Coucou mes chéris. Le Bise was blowing again today and we opted to stay indoors, as we're going to Geneva tomorrow. So when MC from my mushroom club wrote and proposed bringing her daughter over to meet me, I quickly responded "Oui!" and invited both mother and daughter over for un apéro. MC likes Chinese food and has been very polite in refusing my invitations for un apéro whenever she's dropped me off at the house, so I was excited she was coming for a visit and decided to make har gow for her to try.
Har Gow Recipe, adapted from the recipe by Wantanmien on YouTube. Even if you don't understand Cantonese, I recommend watching the video first to see her technique before following my recipe.
Showing posts with label Chinese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chinese. Show all posts
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Celebration for CNY and Egypt
Two and a half hours of feasting with my French neighbors. We started off with cassis aperos avec les amuse-geules (literally amuse mouths) of salted peanuts, smoked almonds, and preserved plums which I brought back from Boston. Les entrées: housemade shumai with pork and shrimp, followed by lettuce wraps with Vietnamese eggrolls (nems), fresh mint, cilantro.
Les plats principaux: Chinese egg noodles stir fried with red pork, napa, mushrooms, broccoli, julienned carrots and red peppers, onions, and garlic in an oyster sauce; steamed whole dorade royale in soy/ginger/scallion sauce.
En dessert: Tarte aux pommes; coconut tapioca pudding perfumed with sliced bananas. Exhausted..but happy. Je suis prête pour une sieste.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Cooking up a storm
After a successful trip to Lyon this past Sunday, my pantry is fully stocked, enough supplies to prepare a CNY's feast for R and the neighbors. Attempting to have oversight of my pantry, I decided to organize the Asian vs non-Asian goods which were haphazardly piled onto one another. Post re-organization, the lentils, red beans, corn meal, couscous, lasagna sheets, and long grain rice (among other things) are grouped together; they live below green mung beans, red azuki beans, soybeans, bean thread, and my 4 precious boxes of tofu (AOT). However, the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce, and oyster sauce all live in perfect harmony.Friday, February 4, 2011
Happy Chinese New Year!
新年快樂! Xīn nián kuài lè!
Welcome to the Year of the Lucky Rabbit.
It was freezing in my neck of the woods, but still no snow. Our neighbor Helene noted that the 27eme Course de traineaux à chiens may be canceled this year. I just Googled and learned that the course, La Retordica, has been rescheduled for February 26th and 27th due to lack of the white stuff. I'm hoping I can dash through the snow on a husky sleigh ride in a few weeks time. Boston, please send a bit of snow our way!
This morning, fending off the cold with lots of layers and a warm thermos of hot Early Grey tea, R and I ventured down to town to check out the weekly farmer's market. We arrived at the market square to catch the last few vendors cleaning up, selling remaining inventory, and stowing away their goods. Passing by the fishmonger, I noticed some filets of salmon and was curious if he had any salmon heads. The tenderest and tastiest (IMHO) part of a fish is the cheek meat you know. Malheureusement, the fishmonger was wrapping up a big bag of salmon heads for a man who had arrived there a few minutes before me. Note to self...arrive a bit earlier next week to snag some fish head for Tamarind fish soup.
Welcome to the Year of the Lucky Rabbit.
It was freezing in my neck of the woods, but still no snow. Our neighbor Helene noted that the 27eme Course de traineaux à chiens may be canceled this year. I just Googled and learned that the course, La Retordica, has been rescheduled for February 26th and 27th due to lack of the white stuff. I'm hoping I can dash through the snow on a husky sleigh ride in a few weeks time. Boston, please send a bit of snow our way!
