Poor Claudius Cookies

I saw this today on poor_claudius: Gingerbread Emperors!

Gingerbread Emperors!

I guess this is what happens when my friends and I bake Christmas cookies while watching "I, Claudius".



Top row: Augustus, Livia (with poisoned fig), grumpy Tiberius
Bottom row: Caligula (exposing himself), Claudius (with slightly damaged foot), and Nero.

Nero's awesome fiddle was made by [info]elanya out of a tiny snowman-shaped cookie.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Via poor_claudius: Gingerbread Emperors!

Avocado Shopping

We also ought to be banned from buying avocados, as I can never catch that minute between green, alligator-skinned rocks and smooshy mess, and I feel ridiculously wasteful every time I throw them away. We were better off in China, when we would carry our avocados and gouda back from Jenny Lou’s, and then wait, checking the avocados for that perfect sandwich ripeness each time before we went out for dumplings.

Via Simpson’s Paradox » Blog Archive » Victory Milk

Twitter Soup

Saw this on Beth Dunn's blog, small dots, and it's an awesome blend of budget cooking and tech geekery. Best line:

But in hard times, I can’t. I need to rely more on noodles and ramen, less on nori and rabe.

The whole thing's worth a read.

Via stone soup « small dots

Testing Jelly Without A Candy Thermometer

Elise.com has a simple way to see if the jelly's ready to jell using cold plates. Yay! Because I don't have a candy thermometer lying around.

Too runny to be ready	It's wrinkly, so it's ready

....Put several small plates into the freezer. As the jelly temperature exceeds 218°F, start testing it by placing a small amount of the hot jelly on a chilled plate. If the jelly spreads out and thins immediately, it isn't ready. If it holds its shape a bit, that's a good sign. Push up against it with your finger tip. If the jelly sample wrinkles at all, it is time to take the jelly off the heat and pour it out into jars.

Between this and my last post, you can probably guess what I'm making!

Via Seville Orange Marmalade Recipe | Simply Recipes

Canning Adventures

Just in case it's not clear what I'm cooking:

I was making cranberry relish yesterday when Stick came into the kitchen and looked hungrily at the jars I was filling.

“You can eat the one on the left, ’cause I screwed up the seal.” I told him, hoping to deter him from sticking a spoon in the boiling cranberry-orange goo.

“Great,” he said. “You make jam and save the botulism for me.”

Via Simpson’s Paradox » Blog Archive » Secret Ingredient

Blanch Three Times

 Jenyu.net has a recipe for candied orange peels which is awesome in itself AND solves my problem with marmalade and so forth, where the white part of citrus fruits makes everything bitter.

Some recipes tell you to remove the pith, but without the pith you are
left with not a lot of orange peel even though it may not technically
be part of the peel. I think the concern is that the pith makes the
peel bitter. You can remedy the bitterness by blanching the peels.



blanch the strips of peel three times

(I know what blanch means but this picture is pretty)

Via use real butter » Blog Archive » candied orange peels

Caramel Apple Crack

Not something I can cook, but something I really like: Starbucks' Apple Crack!

I don’t know if the Starbucks in China has this, because I was too busy slurping up all the real-bean coffee and then getting the jitters. I don’t know what’s in it, either. I asked Stick and he thinks maybe it’s sunshine and rainbows and highly addictive chemicals.

Note: This is not a paid advertisement, but if Starbucks would pay me I would totally advertise the Apple Crack. In fact, I’d even call it by its proper name.

Via Simpson’s Paradox » Blog Archive » Thanksgiving

Mario and Princess Peach

Another geeky gem from Cake Wrecks. What is it about the combination of sugar and gaming that makes these cakes so perfect?
Yes, it's a Mario wedding cake. (With a cake like this, I bet the bridesmaid dresses weren't too bad!) And here is the fondant duo that replaces the usual (LAME!) cake topper.

Go over to Cake Wrecks to see more amazing photos.

Soy Sauce And Garum

I saw this today on Fussy

From Larousse Gastronomique

Soy Sauce

The
following is taken from a traditional Chinese recipe. Boil 2.5 kg (5
1/2 lb. 13 cups) soya beans in water until they are reduced to a puree.
Add 1 kg (2 1/4 lb. 9 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour and knead well to
produce a thick dough. Leave in a cool dark place for 2 days, then hang
the container in a draught for a week. When a yellow mould appears on
the dough, place a jar containing 5 litres (8 1/2 pints, 5 1/2 quarts)
water and 1.5 kg (3 1/4 lb. 5 2/3 cups) salt in a sunny place. When the
water is warm to the touch, put the dough into the jar. Leave this
uncovered for a month, pounding the mixture vigorously every day with a
stick. The mixture will turn black as it ages.

Leave for 4-5
months without stirring or covering the jar, unless the weather is bad,
in which case the jar should be covered. Decant and store the sauce in
hermetically sealed bottles.

Who the hell thought this up,
is what I want to know. Who thought, Hmm, I need some salty black
delicious liquid to dip my dumplings in, maybe I'll just punch some
dough with a stick and then leave it out back until spring? Well,
whoever it was, whether individual or collective, I do thank you.
Because we're having sushi tonight.

I have to wonder if that's what garum would have been like.

Via Fussy

Cashew Chicken Curry

I started with this recipe for Chicken Curry with Cashews from Epicurious.com, but then started to modify the ingredients

* 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
* 2 medium onions, finely chopped (2 cups)
* 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
* 1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
* 3 tablespoons curry powder
* 2 teaspoons salt -- I used garlic salt
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
* 1 (3 1/2- to 4-pound) chicken, cut into 10 serving pieces
* 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes -- I used tomato paste since I don't like the texture of tomatoes. Odd, I know.
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
* 3/4 cup cashews (1/4 pound)
* 3/4 cup plain whole-milk yogurt


* Accompaniment: cooked basmati or jasmine rice
* Garnish: chopped fresh cilantro

Saute onions, garlic, and ginger,
in butter, in a wok.  (note to self: am I able to cook anything w/out a wok?)

Add curry, garlic salt,
cumin, paprika and cook, stirring.

