wait, china works midnight to eight, then sometime in the morning till 3, then plays shows with you guys on the weekend, and volunteers at various things as well? does she ever sleep? i mean my god.

p.s. i'm interested in your bao dough recipe as well.

[hzrt8w]

Dejah must have cloned a few of her daughters as well.

Edited August 10, 2004 by hzrt8w (log)

[Ben Hong]

Heck, guys. That weren't nuttin', as most Chinese women I know can also fly and leap tall buildings. Sue On is just another everyday, ho-hum, over achieving, highly charged Chinese mother Not only that, her daughter is a dynamo in training.

I AM IN AWE.

So tell me Sue On, are you a Popo or Yinyin?

[Dejah]

Foodblog Day 6

It’s 7 a.m. and temperature of 6 degrees C this morning, cloudy and windy. What happened to summer? My sister will be looking forward to the 17C in Burnaby.

China is off to work at her regular summer employment at the hospital. Grabbed toast and her lunch of sun-dried tomato wrap with chicken, fresh watercress, orange pepper julienne, a chocolate cupcake, grapes, and Edam cheese. We’re going to ease up on her this week. ;-) This is the joke between us: many parents have to push their kids to work. China (pronouncedChEEna) set the schedule up herself. Her career goal is medicine, so she wants to see if she can handle the gruelling routine of “resident life”. She watches way too much reality TV.

Her schedule last weekend: Thurs. 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. at the hospital, midnight to 8 a.m. at group home where she “may” catch scattered bits of a nap. Friday morn, back to the hospital from 10a.m. - 6p.m. shift, grabbed supper then volunteer with St. John at the folk festival until 11:45 p.m., to the group home for the midnight to 8 shift. She actually got about 3 hours of sleep at home Sat. morning, until lunch and rehearsals with her harp and her brother. We performed at 5 p.m., she changed clothes and was back at the St. John Ambulance tent until her midnight to 8 shift at the group home. Hooray! She was able to sleep Sunday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m, then back to the festival by 5. As the group home was short staffed, she took on another midnight to 6:45 shift before this morning's 7a.m. to 3 shift.

No festival gig this weekend, but she is now pratising her repetorie for a wedding this Sturday.

Although she can cook, she is probably the only 18 year old whose mom still packs her lunch. LOL!

For me this morning, I have to finish decorating the Spider-Man cake. Later, I am taking my trusty old stove-top waffle iron to my brother’s house. Breakfast will be my buttermilk waffles, maple syrup, bacon. My sister-in-law will supply a fresh fruit platter and coffee. Saw a tip somewhere that suggested using my George Forman grill to do a whole pound of bacon at one time. I tried that, and it worked great! Now, I just have to crisp the strips up in the oven when the waffles are ready.

9 a.m. The cake is decorated. I am heading off to cook breakfast.

Ben, I am a yinyin. Our older son, Ja-On, was also at the folk festival. He plays sax. Couldn't get him to perform on the weekend as he just started his new massage therapy biz in Brandon, so he was prmoting.

[SobaAddict70]

What's a popo and a yinyin?

Soba

[Ben Hong]

PO, or POPO, is the name for maternal grandmother, in common child's parlance. It is perfectly OK to use as an honorific when addressing a female senior citizen you don't know or not sure of where in the generational hierarchy you both stand, in which case you'd use "po". The popo's husband is "goong goong".

Yin, or (childishly) yinyin is the title of your paternal grandma. You would not normally use yinyin to address anyone except your own grandmother. Her husband would be "yehyeh" or just "yeh", if you ever feel grown up around him.

[Jensen]

Hi,

I have a question about "silkened" chicken. You've mentioned it a couple of times. Do you mean coating the chicken pieces in a cornstarch solution just prior to cooking????

Thanks!

[Laksa]

Hi,

I have a question about "silkened" chicken. You've mentioned it a couple of times. Do you mean coating the chicken pieces in a cornstarch solution just prior to cooking????

Thanks!

I believe simply cornstarch is used instead of a cornstarch solution.

[Dejah]

Foodblog Day 6 continues:

Joshua's cake turned out pretty well. His dad came to pick it up as we left for breakfast.

Buttermilk waffles was a good choice for a chilly summer morning. This was a recipe I clipped out of the Winnipeg Tribune. It was one of the two Winnipeg dailies for many years. The paper no longer exists, but we appreciated the WT as they did a number of features on us in their colour weekend magazine.

My sister-in-law Rebecca, a terrific cook, prepared a huge fruit platter. This was perfect to tie everyone over until I cooked enough waffles for a first go-around. One of my nieces brought Starbuck coffee beans with her. The aroma in the kitchen was incredible . . . The bacon, pre-cooked on the George Forman grill, crisped up nicely in the oven.

Another niece brought BBQ ducks from Chinatown in Winnipeg. Bill and I stole a container when we came home to prepare supper. We finished a small plate of ho fun cooked with oyster sauce. The duck provided Bill with his required protein Atticus' patient drooling beside hubby was finally rewarded with a few ho fun noodles.

