No, really, they aren't that exotic...

Now for the preserved duck eggs.... (Life happens, doesn't it...)


This is a soy product, like soy sauce, but much more viscous. It's also a bit sweet, and spicy. Took a bit of looking in the store, but finally, success.. I had to ask a manager type.


I mainly use it for this dish.. It's the preserved duck eggs, sliced up, put on top of silken tofu. (Tofu is sold with different texture, usually silken, firm and extra firm.) The tofu is just cubed into dice sized pieces. And no, no cooking involved... That is to say, no heat applied. You can garnish with cilantro, scallions (green onions) and ginger if you have them around the house. This dish doesn't sit around well, since the salt will leach the water out of the tofu. So assemble right before serving.

Quick word on tofu, the silken type is used in soups, like miso soup, and the firm in stir fries. The mapo tofu, for examples, uses the firm one.




I also found another black bean sauce in addition to the dried type, and that's what I used in the above. Normally I'd try to find spare-ribs, but since these happened to be on sale, I subbed with them instead. Still rib... More meat, less bone, but still yummy. Also has soy sauce, xian xin wine, and vinegar to marinate the meat.

Now these are snacks and more!

Ended up going back to the store the next day...


These were the fermented beans I think I wanted. But I also bought another jar of black beans that had garlic flavours. I might try both and see what the difference is in my dish.




Lotus seeds and red azuki beans.


My version of a "5 treasure soup". Normally, it's called a 8 Treasure soup. I'm not exactly sure what goes in it, but this one has red and green beans, lotus seeds barley, and some cranberries. Pretty sure cranberries aren't standard.. But maybe Longan...(literally translated dragon eye). I did see packets of dried one, and I may buy some the next time I go there.


I love spinach!




I liked this when I was growing up, but fresh out of the baker's oven, and unfortunately this doesn't measure up... :-( Oh, well, I tried. At least I know not to go for it in the future. Research monies to the use. This and a bowl of soy milk was a great breakfast. Both the pastry and soy milk came in sweet and salty versions. Hmm, and something else translated into English as oils sticks. (I might have bumped into the frozen kind here, but again, it's probably just not the same. Of course, I have no idea whether the shop still exists to this day. Probably not, sadly, and in any case I know it would be run by different people.)









Various types of buns, great for snack or breakfast. Quick to heat up in the microwave.


Green bean soup.


Salted duck eggs, definitely not low sodium or low cholesterol! The usual way to eat it is just to slice the egg in half while in the shell. For some reason, it doesn't peel easily. But once it's cut, it's easily scooped out.


Preserved duck eggs. There is a dish I know with this and tofu which is absolutely refreshing for summer days.

Ingredients, ho!

Well, shoot, sometimes it's really tricky to be buying for just one person. As I previously said, I like to keep a variety of ingredients around, but even dried goods aren't everlasting, after all, and especially in the summer grains can get bugs, yes, even in sealed packages. I suppose I can't blame the little critters, since they are after nutritious stuff. Today I found a bag of barley that was problematic..... It got put in a corner of the cabinet that I don't access very often, so. Must remember to make a regular date each month to go through cabinets, I suppose. Maybe the same day I pay bills. (Wouldn't that just totally put a damper on the whole day, and give a whole association to the Ides of March, ;-) )

Yesterday I made another trip to the Asian grocery store.

Both of these contain soy beans and broad beans, fructose, sesame oil and star anise. The label says it's GMO soy. But they should be vegan and contain no preservatives. The one with the red words contains chili peppers as well, and hence is spicy. The store also had different kinds of chili pastes. I usually have several kinds on hand, but since I had these 2, and others at home, I thought I'd better save those for future ventures.


Which, unfortunately, may not be far coming. I was looking for the fermented black beans, but these weren't quite the black beans I was looking for. (Yeah, yeah, cue Star Wars jokes.) I shall probably have to make another one to hunt those down. They had several different jars on the shelves.


I did locate red curry paste though, and this time I bought the smaller size, just in case I tire of it. (Not that I had choice, really, since I couldn't find larger sizes.) In cooking school we did get recipes to make the different pastes, but truth be told, some of them were just a bit more trouble than I'm willing to put in when I want dinner on the table quick, and if it means using these premade pastes and having a Thai curry dinner, or no Thai curry dinner at all, well, this is a good enough compromise. I also have some jars of simmering sauces. Haven't tried those yet. In any case, we had these at school too. Perhaps it's enough to have the recipes and know that we can make them from scratch should we want to. I do still have my notes.


I got a bit upset with myself when l left the store because I'd meant to buy mung beans as well, and totally got distracted. (Must bring list!) Fortunately, I did still have some at home after all. Really, the strangest things bring back childhood memories. My grandmother made a simple sweet dish just by boiling them with sugar. They can also be cooked with rice into something that looks like a porridge. Both great for the summer days.


