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

[hzrt8w]

Good Morning Everybody!

And Happy Birthday to you! Yes! Everybody! Today is everybody’s birthday! Chinese custom has it: the 7th day of Chinese New Year is called “Yun Yuet” [Cantonese], which means birthday of everybody.

Today’s festivities… Well, after the first three days of CNY, festivities slow down. Today, the 7th day of CNY, is another highlight. Some would use the occasion to gather the family for one more meal. We have another family gathering dinner tonight. Eight days from now, the 15th day of CNY will be another highlight. It is called “Yuen Dan”. On that night, the tradition is to light some lanterns and have fireworks. It would signal the end of all these CNY festivities, where farmers will go back to another year of hard work, getting prepared for the crop seeding in Spring.

This morning’s liquid breakfast: Langers Ruby Red grapefruit juice. I love grapefruit and grapefruit juice. More so than orange juice.

[hzrt8w]

Last night’s midnight snacks:

“Sa Chi Ma” [Mandarin]. A Taiwanese name. In Cantonese we call it “Ma Tsai”, which literally means “little horse”.

They are fried dough made of wheat flour and egg, pressed together with sugar syrup. Some add sesame seeds and raisins. Then cut into rectangular blocks.

Also munched on some Taiwanese “Rou Sung” – dried shredded pork. Taiwanese make this the best IMO.

[Abra]

Is rou sung the same as "pork fu" which I see everywhere? I always wanted to know what to do with it.

[Pan]

Ah Leung, you're around the same age as my brother. His first job was working on a Vax. Do you remember those?

Although you may not like Dr. Pepper (I don't, but then again, I hate all cola drinks -- sorry), you might find it interesting that there's a place in Black Mountain in the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains called Pepper's Deli, which has an extensive and fun collection of Dr. Pepper memorabilia. I'd call it a place worth stopping at if you're driving in the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are lovely (though of course much lower than the Rockies!).

[Dejah]

Good Morning Everybody!

And Happy Birthday to you!  Yes!  Everybody!  Today is everybody’s birthday!  Chinese custom has it:  the 7th day of Chinese New Year is called “Yun Yuet” [Cantonese], which means birthday of everybody.

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Toisanese tradition says you should eat chicken today - and on your actual birth date.

I'm "killing 2 birds with one stone" - making curry chicken stew to feed my curry craving and to follow tradition!

[gus_tatory]

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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These are called narcissus, Ah Leung. And I am loving your CNY blog--a little late perhaps...

[lswswein]

Add the reduced Coca-cola syrup.  Add ½ cup of dark soy sauce.

hi Ah Leung

I made the coca-cola chicken last night. I came out very well but I made one change. I thought the 1/2 cup of soy sauce was too much and I had only lite soy sauce so I used 2 table spoons of lite soy sauce and it tasted good. My question is is it really half cup of soy sauce?

Thank You and all the pictures are amazing!

-h

[leviathan]

With your wok burner, there is no need to blanch the vegetable first. 

Is blanching a popular technique in a Chinese kitchen? I've never seen it, but I've noticed some Chinese cookbooks that utilize it.

[hzrt8w]

I want to show you what it is like shopping inside an Asian market. I went to S.F. Supermarket at the corner of Stockton Blvd and 65th Street. It is one of the bigger ones in town, comparable to 99 Ranch Market in many cities around California (and they haven’t made it to Sacramento yet).

Some chopping block stacked on the floor. Chinese use chopping blocks for most of the chopping and slicing.

Some gadgets (not sure what the proper name is) made of bamboo. Chinese in rural areas use these to sort out bad dried fruits, bad grains. The ones in the middle right are rice containers in Indonesian (??) culture.

Assorted clay pots (sand pots) of different shapes and sizes. Good for making braised dishes and tonic soups.

(Interested Mizducky and jo-mel?)

On to the seafood department. Rows and rows of fresh fish. The ones on the left are pomfrets. Not sure what the other two are. Fish counters inside Asian markets are often not very well labeled.

They provide fish-frying service, free of charge.

Assorted fish and some big squid.

Just pick the one you like, put it in a plastic bag and hand it to the fishmonger. They will clean it for you after weighing.

This is the kind that I like and eat often: flounder.

There are fish tanks in the stores to keep some live fish and shellfish. Here is a tank of California lobsters.

Big mouth bass.

Plenty of dungeness crabs stacked inside the tank. On sale for only $2.99 a pound.