This morning, fending off the cold with lots of layers and a warm thermos of hot Early Grey tea, R and I ventured down to town to check out the weekly farmer's market. We arrived at the market square to catch the last few vendors cleaning up, selling remaining inventory, and stowing away their goods. Passing by the fishmonger, I noticed some filets of salmon and was curious if he had any salmon heads. The tenderest and tastiest (IMHO) part of a fish is the cheek meat you know. Malheureusement, the fishmonger was wrapping up a big bag of salmon heads for a man who had arrived there a few minutes before me. Note to self...arrive a bit earlier next week to snag some fish head for Tamarind fish soup.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
On my Tiger Grandmother
There's been much controversy lately about "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother", a memoir written by Amy Chua, a Chinese-American mother of two and Yale law professor. I haven't yet read Ms. Chua's memoirs, but I've read several NYT articles about it. It seems Chua prefers her "Chinese" way of parenting compared to the "American" way of parenting. In her book, she recounts how she pushed and challenged her kids, sometimes inducing them to tears. If I'm lucky enough to have my own child(ren) one day..I hope I don't induce anyone to tears and I hope I adopt a healthy balance of building up my child's self-esteem along with challenging them to do their best.
In my family, we have a Tiger Grandmother, my Mom's mother.
In my family, we have a Tiger Grandmother, my Mom's mother.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
New year, new look
The Tiger is waning and the Year of the Rabbit is rising! One of the benefits of growing up Chinese is celebrating New Year's twice, sometimes even in the same month! For those of you in the dark (like I was until my Mom informed me), Chinese New Year occurs on February 3, 2011 this year..that means it's only 8 days away!
Basic Facts
In 2010, we welcomed the Year of the Tiger (and year 4707 in the Chinese Lunar calendar) on February 14
In 2011, we will welcome the Year of the Rabbit (and year 4708) on February 3 (with CNY's eve on February 2)
Basic Facts
In 2010, we welcomed the Year of the Tiger (and year 4707 in the Chinese Lunar calendar) on February 14
In 2011, we will welcome the Year of the Rabbit (and year 4708) on February 3 (with CNY's eve on February 2)
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Red Cross and new discoveries
Second day in a row of sun! With temps in the mid 60s (felt like 70), I was in a good mood despite a horrible night's rest. R and I camped out on the sectional couch again. The window frames and windows we had stained and lacquered in the master bedroom upstairs were still not dry yet.
Busy busy day. R and I volunteered at the local chapter of Croix Rouge Francais (Red Cross). We met the branch President Janine a few weeks ago through Helene, sister of one of our neighbors. Today R and I helped stock the branch's epicerie, a little grocery store where clients can buy groceries at a huge discount.
The food had just been delivered by other volunteers from Bourg-en-Bresse where the Red Cross' food bank is located. Janine and the delivery guys had already unloaded items for the refrigerated and freezer sections. There were hundreds of boxes of milk, zucchini, turnips, celeraic, croissants, cheese, quiche, yogurt!! So what was left? We helped her stock the shelves (and I say so myself, we left that epicerie looking awesome!) I unpacked "Holland Style" rice and potatoes, chocolate dessert while R stocked the shelves with canned peas, green beans, sauerkraut, carrots, baby food, etc, etc. Due to the large Muslim clientele, he had to organize the items so as to separate items containing pork from other items. Then Janine and I unpacked huge sacks of carrots and potatoes and repackaged them into 1kg bags of each while another older sweet man repackaged bananas into 1kg bags. It was fun...and I felt good and useful, even if for 2 hours. Tomorrow, we've been invited to help out at Resto du Coeur (restaurant of the heart).
Most things are priced/valued at 1 or 2 Euros. But that isn't the price that the client pays. E.g., if something is priced at 1Euro, the client pays 10%, or .10 Euro cents. Depending on family size and circumstances, a family of 2 may be able to purchase up to 50 Euro of food, but in the end they will only pay 5 Euros. There were some French clients, but most were spoke little French (and were Muslim). I felt for them..as I too am a foreigner and it's hard learning a new language as an adult.
Made 2 discoveries today:
1. Found Farine de ble - type 65 at Leader Price (a discount grocery store..think small Costco)! David Lebowitz (Chez Panisse's patisserie chef who now resides in Paris) says this is as close as you can get to All Purpose Flour. I hope to make chocolate chunk cookies tomorrow..and I hope to have a better result than the last batch I made using Type 45 flour.