I have the sneaking suspicion I might have some still sitting on the top shelf somewhere, but just in case, I bought a small bag of these peppercorns. I expect these to last a while! At some point I'll probably also try to make a small quantity of chili oil by infusing these in hot canola oil.

Stocking one's kitchen....

Sometimes I wonder how variations of dishes get started, and I think maybe one reason is just that the chef/cook doesn't have the ingredients called for on hand, and decides either to omit or substitute. The other day I made another Chinese dish called Ma Po Tofu. It's one of my favourite dishes. But it's not always easy to lay one's hands on Szechuan peppercorns, or fermented black beans. I like spicy stuff, but normally the Szechuan kind is almost more than I can handle. It's a different kind of spiciness, something the Chinese called ma-la.. A kind of numbing spiciness. I tend to use sriracha... and in my version I also use ketchup so it's a bit tangy sweet too, as well as red. I've just thought of some other dishes that use fermented black beans too, so it'll be worth it to have a jar.

That's my basic philosophy to stocking my kitchen. I generally won't buy ingredients that I don't have multiple uses for, unless if it's going to be completely used up in a particular dish, or if I know it's going to be in a dish I make often. I have a can or two of coconut milk around, for example, because I do make Thai curries, and the entire can is used up.. Oddly enough, I also always have capers around, since they are used in sauces and can dress up a tuna salad nicely, among other things. I am adventurous in my cooking, but I do try not to waste money.

So here's my version of the tofu dish.

The very bad day

There are some days when one should have just stayed in bed, and this was one of them. When one's wallet has gone missing before one has headed out the door, it's not a good omen. But head out the door I had to, since tutoring called, and the very kind bus driver gave me an all day pass so I could get around. Logic helped in this case, fortunately, and I deduced that I must have left it on the bus the previous day. I could not reach a live person at the bus lost and found, so after a quick check with the bank to make sure accounts had not been accessed, spent an extra two hrs going there in person. Fortunately that paid off, and I was reunited with it, with everything intact. Got home late, but at least I had my wallet back, and I had a granola bar to tide me over till I could actually eat lunch.
Unfortunately, coming home meant more bad news. I had been warned that my grandfather was in the hospital, and not doing well, so even though it wasn't a shock this time, it was nevertheless hard to lose him. I find that that I have no words to describe the emotions, only tears.
Times like this, I'm glad I have some leftovers in the fridge. I fully had the intention of doing some cooking tonight.but between everything that's happened.it was sort of all I could do to shove some food down. Dinner was the plate of lychee above, and some corn. (It's a very sweet fruit, and hard to get fresh in the US, but something I had grown up on as a child. Our next door neighbour had a lychee tree.) Oh, and ice cream. I figured the chocolate had to help.

Good bye, Grandfather and Grandmother, you know I love you both.

mmm, berries

The last few days I have been mostly dining on left overs, and other non exciting pre-made stuff from stores. Also been eating at weird times because of when I've been getting up. (Not that I want to...) Today, for example, I was awake by 3:30 a.m. Given that, I really needed a breakfast like this.. :


I think I can be forgiven for using frozen waffles. I love the summer berry season, such colourful and juicy things, not to mention good for you. Putting them on the waffles or pancakes really dresses things up a bit. I also like mixing them in with Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt is more expensive, but that's because it has more protein, is much thicker, and takes more milk to make. It's also a good substitute for sour cream. I find it to be more satisfying to eat than plain yogurt. The thickness gives what the Chinese would call good mouth feel.



Something that occurred to me over the past week is that while I've had meatless meals, I've usually managed to have dairy in them. It got me thinking about lactose intolerance. I will be reading and writing more about it in the future. But I guess it speaks to my instinct of making sure my meals are balanced. For a few years in college I was mostly vegetarian, but I think I'd find being a vegan to be considerably more challenging. I don't have a serious problem with lactose intolerance, so in the mean time I shall just keep to the status quo.

Here's something fun.. Zucchini ribbons with ravioli.. The ribbons are made by using a peeler, and just blanched in seasoned water. (Chef talk for dunking it in boiling salted water quickly, so it still retains colour.) I had the water all ready anyway for the ravioli. The ravioli was store bought, arugula and parmesan.)



Instead of the usual beef and broccoli, I made chicken and broccoli for dinner. A note on timing.... Usually when I cook a Chinese meal, I start the rice going first and then do the rest of my prep. That way the rice is done as dish is ready to be plated. Right. Back to reading.

A very cooking morning.