Here is one of my recipes that features live crabs:

Crab with Ginger and Green Onion (薑蔥蟹)

Live oysters with shell on. Here is one of my recipes that features live oyster with shells:

Steamed Live Oyster with Garlic and Black Beans (豉汁蒸生蠔)

Live lobsters for $8.99 a pound.

They have shrimp of different sizes. These are headless.

Some with heads.

Here are some of my favorite shrimp (shell on) recipes:

Steamed Shrimp with Garlic (粉絲蒜蓉蒸蝦)

White Boiled Shrimp (白灼蝦)

Salt and Pepper Shrimp (椒鹽蝦)

The bigger fish varieties. Good for Chinese soup or braising.

Some salmon steaks and other bigger fish.

Ready made shrimp balls, cuttle fish balls and fish balls. Good for stir-fries, hot pots and soups.

The meat department selling pork, beef, lamb and various poultries. You can find just about any cut. They also sell intestines, bones, chicken feet, pork blood and many items that you don’t usually see in American grocery stores.

Beef and pork belly.

A big freezer holding the frozen squid, crab claws, sea cucumbers and many other frozen shell fish varieties. The counter space at the top: Assorted Chinese rice wines.

ShaoHsing cooking wine (on the right) and other rice wines.

This is one of my favorite Chinese liqueur drink: “Zhuk Yip Ching” [Cantonese], literally means green bamboo leaves. It is very sweet.

A refrigerator keeping dried shrimps (top-mid left), salted fish and other assorted packages.

A section full of different kinds of wonton wrappers and dumpling (jiao zi) wrappers.

Another section full of tofu packages. Regular tofu on the bottom. On the top there are containers of silken tofu – a snack/dessert – eaten with ginger syrup.

Another big freezer keeping all ready-to-eat dumplings: har gow, siu mai, potstickers, bread, etc..

Regular aisle where they place dry goods. These are rice noodle packages.

Assorted tea leaves in various jars and tins.

The beverage section. These are boxed juices and Vitasoy – a very popular milk drink in Hong Kong. I grew up drinking these.

More Vita drinks (Vita is a big food manufacturing company in Hong Kong).

Cans of vegetables used in Chinese stir-fries: bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, baby corns, straw mushrooms, button mushrooms, etc..

Some pre-mixed seasoning for making Chinese food: mapo tofu mix, sweet and sour mix, etc.. There is really no need to buy these pre-mix. You can easily make those dishes using combination of different sauces. But this is a time-saving for some.

Packages of dried spices, chili peppers, fermented black beans, etc..

Aisles of snacks: crackers, egg rolls, biscuits, etc..

More snacks: bags of shrimp chips, dried squid, beef jerkies.

Aisles showing packages of rice grains, beans and other dried goods.

Soy sauces: you can find all kinds of makes and flavors.

Aisle for Chinese sauces: brown bean sauces, shrimp paste, chili bean sauce, sesame paste, etc..

Jars of pickled garlic and other items. They do carry a small quantity of Mexican food ingredients.

Frozen egg roll wrappers.

Frozen beef balls, pork balls, fish balls, etc.. Vietnamese like these very much.

Chinese sausages (duck liver variety). Like that ones I ate for dinner last night.

Whole preserved ducks, like the one (leg) I ate for dinner last night.

They sell thinly sliced beef for making pho at home.

They get their delivery of rice noodle products everyday. These are best consumed without refrigeration or else they turn hard.

Packages of rich noodles (cheung fun). I love these. Steam them and eat with some soy sauce, sesame seeds, sesame paste and hot sauce.

The fresh produce department. Counter full of onions, garlic, shallot and other root vegetables.

Daikon at the front. Other vegetables on the counter.

I usually find the staple Chinese vegetables at S.F.. These are gai choy and bok choy.

Green onions, cilantros and other fresh herbs used often in Vietnamese food.

I held up a package of fresh pennyworth (Rauma). It is the herb that can be boiled to make the drink I showed a couple days ago.

Pennyworth was selling at $5.99 a pound.

I held up another package. This is “Mung Toi” (not sure what language/dialect). In Cantonese we call this “San Choy”. A slimy vegetable usually used in soups.

And this is the “A vegetable” (A Choy) that I posted the question on in the China forum.

Edited February 25, 2007 by hzrt8w (log)

[saltylicious]

How about a pic of Pocky snacks?

[hzrt8w]

Today’s lunch. We went to TK Noodles (Stockton Blvd and 65th Street) to have a quick bite.

We share 2 bowls of noodle soups. First one: Curry duck noodle soup (with rice vermicelli). The broth is heavy with coconut milk, lime and lemon grass. Slightly spicy-hot.

