eG Foodblog: hzrt8w - A week of Chinese New Year celebration

[Domestic Goddess]

Ah Leung, I just found out I was an Earth Rooster. I never thought there were different classifications for each calendar animal.

I'm an earth rooster, too! But your birth year on your bio is different from my year. Hmmmm....

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Oh dear, you are right! I went and checked my profile and the year was set on 1967 not 1969! *slaps forehead*. Just corrected it now. Thanks Rona!

[MarketStEl]

I just turned 48 in January.  I was thrilled to think that I was born in the year of the pig, but then I realized that I was born the year BEFORE the year of the pig, since my birthday happened before CNY.  Right? 

What am I?

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The year of the dog is before year of the pig. So you were born in 1959? Every year Chinese New Year (which is based on lunar calendar) lands on a different date in the solar calendar. If we have access to the lunar calendar back to 1959 we'll know.

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My 48th was last October 22, and I was born in the year of the dog. According to that same Wikipedia section, these are my traits:

Like his animal namesake, he is Loyal with a capital "L". He is the one who people are most likely to turn to when they need help. The dog person will come through every time. That is because he/she is sensitive to others and empathizes with them, particularly if someone has suffered an injustice; he/she reacts quickly with the same feeling as though he/she had been personally offended. Friends know that they can rely upon their Dog friend to keep a promise or remain cool in a crisis.

Dog types are honest, intelligent and straightforward. They will take on any responsibility that is given to them and you can be sure that they will do their job well.

People born in this year tend to be difficult, upset and shocked more often than the other signs.

The dog is loyal, unselfish, and idealistic. They can sometimes be worriers and overly critical. Dogs go best with tigers and horses. Their friends are other dogs and also rabbits. Dogs get along worst with Dragons, whom they perceive as arrogant and all flash with no substance.

A friend of mine said to me recently, "You're a very patient person, but you hold grudges, and you don't let them go until you feel proper atonement has been made for the wrong."

I guess this fits with this sign. Interesting, given where my birthdate falls on the Western zodiac, that the analogous sun sign to the dog is Libra.

Edited February 21, 2007 by MarketStEl (log)

[Pan]

My wife and I don’t eat rice regularly any more.  She wants to avoid the starch.  Instead, we eat tofu in place of rice.  We picked this firm tofu.  She said the firmer the better.

I cut the block of tofu into smaller cubes, and heated them up in the microwave for 4 minutes (too lazy to boil them).

Ate this instead of rice in every home meal.  To counter the “blandness”, I like to add a wallop of hot sauce.

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Fascinating. I have to imagine that it's very difficult for most Chinese people to give up rice (and I can't remember a Malaysian giving up rice). I haven't mentioned this yet on eGullet, but right now, I'm recovering from a respiratory illness that also had digestive symptoms, and while I was sick and couldn't do anything much else, I took stock of my life and have decided to drastically alter my eating habits, mostly by eating much smaller portions but also by having a somewhat low-carb diet (not drastically low-carb, but with the carbs mostly coming from milk and vegetables) and changing some other things (less fat, and unfortunately, less spicy food, at least for now). In the long term, though, I think it would be hard for me to give up rice and noodles, so I would rather just eat none of them in some meals and less of them than before in others, etc.

[Pan]

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

You sound like you had a great reunion dinner. I couldn't taste any of the CNY delicacies (I'm recovering from a germ thing of some sort), which leaves me awfully sad because I won't be here for CNY for the next 3 years.

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I really empathize. I was sick all weekend.

Let's all have good health in the Year of the Pig! Is there a traditional Chinese wish of health in the New Year? We Jews always wish each other a "Happy and Healthy Year" at our new year, Rosh Hashanah.

[PamelaF]

Is this what you think it is?  It is!  Braised abalone slices (in oyster/soy sauce mix) with black mushrooms (shittake) and baby bok choy at the bottom.

Beautiful dish!

I remember the first time I ever had abalone, in a similar preparation. It was asparagus, instead of the bok choy. It was among the most delicious things I have ever eaten.

Haven't had much opportunity for abalone since then, since it has become rare and very expensive.

I live on the San Mateo coast (San Francisco Bay Area) and 20+ years ago when I first moved here, abalone was freely available for anyone who wanted to dive for it. Not the case anymore, it's now an expensive delicacy.

Ah Leung, best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year!

[hzrt8w]

This was my afternoon snack before I went to school:

Green-onion flavored crackers made by Garden. Garden is a very successful commercial bakery manufacturer in Hong Kong and they produce many lines of crackers, breads and other products. I really like the flavor of this cracker.