Add chicken, chopped mushrooms, 1/2 a potato, cilantro and stirfry.

Then add tomato paste and yogurt, simmer until it looks like curry.

Serve over rice!

Via Chicken Curry with Cashews Recipe at Epicurious.com

Sushi Proposal

I saw this today on the Engrish Brog:

I recently received this cute email from a happy woman named Christin

My boyfriend proposed to me last
weekend after 7 years - we frequent a local sushi restaurant in our
area a few times a month (sometimes more), so it was very fitting that
he popped the question at the sushi place.  The miss-spelling only
added to the charm of it all, I just had to share.

Let’s happy marriage!

I would have said yes, too. Sushi and jewelry, what's not to love? Plus I could tease him about the misspelling for years to come!

Via An Engrish Engagement… | Engrish Brog

Staying Fit My Way

My Usual Workout Routine

10 Go to the gym

20 Overdo workout in an attempt to cancel out unhealthy lifestyle

30 Go home achy and sore

40 Skip the gym because my stupid workout hurt me

50 Feel bad about not going recently and resolve to do a really good workout

60 Go to line 20

Via Simpson’s Paradox : Line 70 is “Become Smoking Hot”

What is Kohlrabi, anyway?

 Orangette has “The Y Chromosome Salad,”  a recipe for kohlrabi. 

Cooking With Booze... ok, screw the cooking part!

Booze and China, from the awesome Heather, who was our neighbor in Yihai:

i met up with two other foreign teachers on Saturday at the mall, so we could have some shopping time together.
and we did, but even more exciting was the Baileys Promotional tent , complete with couches and tables and chairs, we ran into as we were heading over to a different mall.

"Let's check it out" was my urging.

Which resulted in a solid hour sitting and consuming free Baileys samples, having my photo taken no less than 700 times, having three separate videos shot of myself enjoying free baileys samples.

after the sixth sample (apparently there was no one sample limit), my one friend insisted that the photographer show her the photos, which turned out to be ok. A lot of close-ups. Some with strategically placed Baileys.

Three foreign women enjoying Baileys.

I wonder if I will become a part of their next advertising campaign?

I can't wait to see lovely blonde Heather having free shots on  Chinese billboard. Stories like this make me really miss China... I think I'll go drown my sorrows in some Baileys!

Via where is heather??: NaBloPoMo Day # 11 - Stares into space like a dead china doll

Mario and Princess Peach

Another geeky gem from Cake Wrecks. What is it about the combination of sugar and gaming that makes these cakes so perfect?
Yes, it's a Mario wedding cake. (With a cake like this, I bet the bridesmaid dresses weren't too bad!) And here is the fondant duo that replaces the usual (LAME!) cake topper.

Go over to Cake Wrecks to see more amazing photos.

Arcade Cupcakes

I saw this on Cake Wrecks: Sunday Sweets: Cupcakes! They were posted by hello naomi to Flickr, so maybe she should get the credit, and not Cake Wrecks? Not sure how the etiquette goes here, but I'm really glad they came to my attention. How cute are these game cupcakes?

See, now this is the way to do a cupcake-cake: don't ice them all together, and reference an 80's video game!

Another example:


I call dibs on the green mushroom!

Via Cake Wrecks: Sunday Sweets: Cupcakes!

Pokemon Cupcakes

A recent post on Cake Wrecks combined two things I love, cupcakes and geekiness.

Since I'm more of the Garfield generation, I don't claim to know who any of these Pokemon characters are:

Since I'm a big nerd, I would probably let these cupcakes go stale waiting for them to evolve into giant layer cakes.

Via Cake Wrecks: Sunday Sweets: Cupcakes!

Raw Cookie Dough

I saw this today on Priscilla's Baking Adventures: Already At #2?? and it made me so hungry for cookie dough. I'm posting this partly to bookmark a tempting recipes and partly for the fantastic substitution of condensed milk for eggs to make raw cookie dough safely edible. I don't mean that I don't eat eggs-in cookie dough, but I always eat a spoonfull or too and then think Aaaah! Salmonella! and then look longingly at the rest of the bowl.

"Cookie Dough Truffles"
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1-1/2 pounds semisweet candy coating, chopped
DIRECTIONS:
In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Gradually add flour, alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Shape into 1-in. balls; place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Loosely cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until firm. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt candy coating; stir until smooth. Dip balls in coating, allowing excess to drip off; place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes. If desired, remelt remaining candy coating and drizzle over candies. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 5-1/2 dozen.
**I dropped the balls by a tablespoon onto the waxed paper in the size of 1-in. and then froze them. Once I froze them I then made them into balls and dipped them. So much easier!**

Via Priscilla's Baking Adventures: Already At #2??

Orangette's Aubergine

I have had this post from Orangette bookmarked forever. I thought her recipe for spiced eggplant with peas and yogurt would be a great China dinner with a few tweaks, but I didn't get round to trying it before we had to go home.

Rugelach

The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch has a post on baking Rugelach. These are those rocking raisin/phyllo rolled tarts. (Say it with a Yiddish CH.)

We have to polish off the election day banana cake first but I wanted to bookmark this to make myself.

Election Day Cake

1) Take a package of yellow cake mix, and begin to prepare according to package directions.

2) Notice 2 overripe bananas between kitchen and PC news feed.

3) Use nervous tension to smash bananas to pulp.

4) Everyone on Twitter shouts something about hologram coverage.

5) Add honey. (I always add honey and/or vanilla to package cake)

6) Put cake in oven.

7) Smell happy banana cake smell as you anxiously refresh CNN, NBC, Twitter.


How was your election day?

Freezer Storage

I saw this today on Catherine Newman Weekly Blog - Wondertime which used to be Dalai Mama and is now a recipe column.

 

Leftover
tomato paste? Scoop tablespoons of it onto a waxed-paper-lined baking
sheet, freeze until solid, then store the frozen lumps in a (labeled!)
Ziploc freezer bag. Or else let it get moldy in the fridge and throw it
out later. Either way.