SUPPER MENU

Food and cookbooks are but two of my passions. My other "collections" are teapots and roosters. I posted tonight's menu to forewarn incoming guests. A pride of lions guard my lair until opening time!

Bison New York strips are for the BBQ tonight. I will have some with just 4 peppercorn steak spice, and some with a light brushing of Bull's Eye Hot Southern Cajun sauce. My Burnaby niece's hubby, Paul, loves lamb, but no one else in their family likes it. So, to keep him happy, I have a rolled boneless lamb shoulder marinating in crushed peppercorns, red wine vinegar, chopped mint, rosemary, and garlic. It will go into the oven. The heat will be welcomed, especially with me running out for the BBQ!

[Dejah]

Hi,

I have a question about "silkened" chicken. You've mentioned it a couple of times. Do you mean coating the chicken pieces in a cornstarch solution just prior to cooking????

Thanks!

I believe simply cornstarch is used instead of a cornstarch solution.

Whenever I silken meat, of any kind, I first season, then add acouple tablespoons of cornstarch and vegetable oil. This is "worked" together and allowed to rest until needed.

I always season first, because once the oil and cornstarch is added, the seasoning won't penetrate the meat.

Hope that helps.

[Dejah]

TUESDAY NIGHT SUPPER WITH THE WHOLE FAMILY:

Supper was devoured and the family, with appetite repleted, headed back to my brother's house for the night. The dishwasher is slaving on the first load, and I can sit back with a final cup of coffee. Going back over the menu posted earlier:

I took the shoulder of lamb out of the marinate, coated it with whole grain dijon mustard and crushed mixed peppercorns. At 4:30, I started the roast with the oven at 400F for half an hour. Then I poured the reserved marinate over the lamb, covered it with foil and reduced the heat to 300F. until 6 o'clock. The garlic bread went into the oven while the lamb rested under foil.

While waiting for supper, everyone munched on the summer rolls I had made in the afternoon with Chinese mushrooms, bean sprouts, bean thread, carrots, cilantro, and shrimp.

The new potatoes and baby carrots were cooked and buttered. One of the nieces tossed the salad with raspberry vinegrette and put toasted whole pecans in a side dish for those who want them. I stir-fried the zucchini and mushrooms and scattered sesame seeds on top.

The 20 eight oz. bison steaks were put onto the BBQ over medium flame until rare. (See, we all love to eat!) China had set the table, nephew-in-law Paul sliced HIS lamb and garlic bread, and the girls put the rest of the food on the table.

The bison was excellent, very tender. There was a subtle difference in taste from beef. These animals were free-range grass-fed on an organic farm. The lamb was so good! Even those who don't usually like lamb tried some. It had a mild lamb flavour, perhaps because of the peppercorn crust. I made a mint sauce with fresh leaves.

We made short work of a couple bottles of Chilean merlot with supper.

Dessert was chocolate cappuccino mud pies that I made last week. They were well hidden in the freezer, away from hubby's grasp. I again relied on my Best of Bridge series for this "guaranteed to please" recipe. The crust was chocolate wafer crumbs, layered with cappuccino ice-cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. My camera was no match for the speed of the server!

We always enjoy fruit after a meal, and tonight, it was fresh strawberries picked by one of the nieces enroute from Winnipeg. Maybe because of the cooler season this year, the berries were smaller than usual, but very sweet and fragrant. They were great dipped into the extra whipped cream.

My sister and her family will leave early in the morning on a shuttle to the Winnipeg International Airport for their flight home. The families from Winnipeg are all headed home now, for work tomorrow morning.

One of the packages from Burnaby contained century egg cakes (pai dan so). I am so full, but . . . I can't resist!

[herbacidal]

Yin, or (childishly) yinyin is the title of your paternal grandma. You would not normally use yinyin to address anyone except your own grandmother. Her husband would be "yehyeh" or just "yeh", if you ever feel grown up around him.

Really?

I just call my maternal grandma "ah maaa".

Hmm.

[Dejah]

Question: In Manitoba, do you get Pacific or Atlantic salmon, or both?

This blog is making me smile a lot.  I think we have about 4 or 5 of the Best of Bridge cookbooks in our library.

wink: For the Canadian readers ... is that the same Mitsu who sang "Bye Bye Mon Cowboy"??     

DA

Daddy-A:

The salmon I used was from the Atlantic.

Have you used many of the recipes from the best of Bridge cookbooks?

I don't think our Mitsu is the "Mon Cowboy" Mitsu.

[Dejah]

Yin, or (childishly) yinyin  is the title of your paternal grandma. You would not normally use yinyin to address anyone except your own grandmother. Her husband would be "yehyeh" or just "yeh", if you ever feel grown up around him.  

Really?

I just call my maternal grandma "ah maaa".

Hmm.

In my family, Yin Yin is Toisanese and Ah maaaa is Cantonese for paternal grandmother. Po-Po is for maternal grandmother.

My grandson calls me Grammy. He wasn't going to have any of Joshua's cake until he was told that his Grammy baked it!

[eunny jang]

Dejah -

Someone ought to bake you a Superwoman cake!

This blog has been such a pleasure.

Thank you!