Drink: Chrysanthemum tea drink. Cantonese: "Guk Fa Cha". They named this as "tea" but actually no tea leave is used. Just as Cantonese named many drinks as "tea" and there is no tea leaf involved. It is made by simply boiling chrysanthemum (the dried flowers) with water and add rock sugar for maybe half an hour. Then filter off the residue. You can make this easily at home.

[hzrt8w]

Tonight's dinner...

I didn't have time to cook before getting out of the house. My wife was on her own eating left overs from last night. I went to attend my three hour lecture. Afterwards, I dropped by the favorite "hole in the wall" New Hong Kong Wok Restaurant again to have a quick meal. They open really late. Til midnight at least.

I had a bowl of "Siu Gnap Lai Fun", or Rice Noodle Soup with Roast Duck. The BBQ items there are quite good, and the soup base is great. Lai Fun is a form of rice noodles. Cantonese shape their rice noodles in many different forms, from large to small. The textures are slightly different too. Kind of like pasta in Italian cooking. This one, Lai Fun, is round (about 1/4 inch diameter) and fluffy. I sometimes have flat rice noodles (Ho Fun) or the thin rice noodle (Mai Fun) depending on my mood.

Eating a bowl of soup noodle as a meal is quite common in Hong Kong. (And that's why I used to have five meals a day. )

[insomniac]

Tonight's dinner...

I didn't have time to cook before getting out of the house.  My wife was on her own eating left overs from last night.  I went to attend my three hour lecture.  Afterwards, I dropped by the favorite "hole in the wall" New Hong Kong Wok Restaurant again to have a quick meal.  They open really late.  Til midnight at least.

I had a bowl of "Siu Gnap Lai Fun", or Rice Noodle Soup with Roast Duck.  The BBQ items there are quite good, and the soup base is great.  Lai Fun is a form of rice noodles.  Cantonese shape their rice noodles in many different forms, from large to small.  The textures are slightly different too.  Kind of like pasta in Italian cooking.  This one, Lai Fun, is round (about 1/4 inch diameter) and fluffy.  I sometimes have flat rice noodles (Ho Fun) or the thin rice noodle (Mai Fun)  depending on my mood.

Eating a bowl of soup noodle as a meal is quite common in Hong Kong.  (And that's why I used to have five meals a day.  )

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aaaah, night snacks.....Ah Leung, do you know that they even serve night snacks in HK prisons!!

[hzrt8w]

My American Dream

Like most Americans who were born in this country, many American immigrants have their American Dreams too. I have a few of my own. Here is the top one:

The Dream of Flying.

Yes indeed it occurred in a few of my dreams (not the metaphor "dream"). Each time it seemed that I just flapped my two arms and I was flying through the air, effordlessly, smoothly soaring from one place to another. I am hoping that one day I would become a licensed pilot, flying one of these:

Cessna high-wing planes. These are trainers and the easiest to fly. I live only 1/4 of a mile down the end of KSAC - the airport sign for Sacramento Executive Airport. When I am out in the front yard rigging leaves in late afternoon, I often hear the roaring engine from one of these planes flying overhead:

In the beginning of 2007 I had made a resolution for 2007 - pursue a pilot license. As a student pilot I would be flying one of those Cessnas.

I haven't chosen the flight school yet. There are three of them at KSAC. But I have taken the very first step to take the ground school at Sacramento City College at least to see what it is like.

Books that I need to study to pass the written test. It is really not difficult. Those who are licensed pilots can probably attest. The gadget on the top is call a "E6B". It is a fancy "mechanical calculator". In reality it is just a slide rule (remember those?). Instead of sliding along a rule, they make the markings revolve about a center. You turn this thing instead of sliding the ruler back and forth to make multiplications and, more importantly, divisions. That helps you figure out how long it would take you to fly from A to B and whether you have enough gas to get there. And if you don't? You have your parachute on, right?

Living in Hong Kong, such opportunity (getting a private pilot license) virtually doesn't exist. There used to be three airports, total. The main airport was Kai Tak and the other two: one was located in Shatin and one in Shek Kong. The airport in Shatin was long gone because of urban development (and many residents are now living on top of what used to be the airport - which was where I rode a bicycle for the first time in the 60's). Shek Kong airport used to be a British military airport and was not opened to the public. And can you imagine flying a Cessna as a student pilot between two jumbo 747's trying to land? No the hell way! So... scratch that.

I value this opportunity of living in this country where you can do just about anything you want to set your mind to. You can snowboard from the top of a mountain, jump off a cliff, dive in the ocean, or take a balloon ride and get drunk. My calling is flying a small plane. Has been for years.