Dear Catherine, just because I'm blogging this does not mean I have forgiven you for abruptly no longer writing about Ben and Birdy. No. I haven't. I'm still mad. I followed the adventures of your family since before Birdy existed and then one day you drop "Hey, I'm writing a cookbook now!" and stop.

Via Pot Roast - Catherine Newman Weekly Blog for 10/20/08 - Wondertime

Bacon Tweet

 From Twitter:

guykawasaki



Love Bacon?: http://bacon.alltop.com

A bacon toplist. Awesome.

La de

When I first went to Yantai, I imagined I’d come home and slip effortlessly into fluent Mandarin to quote ancient Chinese wisdom. Fortunately for people who have to put up with me, that didn’t happen.

A few characters have somehow made it into my notetaking, which is completely mindblowing to me. I tried to train myself to write any characters I did know at every opportunity as practice, and some of those words stuck. Which now makes my handwriting extra illegible!

I don’t have any complete phrases, or ancient Chinese sayings, but one Chinese word has made it into our everyday vocabulary. Stick and I both use la de to talk about food, instead of saying spicy-hot-not-hot-hot.

Via Simpson’s Paradox » Blog Archive » Everyday Expressions

Win a Trip To China

Crossposted from my main blog, just wanted to share this:

It’s actually painful for me to pass this on, since I want to win so badly. But it’s still an awesome contest:

Mashable and VisualCV have teamed up to send a Mashable reader to China in November with Robert Scoble, Shel Israel, Sam Lawrence, Christine Lu, Elliot Ng and more. Travel with this group of high-level tech entrepreneurs and leading social media influencers on a multi-city tour of China’s tech sector. Blog about your trip to China with a chance to post on the official China 2.0 Blog and maybe even have a guest post on Mashable. Don’t miss the opportunity of a lifetime. Create and share your VisualCV today to have a chance to be selected as a blogger on the China 2.0 Tour in November.

Sign up here (FOR FREE), create your VisualCV and use it to tell us why you think you should be selected to go on The China Business Network’s upcoming China 2.0 Tour. Share your VisualCV with us at china2.0@visualcv.com so we can select a winner. Good luck!

I entered yesterday, because how could I pass up the chance to go back to China and blog, without all that tedious lesson prep and going to work? I think there’s still another day left to enter, though. Good luck, and if you win, bring me back some hawthorn leather.

Via Visual CV - You Need a Better Resume (seen all over the China blogs but I believe this is the source page)

Pork Chops with Tomatoes, Caramelized Onions and Feta Cheese (And MUSHROOMS!)

I'm going to make these Pork Chops with Tomatoes, Caramelized Onions and Feta Cheese to use up the food I have leftover from making all these.

For the love of cooking says this about her recipe:

I love the combination of flavors and textures in this dish... the tomatoes and caramelized onions are sweet while the feta is a bit salty. Topping the whole dish off with a bit of balsamic vinegar just completes it perfectly. My kids and husband all love these chops and so do I. It's really delicious and healthy too.

Sounds good to me! Although I plan to add mushrooms. Mushrooms make everything better.

Via For the love of cooking: Pork Chops with Tomatoes, Caramelized Onions and Feta Cheese

Durian Romance

I wrote this for my personal blog but thought it would be funny here with my other comments on food and cooking and taste.

The awesome Mental Floss Blog has a new post on 5 Innovative Ways to Encourage Safer Sex. All 5 are funny - condom ringtones, anyone? — but I just had to share this one.

Ethiopians claim they hate condoms because the smell of latex sickens them. To combat the odor, DKT International, a United Sates nonprofit, created coffee condoms. These dark brown condoms allegedly (I’m not testing the products) taste and smell like the favorite coffee of Ethiopia—the macchiato, an espresso with cream and sugar. … These condoms bolster national identity because Ethiopians claim to have invented coffee. DKT International also created flavored and scented condoms for Indonesia (durian fruit) and China (sweet corn).

Yes, that’s right. Durian fruit flavored condoms.

Durian is a strange Asian fruit, which is either considered a delicacy or one of the most revolting smells on the planet. I fall into the second category… I still regret once putting my nose near a durian just to see if that funny spikey fruit could really be making that sickening rotting smell. (It was!) Even in countries where durian is eaten, durian are not allowed in public places, like on subways, or on planes, or into hotels or hospitals because of the smell.

I find that retching and gagging discourages romance, but to each his own, I guess.

Via mental_floss Blog » 5 Innovative Ways to Encourage Safer Sex

Via Simpson’s Paradox

Gyro - Kebab and Rice

So once I had awesome Tzatziki sauce, I thought I'd make the rest of the meal Stick likes.

I'm still playing with the proportions, so this is more of a note to myself than a recipe.

ground turkey (I am not a fan of red meat, but I suppose it would be more authentic to use ground beef or lamb)
coriander
cumin
garlic
lemon juice
finely minced onion

I mixed everything up and let it sit in the fridge for an hour or so. Then I rolled the meat into sausages and fried then in a little oil. Next time I would make patties as sausage don't fit very well into pita pockets.

Next, I added some butter to the pan where I'd just fried the meat, and quickly stir-fried some rice in it.

Rice cooked in chicken broth
garlic powder
butter

I served everything with a tomato-feta-cucumber salad and grilled mushrooms (because mushroom go with EVERYTHING)

Grace's Pumpkin Bars

Today's awesome fall recipe is from †Faith In Love†, a homeschooling blog. (I was surprised to find this recipe in with my teaching links, but so glad I came across this recipe) I like the smell of baking pumpkin and cinnamon, plus cream cheese icing is always good. I can't wait to try these!

These are the yummiest pumpkin bars. A co-worker brings these every fall. If I make them I'll post a picture. Trust me, they are delicious.

Pumpkin Bars

4 eggs 2 tsp baking powder

2 cups sugar 1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup canola oil 3/4 tsp. salt

1-15 ounce can pumpkin 2 tsp cinnamon

2 cup flour

Heat oven to 350 degree. Grease 15 x 10 inch jelly roll pan. In large bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Add sugar, oil and pumpkin; beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Add flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon; beat 1 minute at low speed. Pour into pan. Bake at 350 degree for 25 to 30 minutes or till toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, ---when cool spread with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Via †Faith In Love†

This Just In.