Second one: Satay beef noodle soup. They make this one with wide rice noodle (“ho fun”). Slices of thin raw beef on top. The soup is made with Sa Cha sauce and ground peanut. Shreds of cucumbers and some cilantro placed on top.

Both were excellent, as always!

[Mooshmouse]

Some gadgets (not sure what the proper name is) made of bamboo.  Chinese in rural areas use these to sort out bad dried fruits, bad grains.

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I remember these from my childhood in the Philippines; we used these to winnow rice, separating the grain from the chaff. I also used it to scatter grain for the chickens.

Edited February 25, 2007 by Mooshmouse (log)

[C. sapidus]

We share 2 bowls of noodle soups.  First one:  Curry duck noodle soup (with rice vermicelli).  The broth is heavy with coconut milk, lime and lemon grass.  Slightly spicy-hot.

Second one:  Satay beef noodle soup.  They make this one with wide rice noodle (“ho fun”).  Slices of thin raw beef on top.  The soup is made with Sa Cha sauce and ground peanut.  Shreds of cucumbers and some cilantro placed on top.

←

Ooh, those soups sound delicious. I love spicy citrusy coconut milk soups, and Mrs. C licks the plate whenever we have peanut sauce.

I love our local Asian market, but after seeing yours I have serious Asian market envy. I would love to have that variety of seafood available – we can’t even get head-on shrimp around here.

Re narcissus/paperwhites/daffodils: all belong to the genus Narcissus. Paperwhites usually refer to the overpoweringly fragrant types forced into flowering during the winter. Common English names for Narcissus include daffodil and jonquil. To keep it food-related: don't eat Narcissus because they contain toxic calcium oxalate.

Awesome blog - I will be very sorry to see this end.

[hzrt8w]

Okay... I am going to finish a few random pieces before I get turned into a pumkin at midnight...

When I ran my errand at Safeway last Sunday, I dropped by Peet’s Coffee and Tea briefly because Peet’s is right next to Safeway. Though in a separate building, this Peet’s share the same architecture style as the Safeway’s.

I heard so much about Peet’s in the California forum, including the one location inside the Ferry Building. I have been to it a few times and in different locations. I am not serious coffee drinker. I am not capable of distinguishing between Peet’s coffee and Starbuck’s and the coffee from a few other smaller chains (such as Seattle’s Best, even the Bad Ass Coffee at Kona).

The wooden menu. Coffee beans behind the counter. This place always smells very good from all the roasted coffee beans.

For me… a small decaf, house coffee. I didn’t even ask what blend it was. I couldn’t tell the difference anyway. $1.60.

It seems as if the mom-and-pop coffee shop is a Chevrolet, Starbucks would be a Camry. And Peet’s? It would be a Cadillac in terms of pricing. The coffee tasted good.

They are totally serious about their coffee and tea. This is a showcase of all their different varieties of “chai”.

They sell blended tea leaves in small jars. All given fancy names.

Displays on both sides of the showcase island. More tea blends.

Across the street from this location is a railroad intersection. There is a light rail system in Sacramento, much like San Diego and Los Angeles and San Francisco. Light rails run on a narrower set of tracks than regular rail cars.

Random thoughts: Sacramento… this is where it all started. The last leg of the transcontinental railroad. The big four: Stanford, Huntington, Crocker, Hopkins… decided to build the railroad through the Sierra Nevada. Recruited Chinese labor to build the railroad. Among those, my wife’s great great grandfather. I am seeing part of that history right before my eyes. Without that event, many of the Chinese-Americans might not be here in this continent today. Nor would be my wife. Nor would be I. And I wouldn’t be here at Peet’s Coffee taking pictures.

On the way home driving on I-80, came to this freeway interchange. One sign: San Francisco. Another sign: Los Angeles. Here I am in Sacramento. I have been living in all these cities, plus San Diego. It was San Diego that I first went to college, then to Sacramento for my master, back to Hong Kong and worked for a while, came back to San Francisco to look for jobs, settled with going to Los Angeles to work and live, and now back to Sacramento again. Like a big circle. Reminds of the theme song for “California’s Gold” – California Here I come… “California here I come, Right back where I started from, Where bowers of flowers bloom in the sun…”

Edited February 26, 2007 by hzrt8w (log)

[dockhl]

Random thoughts:  Sacramento… this is all where it started.  The transcontinental railroad.  The big four: Stanford, Huntington, Crocker, Hopkins… decided to build the railroad through the Sierra Nevada.  Recruited Chinese labor to build the railroad.  Among those, my wife’s great grandfather.  I am seeing part of that history right before my eyes.  Without that event, many of the Chinese-Americans might not be here in this continent today.  Nor would be my wife.  Nor would be I.  And I wouldn’t be here at Peet’s Coffee taking pictures.