Not that I wanted to wake up at 4:30 in the morning, but there are advantages to getting up early. At least it was nice and cool still, and I was able to reward myself with French toast and strawberries. Also, I made a batch of them, so there is enough French toast for several mornings. And no, I don't put whipped cream or syrup on my French toast or waffles. Very interesting... Found 2 double yolked eggs. I buy jumbo eggs, so maybe not a surprise that I'd find double yolks on occasion, but 2 such in the same dozen is still unusual.



After being energized by the breakfast, decided to cook up the eggplants, so made Chicken green curry with Thai eggplant, and Szechuan eggplant.



Normally I wouldn't serve the dishes together, but since I worked so hard, I saw no reason as to why I shouldn't taste both. The curry paste was a commercial paste, and not too bad. But I keep forgetting that I need to add salt. Normally I don't use a lot of salt in my cooking, but the chicken dish would definitely benefit from some. No such problem with the Chinese one, since there was soy sauce in there. I've been trying different types of canned coconut milks to use in my Thai cooking, and this time I used a low fat one from Trader Joe's. It's not a bad product, but would not be my choice for the future. When we made Thai food in school, chef actually wanted the coconut product to have a thick part on top that we can separate out to sautee with the curry paste. No such luck here. But I was able to make a decent enough curry sauce to simmer the chicken and vegetables. I tried browning the chicken and onions a bit in a frying pan, and that gave a nice colour to the sauce. Otherwise it's just a pale white green. Not very visually appealing.

The thing about typical Asian cooking is the amount of slicing and dicing it takes to prep. The actual cooking time isn't much. Ingredients common to both that I used today were onion, garlic and ginger, and it's easy enough just to process it all at the same time and divide in half. I was also able to make use of the spicy bean paste I got at the Japanese store the other day.

Something that occurred to me this morning is that I cook very much by the looks of the dish. I don't have a recipe written out for the Chinese dish, for example, but based on the colour, or consistency, I might add more spicy paste or soy sauce, etc. This isn't so bad when one is familiar with what a dish is supposed to taste or look like, but probably not advisable for the novice cook. What I do these days, if I want to make something I have not made before, is to get a look at several versions of the recipe, get an idea of the ingredients and method, and then go off on my own. I find the process to be much more enjoyable that way. I have room to be creative.

After all that, and the clean up, all of a sudden I find myself at close to noon. I've already put in an 8 hour day by now! Dinner is going to be leftovers.

Soup and Sandwich

A very warm day today, so dinner did not involve much cooking. The soup is a miso soup. Miso is a bean paste, quite a favourite in Japan, but go light on it if you're concerned about sodium levels. This one has a big bunch of spinach, some small pork meatballs, mushrooms, and white pepper, and topped with cilantro. The sandwich is cucumber and tomato, with some green onion cream cheese and cilantro thrown in. So I think tonight's dinner has got a good mix of protein, carbs and fats, and plenty of veggies again. This cucumber sandwich may not look very delicate, and I didn't remove the crust, but it was certainly tasty. I was happy that I remembered to stop at the store on the way home today to pick up the tomatoes and cilantro. I really wish I had enough light on my porch to grow fresh herbs and tomatoes. The spring has been cold and wet, so not much success. I do have some scraggly cilantro about, but not in enough quantity or of good enough quality to eat. Supposedly I have some Thai basil peeking out, or at least that's what's labelled. but it looks and smells more like oregano... Possibly an oregano seed found its way in what should have been the basil pot. Oh, well, at this point I'll take any herb that has managed to grow.



Leftovers of the eggplant for lunch, scotch egg and and vegetable bao for breakfast... So one meatless meal today.

Long shopping trip...

Normally I try to get my grocery shopping done quickly, and two hours is very long, but such is life when one goes to several stores and has to depend on public transportation. It does mean, however, that I get to eat a good dinner. I got lots of veggies - corn, eggplant, zucchini - and even some treats from childhood. Since that was in Taiwan, this made an emotionally satisfying dinner. I am reminded of Proust's memories of madeleines, actually.


Couple of my favourite desserts growing up...

The top one is translated as sun biscuit, and the bottom one is probably similar in concept to a newton. This one has pineapple filling inside. Now that I don't eat them often anymore, I don't take them for granted.

Since I talked about eating more vegetables, I started thinking more about what I hadn't had for a long time, and Chinese eggplants was one of those. It's much skinnier and lighter in colour than we're used to. The skin is also much thinner. I finally located them in the last store I went to -Uwajimaya. Happily for me, they were even on sale. This is a very easy dish to make - eggplant, hot sauce (sriracha was what I used tonight), soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, white pepper, cilantro is the ingredient list. Eggplant is cut into sticks, either boiled or steamed, and then marinated in the other ingredients. Completely vegetarian and pretty quick to make. Cheap too, as about $1.20 worth of eggplant is enough for 3 servings. As it can be served either hot or cold, it's great for summer. Not to mention that because the spices make you sweat, it helps you to cool down. I have one more left with which to do a well known Szechuan dish.