[insomniac]

My American Dream

Like most Americans who were born in this country, many American immigrants have their American Dreams too.  I have a few of my own.  Here is the top one:

The Dream of Flying.

Yes indeed it occurred in a few of my dreams (not the metaphor "dream").  Each time it seemed that I just flapped my two arms and I was flying through the air, effordlessly, smoothly soaring from one place to another.  I am hoping that one day I would become a licensed pilot, flying one of these:

Cessna high-wing planes.  These are trainers and the easiest to fly.  I live only 1/4 of a mile down the end of KSAC - the airport sign for Sacramento Executive Airport.  When I am out in the front yard rigging leaves in late afternoon, I often hear the roaring engine from one of these planes flying overhead:

In the beginning of 2007 I had made a resolution for 2007 - pursue a pilot license.  As a student pilot I would be flying one of those Cessnas.

I haven't chosen the flight school yet.  There are three of them at KSAC.  But I have taken the very first step to take the ground school at Sacramento City College at least to see what it is like.

Books that I need to study to pass the written test.  It is really not difficult.  Those who are licensed pilots can probably attest.  The gadget on the top is call a "E6B".  It is a fancy "mechanical calculator".  In reality it is just a slide rule (remember those?).  Instead of sliding along a rule, they make the markings revolve about a center.  You turn this thing instead of sliding the ruler back and forth to make multiplications and, more importantly, divisions.  That helps you figure out how long it would take you to fly from A to B and whether you have enough gas to get there.  And if you don't?  You have your parachute on, right?

Living in Hong Kong, such opportunity (getting a private pilot license) virtually doesn't exist.  There used to be three airports, total.  The main airport was Kai Tak and the other two: one was located in Shatin and one in Shek Kong.  The airport in Shatin was long gone because of urban development (and many residents are now living on top of what used to be the airport - which was where I rode a bicycle for the first time in the 60's).  Shek Kong airport used to be a British military airport and was not opened to the public.   And can you imagine flying a Cessna as a student pilot between two jumbo 747's trying to land?   No the hell way!  So... scratch that.

I value this opportunity of living in this country where you can do just about anything you want to set your mind to.  You can snowboard from the top of a mountain, jump off a cliff, dive in the ocean, or take a balloon ride and get drunk.  My calling is flying a small plane.  Has been for years.

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Fantastic Ah Leung, and it's sooo much cheaper to fly in the US than the UK.(We are a flying family, daughter and son finally getting their licences, they have their eye on Cathay!) We have a C180 tailwheel (can land anywhere, beaches, fields, no need for a strip) and keep it in the field next to our house in the summer....total freedom, lovely day, just leap in and go. England is beautiful from the air. ...so flying and food is my passion (the other forum I belong to is for pilots )

ps. we beonged to the HK flying club but after a few flights realised had to hold for too long so not worth it, but a lot of our friends still fly there

Edited February 21, 2007 by insomniac (log)

[hzrt8w]

Many eGullet foodblogs included some pictures of the local sceneries. Here are a few of Sacramento’s.

It’s February. Sunny. Day time temperature: 65F (18C). (How about that Dai Ga Jeah?) This winter has been extremely dry so far, compared to last year where we had lots and lots of rain. In March 2006, there wasn’t one day without rain. In January 2007, there was not a single day with rain. Strange pattern. Global warming?

This is the Sacramento River taken at the Sutterville exit off the I-5 freeway. Downtown Sacramento is about 3-4 miles north of here.

A river boat that is no longer running.

On top of the river levee is a paved bike path. From here you can ride a bike straight to Old Town Sacramento. My wife and I ride our bikes once a year starting from here to Old Town, then on along the American River Bike Trail to Folsom, about 30 miles one way. Very scenic, highly recommended for anyone who comes here for a visit. It makes a pretty good work out for us.

The crazy cyclists from Tour De California had crossed the Sacramento Tower Bridge on to the Capitol to make their final run this afternoon on their day-2 journey. My wife saw it first hand. I only watched them on TV.

They are quite impressive to see in person, riding at 30-40 mph on a flat road.

[leviathan]

Actually I am not 48 quite yet because my birthday is in June. But that would be soon enough. sad.gif ohmy.gif

But, in Chinese culture, we respect our elders. Unlike the youth-obsessed culture in America, we don't see somebody as peaking when they're in their 20s and everything else that follows as downhill. With age, comes wisdom. I'm really impressed by all the things you're teaching us here, and I don't think that you as a twenty year old you would have been able to pass down all this knowledge that you're currently feeding us. If you ever come down to SoCal, I want to treat you to lunch for all the things I'm learning from your posts.