The spice that makes Xinjiang barbecue taste like Xinjiang food and not generic Chinese food in cumin. Just thought I'd share.

Giddytab's Pumpkin Seeds

Today on Twitter @giddytab mentioned a recipe for pumpkin seeds that sounds amazing!

Eating the best pumpkin seeds I ever tasted! 2 c seeds, 2 T butter, 1 tsp garlic salt! Mix in pot for 3 min & bake on 250 on cookie sheet

Sounds so good. Must remember to try this when we make jack-o-lanterns.

Tzatziki Sauce

Stick's favorite restaurant in NC is either Greek Fiesta, or La Shish, and his favorite in Beijing was Biteapita. I guess you know what he likes to eat!

Tzatziki Sauce

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt (all the recipes I found asked for special think yogurt, but I used regular. It came out fine)
1/2 cup grated cucumber (it's hard to measure because it's so squishy, grate a couple inches of cucumber)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
garlic salt
mint

(Most recipes I found called for 1 -2 tablespoons of olive oil but I skipped that because it seemed like needless fat. The sauce was very smooth anyway. Maybe it's because I used the wrong yogurt!)

I was a bit worried about this one as yogurt + lemon juice could easily make a curdled mess. I got around that by grating the cuke into a tupperware container, and coating it in lemon juice, then garlic salt. Then I added the yogurt + mint.

I sealed the tupperware and stuck in the fridge for about an hour to let everything combine. I was so pleased to find perfect dipping sauce, instead of curdled disaster! YAY!

Random Guacamole

Stick and I need to be banned from buying avocados. We can never manage to eat them all in the 5 seconds after the avocados ripen and before they go bad. Seriously. I have wasted so many avocados (even in Beijing where buying avocados means a crosstown trip to Jenny Lu's and a lot of money) by missing the window.

Anyway, the other night I saw that we had 2 perfectly ripe avocados and tortilla chip but no guac mix.

2 perfecly ripe avocados
1 lime (yes, I had a lime kicking around)
1/4 white onion, finely minced
garlic salt to taste
a dash of paprika

I juiced the lime, and mixed everything up in a bowl. The end.

Stick said it was the best guacamole ever, and I was worried that I couldn't replicate my tasty experiment. But I have, so now here is the What I Have In The Fridge Guac for you to try, too.

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants

The awesome Uppercase Woman said this a while ago to sum up healthy eating:

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

She was quoting Michael Pollan, of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. (He was also part of the discussion in my other post on Chinese cusine. Er, I mean on the health benefits of Chinese cooking, I guess on this blog I should be more specific about which time I talked about Chinese food.

I really like this simple concept of how to eat better and be healthier.

New Cocktail

Blatantly stolen from my college friend Keith -- I love mojitos AND sake so I'd give this on a try. Plus it's the kind of goofy thing that Keith would come up with.

New Cocktail - The "Hirohito"
This popped into my head the other night. It's a variant on the "Mojito" ("Mohito" to some). I have no idea if it's any good:

Hirohito
Equipment:

* 6 oz. Sazazuki; or,
* 6 oz. Widemouth Cup (opaque white); or,
* 6 oz. Old-Fashioned Glass

* Rectangular White Cocktail Napkin; or,
* Rectangular Saucer (white opaque)

* Straw
* Muddler (if needed)

Ingredients:

* 3oz. Genshu or Honjozo-Shu (18%+ Alc. Sake)
* Mint Syrup
o 3 Mint Leaves, ground with
o 2 tsp. Sugar, into
o 1 oz. Water
or
o 3 Mint Leaves, ground into
o 1 oz. Simple Syrup
or
o 1 oz. Peppermint Schnapps
* 2 oz. Tonic Water, Seltzer, or Club Soda
* Grenadine Syrup

Procedure:

Chill serving vessel. Grind mint and sugar if necessary and macerate in water, or add peppermint schnapps. Add sake and tonic water. Place napkin or saucer directly in front of guest so that guest looks down at it with long axis parallel to table edge. Place cup upon saucer. With straw, deposit one drop of grenadine in center of cup to represent the Japanese flag.

Via Keith's LJ

Related: The F-ing Good Mojito.

Improved Bacon!

From Picky Palate, just in case you need a way to make bacon MORE delicious.

Maple Brown Sugar Bacon

12 strips applewood smoked bacon

¼ Cup pure maple syrup

¼ Cup brown sugar


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an oven safe cooling rack with non stick cooking spray and place over a rimmed baking sheet. Place strips of bacon onto cooling rack and brush maple syrup evenly over each strip. Take pinches of brown sugar and sprinkle evenly over each strip of bacon. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until browned and crisped to your desire. I went closer to 40 minutes for a real crispy strip. Enjoy!

This would be so good on a salad or in a melt.

Via Picky Palate: The Cure All To Any Bad Day.....Bacon!

Art Cookies

I noticed this on Sioksiok’s Weblog, and I thought it was a cute blend of cooking and China, my two themes for this blog. So I decided to post it even though it's not a recipe or even really commentary on diets.

 

Hence, I am a little ticked but nonetheless very delighted to see that the museum has launched a new product.

I call it Taichi series 2.0 — cookies cast in the shape of the famous sculptures.

Via Ju Ming Tai Chi Series Cookies « Sioksiok’s Weblog

Why The Chinese Don’t Count Calories

I saw this discussion of Why the Chinese Don’t Count Calories today by Fiona Lee on the always-awesome CNR:

Just what is healthy about Chinese food? While it has a reputation for being greasy and fattening in the West, the orange chicken and “beef and broccoli in brown sauce” of Chinese take-away is definitely not part of a traditional Chinese diet.

Last night at the Beijing Bookworm, British author Lorraine Clissold gave a brief talk on her new book, Why the Chinese Don’t Count Calories.  Something of a riposte to international bestseller Why French Women Don’t Get Fat, this awkwardly titled book joins the growing literature on how traditional cuisines are better than dieting fads.