On the way home driving on I-80, came to this freeway interchange.  One sign: San Francisco.  Another sign: Los Angeles.  Here I am in Sacramento.  I have been living in all these cities, plus San Diego.  It was San Diego that I first went to college, then to Sacramento for my master, back to Hong Kong and worked for a while, came back to San Francisco to look for jobs, settled with going to Los Angeles to work and live, and now back to Sacramento again.  Like a big circle.  Reminds of the theme song for “California’s Gold” – California Here I come… “California here I come, Right back where I started from, Where bowers of flowers bloom in the sun…”

Ah Leung~

It has been such a pleasure to spend this week with you. I am most happy that you seem thrilled to be in your adopted homeland. It is a wonderful world, isn't it? So many opportunities...........

Thank you.

Best~

Kathy

[hzrt8w]

Tonight’s dinner at… you guessed right… Happy Garden! This is the family gathering for the 7th day of Chinese New Year – “Yun Yuet” (birthday for mankind).

First course was the soup with crab meat and egg white like I'd shown a week ago.

Roast pork. These are very good. The skin was crispy and tasty. The meat was quite lean.

Sauteed scallops with mixed vegetables: snap peas, baby corns, water chestnuts, carrots and celery.

Cantonese Fried Chicken with shrimp chips as decoration. Condiment was the traditional salt and ground Sichuan peppercorn.

Salt and Pepper Shrimp. Very crispy. Done well.

Dried scallop (shredded) stir-fried with pea shoots.

Steamed fish. Ginger and green onion mix on top, with light soy sauce splashed on.

“Capitol” pork ribs. Sesame seeds and cilantro sprinkled on top.

Beef “steak” stir-fried with Chinese broccoli (gai lan), and a mix of straw mushrooms and carrots.

Chicken Chow Mein. The noodle part symbolizes longevity.

All eaten with plenty of steamed rice (except me and my wife), and Teet Kwun Yum tea.

Happy Birthday Everybody!

Edited February 25, 2007 by hzrt8w (log)

[hzrt8w]

I think I can squeeze in this one: my wife making fat-free yogurt at home, for those of you who might be interested.

Each time, she starts with a 128-oz bottle of fat free milk.

She uses our two 14-inch pans to heat up (not to boil) the milk to lukewarm.

She covers the pan while warming.

Inside the yogurt are live cultures. She got her “mother” lode from the yogurt bought at Trader Joe’s. Each time she saves a small container of the yogurt to make the next round. This is like making sour dough, or the Chinese master sauce.

She takes the mother lode yogurt from the refrigerator, slowly adds the lukewarm milk to let they acclimate for 5 to 10 minutes.

Pour all the lukewarm milk in a big pot, then pour the mother lode yogurt in it. Mix well.

Divide the milk into different containers for easy storage. She re-uses the yogurt containers from the early days where they were bought from Trader Joe’s.

Each container is sealed with a lid individually. She water-proofs it with a plastic bag. Place the container in a bath of lukewarm water.

Leave all 4 or 5 containers of yogurt in the lukewarm water bath in the oven (just to keep them warm) overnight. The milk will curdle in about 12 to 24 hours. Then keep the containers in the refrigerator.

[hzrt8w]

This afternoon’s snack for the two of us before heading over for dinner:

“Nam Yu” peanut. These are peanut roasted with Nam Yu (red fermented bean curds). My favorite.

A pictorial on how to make this at home:

Roasted Peanuts with Nam Yu (南乳肉花生)

Some “White Rabbit” candies. These are milk candies. A favorite since childhood.

Sesame candy.

And the egg rolls (cookie rolls). Very popular in Hong Kong.

A medley of snacks.

We had this for dessert when we got home: “To fu fa”, or silken tofu. Ginger syrup is added to a few spoonful of silken tofu. Heated in the microwave for a minute. In the summer days it would be consumed cold.

[hzrt8w]

The legend of Fortune Cookies

These are purely a creation in North America. When you travel in China, don’t expect the waitstaff to bring out a dish of Fortune Cookies to you after your meal. They, like me, probably have not even heard of this kind of cookie (I didn’t until I came to the USA).