Chinese eggplant, and tonight's dinner.

I have to say though, it was exhausting to be on public transportation in the heat today, which is why I don't do this very often. Normally I stop by the store on my way home from tutoring gigs. (I'm a math tutor.) I was slightly dehydrated by the time I got home, so I shall definitely have to remember to carry water with me next time I'm expecting to be out for any length of time.

All in all, I guess it was a productive trip, and I even got to stop in the store for a few minutes to chat with another shopper who was also buying eggplants. Also scored some Thai eggplants and lychees. I sense Thai curry coming up in the week, and it's just such a treat to have fresh lychee.

Oh, and it was egg, cheese and bagel for breakfast, and a chicken sandwich for lunch. So I guess that's 2 meatless meals for the day.

Reflections on Meatless Mondays...

I am embarrassed to admit that Meatless Mondays is not something that hit my personal radar until I happened to look in the Food section of the local newspaper this morning. There are many advantages to going meatless at once a week, including reducing carbon footprint, reducing heart disease and fighting diabetes.. (according to www.meatlessmonday.com.) Even chef Mario Batali has jumped on the bandwagon. I love my vegetables, so I certainly have no problem with it. But I have to say that I am somewhat amused. I probably shouldn't be surprised that we make such a big deal of it in the U.S. though.

Come to think of it, in cooking school when we talk about plating, the star is the protein.... I even recall spending time talking about the starches, but vegetables often are short changed. What a pity. Vegetables are so pretty and colourful, why would a chef want to pass up a chance to bring colour and texture to the table? I think many people may not like vegetables mostly because they don't have the repertoire to deal with them. Ironically, I also came across an article yesterday about whether parents should hide the vegetables in the kids' food. (For the record, I don't believe they should.)

I grew up in Asia, where the traditional philosophy is somewhat different. Yes, I had meat for my meals, but it played less of a solo starring role, and is more of a co-star with the vegetables. Also, we probably consumed less meat because the majority of the volume of a meal was provided by the vegetables and rice. No, I don't recall feeling deprived either. We probably came close to eating according to the food pyramid, or now the food plate, without even realizing it. I find it ironic that even as the U.S. government is trying to get people to eat according to the plate guidelines, Asians are adopting a more Westernized diet, with its attendant health issues.

So by all means, if we need such things as Meatless Mondays to raise our consciousness, then by all means. It would be nice if a meal without meat could be considered not as incomplete though.

I have not completed my grocery shopping for the week, and obviously it's not Monday anymore either. Maybe what I will do for the rest of the week is to make sure at least one meal a day is vegetarian. I did promise somebody that zucchini will be on the menu this week.

Tempus Fugit.... But back now....

Wow, can't believe that so much time has passed... Just managed to get back into the blog.. In the mean time, I've finished cooking school, lost my camera and a good many pictures, acquired a new one, and broken my wrist badly...

Not to worry... my wrist is healed now, and I'm back to being able to wield a knife. Most certainly have gained an appreciation for those simple things I used to take for granted that I could do in the kitchen and elsewhere. Over the past few months I've made such dishes as Coq au Vin, Chicken Cacciatore, Garlic Shrimp, and most recently Bread Pudding and Scotch Eggs. The pictures are now safely tucked away on my computer, and also in my Facebook profile. I learned my lesson! (Actually, I was on my way to make copies of the pictures at Walgreens, so I had more discs with me than I normally would have had, when I lost my camera. My bad luck.)

The story behind the Scotch eggs... One of my friends on FB happened to have posted about bacon wrapped eggs.. and that led to a few comments about the Scotch ones. I had never eaten them before, and never even heard of them until recently. When I first heard about them, I looked it up and saw some videos, not sure whether it was something I wanted to attempt. Not exactly hard to make, just not all that healthy for you. It's sausage meat wrapped around boiled egg, breaded and fried, after all! But such is peer pressure.

Actually, I had pork and eggs at home at the time, so it seems destined for me to make the attempt that day. Instead of sausage, I just seasoned the pork myself, and made my own bread crumbs. I did have to make a special run to the store for sage, but that seemed like a small price to pay. Sausage meat usually has much more fat - in charcuterie class at school we learned how to make sausage, and we had to add extra fat (!) - so my version is probably not as artery clogging.. (I hope, anyway, since it's my arteries.) And I baked them, instead of frying them. So one might say this is a case of having one's eggs and eating it too? I'm not exactly a health nut, but cutting out some saturated fats when I can seems like a good thing.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2213032494288.130064.1501800396&l=a6ff768b2c&type=1

Until the next dish..