One main point seems to be that Chinese food has a higher proportion of veggies than US or British, which I totally agree with. I think that my genuine enjoyment of salads and raw veg helps keep me thin. Also, I like a little meat with my veggies and grains, but not a huge slab of a dead cow. Ick.

Strong cultural and culinary identities.  Traditional
cuisines pass on the collected food wisdom of a culture from generation
to generation, and China is no different.  As scientists begin to learn
more about nutrition and how nutrients work in tandem with each other,
much of what is passed on in Chinese cuisine is backed up by modern
nutrition. The Chinese also talk about food as being determinative of
a regional identity–like the strereotype of Sichuan people having fiery
tempers because of all the spicy food they eat.  By way of contrast, in
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan
makes the point that because Americans do not have a unifying food
culture, Americans tend to be particularly vulnerable to savvy food
marketers and diet fads (think Atkins, South Beach diet, etc).

Eh. I don't agree here, it seems to be another version of "Chinese food has been around for thousands of years, so it must be the best!" I think that food connects us all to flavors from childhood, whether it's a dish that's been around for centuries or something nice Mom used to make.

Anyway, it's a good discussion, even if I don't agree with every part. The conclusion is to enjoy healthy food, and not to get hung up on calories, which seems to be good advice for everyone.

Via Why the Chinese Don’t Count Calories! on CNReviews

Sour Cream

I love susie's big adventure in general, but this part really hit home. MY boyfriend must have said this same thing about sour cream in Beijing about a hundred times. (I'm not so much with sour cream but I felt like this about other foods).

You can find just about anything you want - or at least a reasonable substitute for - in the groceries and vegetable markets here, but there are some items that are scarce and very difficult to find. Short of going to several different markets, which my husband refuses to do, to satisfy my gastronomic desires, we end up grocery shopping at only one store, which may not have everything I may want. Like sour cream, for example. The Arabs simply do not use sour cream. They use some products that are similar, but they are NOT sour cream. I know that there are a few shops here that carry real sour cream, but we don’t do our regular shopping at those places, so I do without sour cream. Okay, okay, I know I probably shouldn’t have it anyway, but still, sometimes I would just like to have some sour cream - is that so wrong?

We didn't have to bring Susie's husband along, though, so we made a lot of trips to out-of-the-way import markets for sour cream and cheese.

Via susie's big adventure: I HATE SHOPPING IN SAUDI ARABIA!

Gorgonzola + Spinach

I saw this today on Uppercase Woman... she calls it the final nail in the mommy blog coffin, posting a recipe, but since it contains spinach and gorgonzola (two things I love) she's totally forgiven!

Utterly and completely stolen from September's issue of Cooking Light Magazine, page 148. With my substitutions.

Ziti with Spinach, Cherry Tomatoes, and Gorgonzola Sauce

Total time: 40 minutes (I did it in 25)

4 oz uncooked ziti (I used pennetti)
1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil (didn't have it, used canola)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved (used plum tomatoes, chopped)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper (whatever, just shook some in there)
1 garlic clove, minced
6 tablespoons half-and-half
3 tablespoons Gorgonzola Cheese, crumbled
1 cup fresh spinach (I used baby)

Cook pasta according to direction, omitting salt and fat; drain.

Heat oil in large non-stick skillet (or the old one you have kicking around that no longer no-sticks) over medium heat. Add tomatoes, salt, crushed red pepper, and garlic to pan; cook one minute, stirring occasionally. Stir in half-and-half and Gorgonzola cheese; cook two minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly (or whenever you get the chance because a toddler is trying to climb onto the stove). Stir in spinach and pasta; cook one minute or until spinach wilts, tossing occasionally. Yield: two servings.

If you're me, you also take some of Trader Joe's pre-cooked grilled chicken breast and lay in attractively on top, until you trip over the dog getting it to the table and the chicken falls to the floor, at which point three dogs (because you're babysitting your BFF's dogs) all get it before you do and you have to go thaw more.

It's delicious. Enjoy.

Thanks, I will.

Via Uppercase Woman: The Final Nail in the Mommy Blog Coffin

I love Orangette

I saw this on Orangette, and I tried and tried to cut it down to a more scrapbook-y size (and less stalkerish size)

The summer before last, I had a run-in with one of our neighbors over a blackberry bush. I am not usually the type of person who has run-ins, much less run-ins over fruit-bearing vegetation, but she started it. Have I told you about our mean, nasty, blackberry-hoarding neighbor? No? Well, pull up a chair. And bring a spoon, because I have some blackberry frozen yogurt in the freezer, and unlike some people, I don’t mind sharing.


We had moved into our apartment only a couple of months before, and with summer heading into its fullest flush, we noticed a thicket of blackberry bushes in one corner of the backyard. Needless to say, this was very exciting. The best part was, they were huge. Our yard is fenced on only two sides, and the bushes were sufficiently large that, on one of the unenclosed sides, they formed a partial wall along the property line. As walls go, it was somewhat ugly and unkempt, but it was covered in blackberries. Covered.

So we started picking, and then we picked some more. We made blackberry sorbet and a batch of jam. One afternoon, I decided to make some scones, so I went out with an empty Tupperware to harvest a little more. I was hunched over, picking intently on our side of the bush-wall, daydreaming about baked goods and probably humming something innocent and uplifting, when I heard footsteps. I looked up to see our next-door neighbor, the one whose yard adjoins the bushes, marching across the lawn. She came to a stop a few feet away, looked me up and down, and then spat, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Stunned, I giggled nervously and explained that we had just moved in, and that I had this great scone recipe that my sister had given me, and that I wanted to make a batch with fresh blackberries, and giggle giggle giggle.

“Well, this is my bush,” she snapped. “I planted it. And I use it every summah to make blackberry cooorrdial.” [In my mind, when I replay our conversation, I give her an upper-class British accent, even though she doesn’t have one. I think it makes her seem especially stern, don’t you? Like a strict governess, or maybe Queen Elizabeth.]