2. As it was a gorgeous warm day, I drove up Le Plateau du Retord for a hike and maybe to find some mushrooms. We had a great view of the valley basin..but the cold windy weather up there chased us away. Seeking warmer pastures, we descended to Billiat and found a nice country road with absolutely gorgeous views of the Juras, the Vuache, the Parmelan mountain, and a crystal clear view of the Alps and the Mont Blanc. But the best part? After a bit of walking, while I was busy looking for mushrooms, we happened upon a field of white looking root vegetable resembling a carrot. It smelled like a radish, so I took a small bite and it tasted like a daikon, but as I've never seen a daikon with its greens on, I wasn't 100% sure. I picked a young one and HUGE one - I just Googled it now and it's confirmed. They are daikons! I knew you could eat the roots (my mom uses it a lot in Chinese and Vietnamese cooking), but I learned today you can also eat the greens. What shall I do with the daikons? I fancy some daikon radish cakes.
A photo of the daikon "cake" I made using above recipe and served with spicy hoisin sauce. So yum.
Busy busy day. R and I volunteered at the local chapter of Croix Rouge Francais (Red Cross). We met the branch President Janine a few weeks ago through Helene, sister of one of our neighbors. Today R and I helped stock the branch's epicerie, a little grocery store where clients can buy groceries at a huge discount.
The food had just been delivered by other volunteers from Bourg-en-Bresse where the Red Cross' food bank is located. Janine and the delivery guys had already unloaded items for the refrigerated and freezer sections. There were hundreds of boxes of milk, zucchini, turnips, celeraic, croissants, cheese, quiche, yogurt!! So what was left? We helped her stock the shelves (and I say so myself, we left that epicerie looking awesome!) I unpacked "Holland Style" rice and potatoes, chocolate dessert while R stocked the shelves with canned peas, green beans, sauerkraut, carrots, baby food, etc, etc. Due to the large Muslim clientele, he had to organize the items so as to separate items containing pork from other items. Then Janine and I unpacked huge sacks of carrots and potatoes and repackaged them into 1kg bags of each while another older sweet man repackaged bananas into 1kg bags. It was fun...and I felt good and useful, even if for 2 hours. Tomorrow, we've been invited to help out at Resto du Coeur (restaurant of the heart).
Most things are priced/valued at 1 or 2 Euros. But that isn't the price that the client pays. E.g., if something is priced at 1Euro, the client pays 10%, or .10 Euro cents. Depending on family size and circumstances, a family of 2 may be able to purchase up to 50 Euro of food, but in the end they will only pay 5 Euros. There were some French clients, but most were spoke little French (and were Muslim). I felt for them..as I too am a foreigner and it's hard learning a new language as an adult.
Made 2 discoveries today:
1. Found Farine de ble - type 65 at Leader Price (a discount grocery store..think small Costco)! David Lebowitz (Chez Panisse's patisserie chef who now resides in Paris) says this is as close as you can get to All Purpose Flour. I hope to make chocolate chunk cookies tomorrow..and I hope to have a better result than the last batch I made using Type 45 flour.
2. As it was a gorgeous warm day, I drove up Le Plateau du Retord for a hike and maybe to find some mushrooms. We had a great view of the valley basin..but the cold windy weather up there chased us away. Seeking warmer pastures, we descended to Billiat and found a nice country road with absolutely gorgeous views of the Juras, the Vuache, the Parmelan mountain, and a crystal clear view of the Alps and the Mont Blanc. But the best part? After a bit of walking, while I was busy looking for mushrooms, we happened upon a field of white looking root vegetable resembling a carrot. It smelled like a radish, so I took a small bite and it tasted like a daikon, but as I've never seen a daikon with its greens on, I wasn't 100% sure. I picked a young one and HUGE one - I just Googled it now and it's confirmed. They are daikons! I knew you could eat the roots (my mom uses it a lot in Chinese and Vietnamese cooking), but I learned today you can also eat the greens. What shall I do with the daikons? I fancy some daikon radish cakes.
A photo of the daikon "cake" I made using above recipe and served with spicy hoisin sauce. So yum.
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