My MIL is borderline diabetic, so we need to watch out.

As somebody who has a family history of diabetes, I'm curious what changes you need to make. Rice would be a no-no, right?

[I_call_the_duck]

Ah Leung, I think it's great that you are pursuing your American Dream. Life is too short not to.

Out of all ducks, my favorite is roast duck.

[Kouign Aman]

Its nice to see the pix of Sac. Is that riverboat a restaurant now?

[MarketStEl]

This was my afternoon snack before I went to school:

Green-onion flavored crackers made by Garden.   Garden is a very successful commercial bakery manufacturer in Hong Kong and they produce many lines of crackers, breads and other products.  I really like the flavor of this cracker.

Okay, looks like I'm in need of some education here, or maybe this is just a quirk of language:

What's the difference between a green onion ("scallion" in this part of the country) and a chive?

Those are clearly green onions pictured on the box. But both the English- and French-language text on the package says that these are chive-flavored crackers.

I'd like to buy a clue, please. (I'd also like to buy a box or two. Maybe one of the Asian supermarkets on Washington Avenue stocks them.)

Drink:  Chrysanthemum tea drink.  Cantonese: "Guk Fa Cha".   They named this as "tea" but actually no tea leave is used.  Just as Cantonese named many drinks as "tea" and there is no tea leaf involved.  It is made by simply boiling chrysanthemum (the dried flowers) with water and add rock sugar for maybe half an hour.  Then filter off the residue.  You can make this easily at home.

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This is a quirk of language, nothing more.

"Tea" in English also refers to both the plant and to beverages made by extracting oils and flavors from various dried plants that may or may not be tea plants. Usually, teas produced from plants other than tea plants take an adjective in front of them telling you what plant or family of plants were used: "herbal tea," "dandelion tea," "chrysanthemum tea". Of the Cantonese syllables above, which one corresponds to the English word "tea"?

BTW, your food photography is fabulous; I see I'm missing some great work by not hanging out on the Chinese cuisine board. What sort of camera do you use? Have you considered professional food photography as a sideline?

Edited February 21, 2007 by MarketStEl (log)

[yunnermeier]

gong xi fa cai, ah leung!

my chinese new year in holland was just like any other day whereas my family back home have been gorging themselves on great food ,cookies and all the other items. i really really miss suckling pork (the crispy skin gets me every time yum) and shark's fin soup.

my chinese new year consisted of just peking duck and a horrid dish of stuffed forel (not fresh!) and it cost over 60 euros (incl 2 ice creams + 2 TINY bowls of soup+2 soft drinks).

[LindsayAnn]

Learning new stuff already! Ah Leung, I notice that, unlike in other recipes, here you didn't soak the dried shrimp before cooking them. Do they plump up a bit when fried without rehydrating? Or get crunchier?

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That is true Ellen. I sometimes soak the dried shrimp, somtimes don't. It depends on the dish. Without soaking, the dried shrimp have more fragrance. Since they will be stir-fried with the melons for a while, they will get soften up even without being soaked. When making other dishes, such as rice cakes, it would be better to soak the dried shrimp first.

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Hello hzrt8w! Loving your blog

Your food is new to me...well most of it at least.

The dried shrimp interest me (among many of your other meals)....Are these ever eaten as a snack? the notion of snacking on these appeals to me...well the sound of it does at least.

I haven't ever tried them in any sort of fashion...so I am GUESSING that snacking of them would sound lovely...does it?

If so:

1.) Are they crunchy and salty?

2.) Do they have a strong shrimp taste?

3.)Where would I buy these here in chicago....I know you might not know this one. 4.) And - last but most least, what are they made out of (other than dried shrimp), i.e any seasonings, preservatives??? Salt I am guessing (could be wrong) but what else?

Thanks ahead of time - and keep up the good work...and taking pictures....

[hzrt8w]

Good Morning everybody!

Need to come into the office today. Here was my liquid breakfast:

Horlicks! Get a few spoonful, mix it up in hot water. You have to stir it very well. Even so, the sediment just settles on the bottom. I acquired the taste of Horlicks when I was in Hong Kong. This is a British thing, isn’t it? And the popularity is similar to Ovaltine? Anyways, thanks to over one and a half century of British ruling, Hong Kongers picked certain food habits from the Brits. I am sure you know this is not a traditional Chinese drink. It is a good thing, as this drink is really delicious.