I wish I could tell you that I had a smart retort at the ready, or that I shot her down by pointing out that this particular side of the bush fell on my property or that blackberries are, in this part of the country, a non-native invasive weed, not something that one generally plants. In fact, they are considered a Weed of Concern by King County - I love that term, “Weed of Concern” - and if she did indeed plant these bushes, my (tall, imposing) landlord would probably like to have a word with her and, possibly, request that she pay a gardener to remove the bushes from my side of the property line.

Unfortunately, I only thought of these things after I had skulked away and gone inside to lie down and contemplate the general cruelty of the universe. I also contemplated the Robert Frost poem “Mending Wall” and its wise line, “Good fences make good neighbors.” I love our delicate bush-wall, but for a minute there, I wished for something a little more substantial, like wood or brick or stone. Preferably with barbed wire on top.


Of course, I am able to tell you this now because our neighbor is no longer our neighbor. She still owns the property next door, but she moved out about a year ago and rented it to a couple of girls who are not only nice, but whose wardrobes and hair I covet. And last Friday afternoon, when it was scorchingly hot and all the blackberries were fat and warm, I took my Tupperware and went picking. I came back inside a half hour later with one pound of berries - having also, in that time, had a very nice conversation, pet a cute pug, been invited to a party, and received a glass of lemonade. I feel much better about everything.

Via Orangette: Good neighbors

Sweet and Sour Pork

I saw this today on the Chinese Food Blog. While I spent most of my time in China trying not to eat Chinese food, now that I'm home I like Chinese food. I guess I can't eat the same thing every day, no matter what it is.

Looks like it can be slightly altered to make sweet & sour chicken, as well.

Here is a quick and easy recipe of Sweet and Sour Pork (Cantononese Style) for you to prepare at home.

Ingredients
1 tbsp oil
½ pork tenderloin (or fillet), cut into 1in cubes
pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper
2.5cm/1in piece of root ginger, finely grated
1 tomato, diced
½ red (and yellow and green) chilli, diced

For the sweet and sour sauce
3 oranges, juice only
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
1 tsp cornflour
1 tbsp tomato sause
2 tbsp sugar (brown sugar or honey instead); 1/2 tsp salt

Method :

1. Mix the pork cubes with salt & Brandy & leave to marinade for 30 mins (or longer).

2. Drain the Pork using a slotted spoon, or a sieve, and reserve the marinade; Stir the cornflour, rice vinegar, tomato sauce and suguar (or honey) into the marinade.

3. Mix the sauce ingredients together in a bowl.

4. Heat the oil in a wok to 180 degree C or 350 degree F or until a cube of bread browns in 30 seconds. Add the pork cubes and deep fry for 3 minutes, then remove and drain on paper towels. Heat the oil again until smoking, return the pork fry for 2 minutes or until they are golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels.

5. Now heat a pan and add the sauce mix and heat till slightly thick.

6. Mix the sauce with the meat & vegetable just before serving. A delicious sweet and sour pork dish is ready to serve now.

Via Sweet and Sour Pork Recipe (Cantononese Style) | Chinese Food Blog

Poor Arugula

Poor arugula has been getting a bad rap recently as elitist food. I didn't know that rocket was up with, say, caviar and foie gras, but I have been feeling pretty classy putting in it salads and sandwiches!

Anyway, here's a not-political discussion from Slate's arugula lovers.

It’s tasty. Let me rephrase that: It has a taste—as opposed to regular lettuce, which often seems chemically engineered to have all the properties of air, plus texture. (Hydrogen actually has four states: solid, liquid, gas and lettuce.) One salad seller described arugula’s flavor to me as "nutty and peppery." Others call it "peppery-mustardy." The disagreement makes it versatile as a salad base, one flavor in a mix, or as a garnish. (Just ask Olive Garden.)

It’s healthy. On the nutrition spectrum, arugula falls somewhere between iceberg lettuce and spinach. It’s rich in vitamins A and C, with even more calcium than spinach. It also packs nearly twice the calories of iceberg lettuce—after eating arugula, you actually feel like you’ve eaten. (Plus, if you look at cost per calorie instead of per ounce, their costs are much closer.)

It’s popular. Haters tend to lump arugula in with caviar, filet mignon, and Grey Goose as if it’s rare delicacy only swells can afford. Indeed, arugula itself makes up only 1 percent of pre-washed salad sales, according to AC Nielsen. But "tender leaf salads," those mixes that tend to include arugula, represent 25 percent of salad sales—more than iceberg lettuce’s 22 percent market share. So even if arugula alone isn’t sinking the iceberg, all those other fancy salads are.

It’s American. Arugula originated in the Mediterranean and came to America via Italy. But when it became popular in the 1970s, American salad entrepreneurs started growing it in the United States along with other non-domestic greens. "We smuggled in some radicchio seeds from Italy and gave ‘em to this farmer in Pennsylvania," Joel Dean of Dean & DeLuca told author David Kamp. "And it all came up green." Nowadays, most of the arugula you see in the supermarket comes from California.

It’s an aphrodisiac. OK, so that might be hearsay. But you hear it said a lot. "I once got a call on our consumer line from some 18 year old boys trying to verify that," says Samantha Cabaluna of Earthbound Farm. There’s a reason they call it "rocket."

Via Trailhead : It’s Not Easy Being a Leafy Green

$100 For Food Bloggers

Came across this contest today, thought I'd pass it along.

BigOven.com gets much better for everyone the more photos that are submitted.

That's why we're giving away a $100 Amazon.com Gift Certificate every month for the very best recipe photo submitted, as judged by our CEO and Founder. (Lakefront Software Inc. employees, immediate friends and family are ineligible for the monthly prize.)

So get out your camera and start shooting! And spread the word to any shutterbugs you know!

It's completely free to enter. To post a photo online, simply visit the appropriate recipe page on http://www.bigoven.com/ (or post your own new recipe to the archive, free!), look on the right hand side, and click "Submit Photo". You can submit photos for recipes that are already online, or post new recipes with new photos. You can also take better photos of those recipes that already have photos. While these are just as eligible to win the monthly $100 Gift Certificate, we'd prefer to fill out more recipe entries with photos.