I have read some stories about the origin of Fortune Cookies, some of which were posted in the China forum. But I cannot recall the details. It’s all for good…

I have asked the waitress at Happy Garden to give me some extra Fortune Cookies to take home. Here, crack the cookie in halves right in the middle. Take out the paper slip which has your fortune printed on it.

Here, I have my fortune in my hand! (And I am going to keep breaking more fortune cookies until I find a fortune that I like!)

This is my fortune. It said: You will be honored with a prestigious prize or reward.

How appropriate! Posting a week-long foodblog on eGullet and sharing my experience with all of you has been the most prestigious reward for me.

And there is a little game for fun that has been going around… next time you are in a group dining in a Chinese restaurant and they give you fortune cookies, read each fortune slip out loud. But in the end, add “… in bed”.

[insomniac]

This afternoon’s snack for the two of us before heading over for dinner:

“Nam Yu” peanut.  These are peanut roasted with Nam Yu (red fermented bean curds).  My favorite.

A pictorial on how to make this at home:

Roasted Peanuts with Nam Yu (南乳肉花生)

Some “White Rabbit” candies.  These are milk candies.  A favorite since childhood.

Sesame candy.

And the egg rolls (cookie rolls).  Very popular in Hong Kong.

A medley of snacks.

We had this for dessert when we got home:  “To fu fa”, or silken tofu.  Ginger syrup is added to a few spoonful of silken tofu.  Heated in the microwave for a minute.  In the summer days it would be consumed cold.

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White rabbits...the kids' favourite...they used to think it was funny to watch kids not used to eating them trying to peel off the paper

[sheetz]

This is like a trip down memory lane of my childhood snacks. White Rabbit candies were my absolute favorite candies in the world.

I never cared for fortune cookies, but the almond cookies at Queen's Bakery in LA chinatown are the best! One of these days I'll figure out their recipe and do a pictorial.

[hzrt8w]

Well, folks… Like all great parties, it must come to an end. Here are my departing thoughts.

First: Thank you to all of you for your kind words and let me indulge myself to freely express my thoughts in the past week. The past week has been tough. The preparations, getting ready for Chinese New Year, the festivities, and blogging as much of my meal activities as possible. Taking pictures, selecting them, uploading them to the eGullet server, and typing my stories. All of these done while the festivities were going on, on top of my full time job and going to school two nights a week. This has been a lot of work, and I haven’t been sleeping very well. Part of it is the excitement of a new day, new things to explore, new food to taste, new stories to tell. Blogging is hard. Especially doing it back to back for 8 straight days. I wouldn’t want to inflict it on anybody, except a few posters whom I really hate! No, just kidding. But I do wish I can pass on the relay baton to the individual of my choosing. And before me, there are so many culinary masters on eGullet who I wish would take on and let us peek into one week of their lives.

There, you have seen my life for the past week. My under the lime light for eight days and five minutes of fame. I am a first generation immigrant to this beautiful country, the United States of America. I adore the unbound possibilities, the freedom to pursue what my heart desires. Like many first generation immigrants before me, my meal habits and food choices remain those that I acquired in my birth country. It is a matter of personal choice. I hope that through my postings, it will arouse some of your interests to the Chinese food culture.

To understand the food from a country is to understand the people, to understand their background. There are 5000 years of history in China. Festivities that are based on centuries of traditions passed on from generations to generations. Many symbolisms behind what we eat during the most important festivity of the Chinese culture: the Chinese New Year. I hope that in the past eight days I have revealed a tiny fraction of our rich culture enough to interest you to explore more.

I post regularly in the China forum. We would love to have you drop by and exchange viewpoints or post questions regarding Chinese food. Until next time, so long!

China and Chinese Cuisine

Xie Xie [Mandarin]

Doh Je [Cantonese]

- Ah Leung

Feb 2007

Edited February 26, 2007 by hzrt8w (log)

[Domestic Goddess]

Ah Leung,

I remember the White Rabbit candies too! I grew up with them... I love the thin wrapping paper. I actually prefer it from the actual candy. My son saw the picture and asked if we could have my parents send him a pack. LOL

I, too am sad that this great blog has to end... at the same time glad to have been a part of your life. Of course, we will be joining you at the Chinese forum. It's like being with family!

Don't forget to send me your snail addy. I already got your coke cans here ready for mailing.

Doddie

[miladyinsanity]

Wonderful blog, Ah Leung!

Also, I must go buy some White Rabbit candies. Now I've got a craving. LOL.

[maher]

Ah Leung

Thank you for a most inspiring Blog. it sets new standards for Egullet and has been the first thing Ive done each morning.

I will look forward to your ongoing contributions in the China forum.