My coworkers had given me a few “Kung Hey Fat Choy” around. LOL! Just not used to hearing it from some blond-hair blue-eyes.

My cup has two drawings from the famous artist E.C. Escher. He really was a pioneer in the concept of morphing and impossible 3-D figures. This cup has the drawing of the 3-D stair-cases (ever-going up). On the other side is a bunch of fish morphing into flying geese. Fascinating stuff – if you ever have seen his work.

(Some of his drawing images found on Google)

[hzrt8w]

This is another flower plant that Chinese like for CNY:  “Shui Sin”.  Sorry… don’t know what the English name is.  It has a very strong fragrance.  I think some perfume makers extract the fragrance from these flowers to make perfume.

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I'm far from a flowering plant expert, but those look very much like some kind of jonquil/daffodil/narcissus relative. A little creative Googling turned up this flowering plant -- is this the right one?

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Thanks Ellen. Yes, daffodil. That's the name in English. I remember it now! "Shui Sin" in Cantonese. Popular flower in CNY.

Edit: No... as it turned out, it was not daffodil. Kouign Aman and Dejah Dai Ga Jeah are right. It's Paperwhite. The Googled pictures look right.

Edited February 21, 2007 by hzrt8w (log)

[hzrt8w]

Forgot to post my CNY chart last night:

Date: Feb 20, 2007

Chinese calendar: The third day of Chinese New Year

Festivities:

This is the third day of the Chinese New Year. This is the day that it is adviced not to see any relative. Most people just spend time to be with their immediate family. Many would go out and about, do the entertainment thing. Quite a few restaurants are still closed so the eateries that are opened are packed. It is the last day of the holiday series, people would enjoy it the best they can before returning to work.

[Beebs]

Gong Xi Fa Cai, Ah Leung!

I'm still fairly new to eGullet, but wow -- I am totally hooked on to your blog and am going to browse your other contributions now! Your beautiful pictures certainly bring back lots of memories of when our family use to do the full-on New Year celebration (we've since scaled back as my family is scattered all over the place now). My mom's side of the family is Northern Chinese, so we did the dumpling thing for CNY. Grandma, aunties, and mom would make loads of jiao zi, and would put a spoonful of sugar in just one of the dumplings. Whoever got the sweet jiao zi would be extra lucky that year.

Hope you get a chance to come up to Vancouver sometime and sample some our our Chinese eats here -- the Chinese food here is some of the best in N America! (no bias here! )

Beebs

[hzrt8w]

“Lei See” candies.  Not sure what’s inside.

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Can I offer some help? Inside the red and gold foil packets are strawberry-flavoured hard candies that have a chewy centre. A childhood favourite of mine, I still have a soft spot for them when CNY rolls around.

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Arrrr... that what they are. Thank you Joie. In Hong Kong we can find many toffee kind of candies with a chewy center. CNY makes all children happy. Then all the dentists are happy.

[I_call_the_duck]

Ah Leung, does Horlicks taste like Ovaltine? I remember Ovaltine being a little darker in color.

Ah Escher. I love his work. When we were house hunting, we saw a house that looked a lot like the drawing on your mug. We still refer to it as the Escher house.

[hzrt8w]

A rooster wheezing in to wish you Kung Hei Fat Choy Ah Leung! I have been monitoring your blog for the past couple of days but couldn't post because of my asthma attacks. I am so happy to see you blogging. I have always pointed out your pictorial recipes to my hubby and ask him to choose what he wants for our supper tonight.  I call you my "Master" and hubby calls me your grasshopper. LOL

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Kung Hey Fat Choy Domestic Goddess! LOL. Now... Master Leung demands grasshopper to post some of her work in the Chinese forum, under "Chinese eats at home, What did we cook".

Chinese eats at home, What did we cook?

[chocomoo]

I love Garden brand wafers - the hazelnut one is a recent favourite of mine. The wafer is nice & light and not too sweet. I like to peel apart the layers and eat them separately (I like to eat food in layers when I can, it's just more fun). I remember when there only used to be the chocolate, strawberry & lemon flavours. Now they even have durian flavour! I won't be trying that any time soon

I love Horlicks candy! The original is better than the chocolate-flavoured one. I haven't had Ovaltine in a LONGGG time.

Leung Uncle, I forgot to wish you and everyone else here "Boh boh goh sing"!

I think the festivities in my house have finally ended! Whew, that was a lot of eating. We still have lots of "goh" and "wu ha" though! And lots of candied lotus seeds and coconut. I prefer the triangular pieces of coconut to the strips (the colour really throws me off).