Here's are a few things that might be handy in your quest for the $100 monthly prize:

• List of recently submitted photos
• Some tips on great food photography
• A link to our Food Photography Forum

Via $100 Awarded Each Month to the Best Recipe Photo Posted On BigOven.com! - BigOven

Tempting Asparagus Recipe from Picky Palate!

I just saw this on Picky Palate, and I can't wait to make it. Looks like a lovely way to transform asparagus from average side veg to delicious!

Crisp Pancetta Sauteed Asparagus with Goat Cheese Crumbles

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 thin slices pancetta, diced
1 Bunch asparagus, ends trimmed, about 1 lb
Pinch of salt
Crumbled Goat Cheese

1. Heat oil into a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, cook pancetta until starts to brown, reduce to medium low.

2. Drop asparagus into boiling water for 60 seconds. With a large slotted spoon, transfer asparagus to skillet. Season with a pinch of salt. Cook and stir for 2-3 minutes or until heated through. Transfer asparagus and pancetta to a serving plate and top with crumbled goat cheese.

Not China-friendly, I'm sad to say, but a good recipe for back home.

Via Picky Palate

Chinese Translations

The new English signs and menu are prone to other problems, like the typos of normal human error, rush-job spelling mistakes, confusion between similar letters and words, and so forth. At times, it’s literally easier for me to decipher the Chinese. (Which either means that I rock, or that I’ve memorized the collection of dishes we usually order. You decide.)

Not to mention the obscure English vocabulary brought back to life by electronic translators. Stick and I went to see an apartment recently because the landlady promised us a bathroom containing a lavabo and close stool. That’s a sink and a toilet to those of you without SCA membership. I don’t know if ad and pamphet translators agree with my students, and feel that the longest semi-synonym provided by the dictionary is the most impressive, and therefore the best choice. But you can easily imagine the humor of these BabelFish translations.

What do you think?

Via Take Care Knock Heads on Simpson's Paradox.

Moroccan Grilled Veg

I like the tempting photos and the way the instructions are written. Definitely going to have to try this!

When the broth is boiling, and the spice fry-up smells good, throw the cous cous into the broth, stir, then add the spice/oil mix. I also added golden raisins. Stir again, kill the heat, and cover. After about 5 min, the cous cous should be tender and delicious. If not, turn the heat back on and add a bit more broth as necessary.

Via Tomato Egg Noodles

DVD Banana

It's easy to get my hands on both bananas and scratched DVDs in Beijing, but I never thought of putting them together. The geniuses at Mental Floss have a new, easy way to take care of scratched discs -- use a banana!

There are myriad ways in which these soon-to-be obsolete discs get ruined, causing us to curse and throw the things in the trash, or just catalog them back in a CD booklet hoping one day in the future some miracle chemical cure-all will be invented to unscratch ‘em.Whelp, the future is here, only the cure-all isn’t a toxic chemical, but rather, a banana! Check out the later half of the Howcast.com video below to learn how to resurface them, or just see the list.
1. Peel the banana
2. Rub the banana on the CD in a circular motion
3. Use the underside of the peel and rub the banana in deeper
4. Wipe away the residue with a lint-free cloth, like you’d use to clean your car windows
5. Using another cloth, remove smudges with a spritz of Windex
6. Voila, she is like new!

Think it would work? Or just make a Sex In The City / banana mush mess?

Via Mental Floss

China Kedgeree

2 eggs, hard-boiled and then chopped
1 can of tuna
1 cup rice
about half of a big Chinese leek, chopped
a few mushrooms, chopped into small cubes
2 strips of bacon (I know this is not the most healthful choice, and you could easily skip it. But I find that a little bit of good ol' bacon fat makes food taste more Western)
cilantro, finely chopped (Finally! a spice I don't need to buy specially in the import shop!)
a little curry powder

Cook the bacon, and then crumble it.

Saute the leek and mushrooms in bacon grease, or just use vegetable oil.

Add the curry powder and stir.

Add the rice, using 1 part rice to 2 parts water. Stir, cover and simmer.

When the rice is soft, drain the tuna and add it to the rice. Then add the egg, bacon, cilantro. (You can add more curry powder now if you like, personally I'm a big fan of the cilantro.)

A Week's Groceries.

Time magazine has a slideshow of photos of families around the world, and what they eat in a week. Really interesting... and it makes me wonder what my own week would look like. Probably a huge pile of veggies, eggs, rice, pasta and bacon, with a slightly smaller pile of delicious coffee drinks.

Rice-Cooker Gourmet

Via AtomSmasher. Make your own!

Do They Have Salsa In China?

The always-awesome "Do They Have Salsa In China?" blog has a really tempting recipe for tapenade tarts. Most definitely NOT China-friendly, but a good one to bookmark for stateside cooking.

By the way, we DO have salsa in fridge right now!

Yum! Cake!

Saw this at a pretty disappointing bakery the other day. Yum! Cake! Sadly the baked goods weren't so hot, and my recent attempts at cinnamon rolls were also a disaster. Baking is really rough in China!

Beijing Onion Soup

Cooked in a wok, this soup is this is not-so-French, but still tasty.

Ingredients:

2 gigantic yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced.

2 tablespoons margarine

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup red wine (I used some Great Wall)

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced.

1 bay leaf (optional but really good)

rosemary (optional but really good)

powdered chicken broth





1) Sauté the onions, margarine and sugar in a deep wok. This is a good time to learn if one side of your burner heats faster than the other. The onions cook down so don't worry if the pan seems really full when you start.

2) Add garlic, rosemary, bay when the onions are translucent and brownish.

3) Add wine, and allow to thicken.

4) Add chicken broth powder and water.

5) Cover your wok, turn down the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.


Serve with toast and cheese, but it's also good plain. Next time I think I'll spring for the better wine.

Hutong Kitchen

Onion Pasta Sauce

I saw this on Orangette, and I made a few adjustments. Instead of Madeira, I used about 1/2 cup of that Dynasty red wine. Of course, I had to skip the cheese as well.

