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

[Chufi]

Ah Leung, thank you, again, for teaching me a little bit more about a cuisine that is so unfamiliar to me.

Good luck with finding your fortune, and I hope your dream about flying a plane will come true!

[C. sapidus]

Random thoughts:  Sacramento… this is all where it 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 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.

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Ah Leung: I respect your ability to draw connections between a railroad track, a highway overpass, and the history of China, North America, and your family. Beautiful.

Thank you for this week. I have enjoyed the mouth-watering food, your quirky sense of humor, the history and culture, and of course your wonderful pictures and pictorials. What you have taught us about Chinese food and culture encourages me to learn more. I wish you good health and good fortune in pursuit of your dreams.

[Dejah]

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.

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I didn't blanch when I was in the restaurant because the heat from the big burners shorten the time needed to "cook" the vegetables.

I do now at home because my hubby and elderly mother prefers their vegetables, such as gai lan, to be on the more tender side.

[Dejah]

Ah Leung, Silow,

A job well done! You've done the China and Chinese Cuisine forum proud.

Now, git back in that kitchen and cook up more pictorials!

[Tepee]

Great 'cyclopedic blog!

Alrighty, Ah Leung Gaw, you've had your fun...we want you back in the chinese forum. NOW.

[mizducky]

Ah Leung, it's been a pleasure to have you hold forth for a full week, and to get a more in-depth glimpse into your culture and history, as well as the Sacramento scene. Many thanks for a terrific blog, on top of all the wonderful teaching and sharing you've been doing over in the China forum. Wishing you and your family a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

/the duck

[lucylou95816]

Ah Leung, thanks for the wonderful blog, and for showing me parts of this city that I have never really ventured into. I especially liked the peak at the SF Supermarket, I may have to wander over there one of these days.

[hzrt8w]

Got a little bit of "post show" time. Let me answer some remaining questions:

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

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Abra: I don't know what "pork fu" is. It's hard to pick up these thing from a translation. Perhaps if I see a picture of the product, I will know.

[Rebecca263]

Thank you, Ah Leung, for a wonderful weeklong visit. We have enjoyed so much to read your writings, see your photos, and learn so much about your own history. You are a wonderful 'blogger. I wish you and your family all good things in the comng year.

Reading your 'blog about work has reminded me of a job I had many years ago, running a TRS-80!

Be well!

[hzrt8w]

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

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Absolutely Michael! How can I ever forget! I spent my first 4 years supporting VAX and VMS operating system - unfortunately... destined to be a dying breed in the early 90's. A "RA81" disk drive - no kidding, just the disk drive not the computer itself - has a capacity of 465 MB, but is bigger than your washing machine! Now you can place a 100 GB hard disk in your shirt's pocket! Thousand times higher in performance, hundred times smaller in volume.

[hzrt8w]

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?

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lswswein: Dark soy sauce is not as salty as the light soy sauce and has a rich, bodied flavor. 1/4 cup to 1/2 of dark soy sauce would be about right but you can adjust to your personal taste. I am glad you like the dish.

[hzrt8w]

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

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May not be as common in home cooking. In restaurants I have seen them do this all the time. They always have a big pot of hot water next to the wok. They will dip the vegetable in the hot water, just for a few seconds, then on to the hot wok. This is more efficient.

[hzrt8w]

How about a pic of Pocky snacks?

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Ha! I didn't even know what "Pocky" is under I started seeing the postings on eGullet. I don't notice them in our Asian markets here. Perhaps they are not that known to Vietnamese-Chinese.

[Abra]

I have just loved this blog. I especially appreciate your showing us how to use so many of the ingredients that I see often, but can't even pronounce because there's not a word of English on the package. Although I already use a lot of Asian ingredients, this blog will help me to use many more. And I'm making Coca Cola chicken tonight in your honor!

[racheld]

Thank you from everyone at our house for all the lovely dishes you've added to our table. This week went much too fast.

We wish you good fortune, and may you fly high and land softly.

And may all your dreams be of flight.

[I_call_the_duck]

Ah Leung, Thanks for blogging with us and sharing your week. I had fun!

[judiu]

Thank you so much. I, too have Asian store envy! There's about 1/4 of a shelf in my local Publix dedicated to Asian food...!

[BettyK]

Great blog, Ah Leung. Thanks for sharing your week with us.

[Smithy]

Ah Leung,

This has been a lovely blog. Tonight when I logged in I was amazed at the Asian supermarket you showed us. I found myself boggling with envy - the wide aisles AND the exotic ingredients AND the exotic cookware! How cool is that?! I'm also amazed at the amount of live-and-kicking food there is to be found there. Out here in Duluth, the grocery stores have gotten better by the decades, but it's difficult to find places with entire whole fish, live or dead.

I've thoroughly enjoyed your discourse on California in particular and America in general. Your photos are of my home; your comments have helped me see my native land through new eyes. I know that the Chinese immigrants of an earlier era had a tough go of it. (Someday, if we ever meet in real time, we can trade stories.) I'm very glad to know that the American Dream is alive and well for you.

I must say, I love going out for Chinese food but have never attempted to cook it at home. Now I think I'll have to go check out your tutorials more carefully, and take a stab at it!

Thanks for a marvelous blog. It is a pile of work, and you've done it proud. Thank you for helping us begin a new year, and for showing us how to do it a new way!

Since I don't know the Chinese for "thank you", I'll again just say "Gung Hay Fat Choy".

I'll close with my family's standard farewell, taken from my grandmother's very serious but uneducated advice to her hotshot WWII pilot son:

Fly low and slow, and keep your nose down in the curves -

[Kent Wang]

Fantastic blog. I have learned much from you.

[SuzySushi]

Xie xie for a magnificent blog! (Don't know the Cantonese phrase, so this will have to do!)

[Pan]

Ah Leung, I had long hoped you'd do a foodblog, because I've loved your pictorial demonstrations of Chinese home-cooked dishes. But the quality of this blog has far exceeded anything I could have imagined. You've shown sides of yourself I didn't know anything about, and ended with some deep, poetic thoughts. I thought you were a little crazy for agreeing to blog during New Year's, but thank you so much for doing so, and have a great year!

[Irishgirl]

Excellent Blog! Thank you. I got to celebrate Chinese New Year with friends last Sunday. Great meal, and great company. Thanks for sharing yours with us.

Gung Hey Fat Choy!

[nakji]

I'm coming in late, having just gotten back from my "Tet" holiday. What a great read this has been. It's interesting to see what parallels there are here in Vietnam. Blossoming trees have been for sale here for the last two weeks, as well as the mandarin trees (transported maniacally around town on the back of Honda scooters, strapped and wobbling precariously at every red light), although they were translated to me as peach blossoms, not plum. Red watermelon seed carnage is all over the streets as well, and red envelopes litter the desks at my office. So I say, "Chuc Mung Nam Moi!" to you, and I lift a glass of rice wine!