Braised Onion Sauce
Adapted from Beard on Pasta, by James Beard

James Beard’s commentary on this recipe reads, “Long-cooked onions have a naturally sweet taste. This is a substantial sauce, and I like to serve it with a pasta that has body, something like bows or wagon wheels or wide ribbons or macaroni.” I served it with shells.

8 Tbsp. (4 oz., or 1 stick) unsalted butter
1 ½ lb. yellow onions, halved and sliced about ¼-inch thick
1 Tbsp. sugar
¼ cup Madeira
¾ lb. hot cooked pasta
Salt, for serving
Grated Parmesan, for serving

In a large (12-inch) skillet, warm the butter over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are soft and translucent. Stir in the sugar, reduce the heat to low or medium-low – keep an eye on your stove and see what seems best – and cook the onions very gently for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. (Do not cook them too quickly or over too high heat, or they will get dry and papery.) As they cook, they will become meltingly soft and juicy, and they should caramelize to a deep shade of amber. Stir in the Madeira, cook for a couple of minutes to combine, and then add the pasta to the pan. Using two large spoons, toss the pasta well with the sauce.

Serve with a generous sprinkling of salt and some grated cheese.

Chinese Katsudon

Another find from RiceAgain! This one is a recipe for katsudon.

INGREDIENTS:

Two large rice bowls 2/3 full of quality steamed rice
2 pieces breaded pork of chicken fillet
1/2 an onion
1-2 cups of chicken broth
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirin
1 tsp sugar
2 eggs

1. Heat some vegetable oil (enough to cover what ever you will be frying) in your wok until it spits back when you flick water at it. I think it’s supposed to be 180 degrees celsius or something, but how the hell are you going to measure that?

Add the breaded meat fillets and deep fry until golden brown and crispy.

Remove, drain oil and slice the fillets into strips.

2. Mix mirin, soy sauce and sugar with the broth in a Wok of Skillet. Simmer.

3. Slice onion thinly. Add to the simmering sauce. Simmer for 4-5 minutes until onion is soft.

4. Add deep fried meat strips and simmer for a further 3-4 minutes making sure they are totally covered by the sauce.

5. Beat your eggs and pour into the sauce stirring as you pour.

6. Serve over steamed rice.

I make this one with mushrooms instead of meat, and no mirin (never heard of it until I saw this recipe!). Just fry the sliced mushrooms in with the onions, and add some chopped scallions.

PS If you like this, here are the rest of the tasty recipes on RiceAgain.

Hardcore Polenta

This one is so easy and goes with everything else.

Get some of the medium-ground cornmeal... your local veggie market should have some in huge bags. Boil some water in saucepan, add the cornmeal slowly, and add a little salt. Boil until the cornmeal can't absorb anymore water. Polenta! Tastes like home, but made from easily available ingredients! What else could a China expat want?

You can eat it right away, but I stick the polenta in the fridge to solidify and then fry it up with veggies and/or cheese.

Tomato-Egg Mush

Rice Again explains how to make tomato-egg mush. (he uses a different 4-letter word here). Now, I don't recommend making this, I recommend walking into any restaurant in the Middle Kingdom and getting a bowl brought to you. Seriously, they all serve it. I'm really just posting this so that in a few years, when I'm no longer in China, and I really want to eat some Chinese food, I can make it.

Ingredients

4 Large ripe tomatoes
4 Eggs (from Chickens, believe me in China you should specify)
Spring Onions
MSG* or Salt
About a heaped tablespoon of Corn Starch

Preparation

Finely chop your garlic and spring onions. Quarter your tomatos. Beat your eggs in a small bowl adding a pinch of salt to bring out the flavour.

1. Add a generous splash of oil to your wok and heat until it spits back.

2. Pour in your eggs as if to make an omlete. This part comes down to personal taste. Some people like their eggs in chunks others like it more scrambled, some even like to add the eggs after the tomatos so they mix in with the juice while they cook for a more sloppy mixture. Personally I like to add the eggs first, slowly turning over a high heat as the eggs cook. The idea here is not to make an ommlette but to allow the eggs to stay together into sizable chunks. I like to keep cooking until they are almost browned.

2. Next add the spring onions and stirfry with the egg quickly followed by the tomato pieces. The juice will ooze from the tomatos as they soften. Add a sprinkle of MSG* to bring out the flavours.

3. Take your cornstarch and mix in with about 2/3 cup of hot water stir out the lumps and add to your tomato-ey egg mixture in the wok. The diluted cornstarch mixture will thicken the tomato juice now in the bottom of your wok.

4. It’s at this point that you may decide to add some water for more sauce and MSG, or Salt to taste.

Not-So-Swedish Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 can of tuna
cooking oil or butter
chicken broth (instant comes in a yellow packet called Maggie's, with no surprise ingredients in the chicken broth!)
breadcrumbs (Western store only, try Parkson's or Carrefour)
pasta


Drain the tuna, and mash it up with a fork. Add one egg, and mix well. (If you have some basil or some Bell's seasoning from home, you can add it now.) Add breadcrumbs until the mixture is just moist enough to make balls, not sticking all over your hands. Make the tuna mixture into meatballs, and fry them lightly on all sides. Turn off the heat under the pan, then add enough chicken broth to almost-cover the meatballs, and put it back on to simmer. it's done when the the meatballs are soft and the chicken broth has thickened.

Cook and drain the pasta -- which in my case happens in the microwave since I only have one burner -- then serve with the meatballs and sauce on top.

Verdict: You could say I got Stick ready for this with ground-turkey Swedish meatballs back home, but it turned out well. No leftovers!

What is Rice-Cooker Gourmet?

Rice-Cooker Gourmet is all about cooking in China! Cooking in China presents it's own special challenges. Bread and cheese are rare luxury items. Meat comes in a cow, not a plastic package. And my kitchen consists of a gas ring and a microwave.

The one compensation for this is the fresh, cheap, delicious produce of all kinds.

I've been looking for vegetarian recipes, but I seem to keep finding recipes that involve opening a packet of tofu chicken or the use of a food processor.

Rice Cooker Gourmet is about my adventures cooking in China!