Chrysanthemum Tea

Chrysanthemum tea is a popular tea. In addition to being tasty, the health benefits are very nice :)

Chrysanthemum tea is made from the flower of the chrysanthemum plant. They are dried and then seeped in hot water. The resulting tea is light yellow in color and smells of flowers. Rock sugar is added for sweetness. I usually make a large batch of this and keep it in the fridge. It's great cold or hot!

Chrysanthemum tea is good for you as much as it is good for drinking. Consumed hot, it aids in digestion when eating food. Chinese believe that drinking hot tea with meals helps digest because it help break down the fat in the foods we eat. It also helps with allergies a great deal. Chrysanthemum tea is what is called a 'cooling' tea. When you have allergies, the senses are inflamed, therefore, if you 'cool' them then it helps. It can be drunk for respiratory problems, or can be applied to the face if you eyes are red, puffy and irritated from allergies. This actually helps a lot and is really soothing for the eyes.

Blemishes and acne can also be helped by this marvelous drink. Pimples and skin problems are known as 'heat in th body' because it's a type of inflamtion caused by dirt and other impurities that get under the skin. Drinking this can dramatically help because it cools you down a lot.

So, there you have it: chrysanthemum tea is a great drink whether it's just for taste or health or both.

Enjoy!

Raspberry Plum Tarts

For desserts, I love fruits to be incorperated. I feel it's a nice finish to a meal and cleans the palette.

I like to make fruit tarts because they are so versatile. Here, I made a raspberry and plum tart.

The sweetness of the plums play off the tartness of the raspberries and a nice dollop of ice cream is always a welcome addition. I used frozen raspberries and strawberries for the base and fresh plums, cut into nice little wedges. I also like to use pre-made doughs. Puff pastry dough is inexpensive and extremely versatile; you can make so many different types of desserts with them.

Raspberry Plum Tarts

Ingredients (again, I hardly ever measure when I cook, so don't feel like you have to stick to these measurements. everything is fine when done to taste)

Pre-made puff pastry sheets. There are usually 2 sheets in a box, each folded into thirds. I cut each sheet into 9 pieces after they have been thawed.
1 bag frozen raspberries
1 handfull frozen strawberries
1 level spoonful dark brown sugar
2 pinches of nutmeg (optional)
5 plums, cut into 10-12 wedges each

1. Remove puff pastry sheets and let them thaw. Set the oven to 350.
2. Empty the bag of raspberries and the strawberries into a saucepan. Turn the stove to medium high. Once the fruits start to heat up and get soft, mash them with a potato masher or fork.

Let it simmer and reduce till it's thick. Add in sugar and nutmeg.

3. While the mixture is simmering, cut the plums into wedges, about 10 or 12 pieces each plum.

4. By the time the mixture has cooked down, it'll be time to cut up the dough sheets. Each sheet can be cut into 9 square pieces.

 Each piece should be about yay big.

5. Once the pieces are cut, flatten out a square shape in the middle with your thumb and forefinger. We do this so the raspberry mixture has somewhere to sit. The edges should be left un-pinched and should be 1cm wide.

 When the middle is flattened, the pieces should get a little bigger. Like here

6. The edges should be folded over, to create a fence-like area to keep in the raspberries.

7. Spoon in the raspberry mixture and make sure they cover the area.

8. Place 3 plum wedges in top, overlapping each other slightly.

9. Pop it into the oven for 10-15 mins, until nice and golden brown.
10. When they're done, take them out and let them cool for about 10-20 mins. Serve with ice cream and garnish with mint leaves if you have them..... which I don't right now, but still, it'd look super :)
11. Enjoy with friends!

Pork Stew

Stews are nice, conveniet, low-hassle comfort foods. It's nice to pop everything into a cooker, leave it for a few hours and have a perfectly cooked meal.

I find that I like using meats attatched to the bone for my stews because the marrow in the bones releases such nice flavor. Pork neck bones are great for stews, they are inexpensive and some of the most tender pork meat is located around the bone. Ribs are also great for this or oxtail. I like to cook it until the meat is falling off the bone. I then take out the bones, add some veggies and then serve.

Pork Stew with Shell Pasta

Ingredients:
1 pack pork neck bones
2 or 3 cups of water
A few pieces of garlic, diced (3 or 4, but if you want more, that's cool too!)
1 onion, cut into halves. Put one half aside for laters
Salt to taste... though since it's raw meat, do not taste it at the moment. It's better to under-salt than over-salt
Small spoonful of sugar
Spoonful of red pepper flakes if you like some spice
1 cabbage (regular or nappa... i like both, so whichever is on hand is fine)
4 or 5 potatoes

1. Okay, so rise the pork bones first to get rid of grainy bone-ness from when the bones were cut. Once rinsed, put into pot/crockpot/rice cooker and add water. I use a rice cooker; it's like a fast slow cooker... which sounds werid, but it gets the stew perfect every time

2. Crush the garlic with the flat side of a knife. This makes for easier peeling. Coarsely chop the cloves and add to the pork.

3. Cut the onion in half. Set aside one half for later. With the half you are using now, chop off the top and bottom tips to make for easier peeling. Coarsely chop these as well.

This half of the onion is mostly for flavor, by the time the stew is done these onion parts will be so soft they'll integrate into the liquid. Add to pork.
4. Add the salt, sugar and red pepper flakes.

5. If using a pot, put a lid on it and set it to low, stirring occasionally. If using a crock pot set it on high if you're eating it that day. If you're preparing this the night before, chose medium or low. If using a rice cooker, set to cook. Let stew cook until meat falls off the bone.

6. Once the meat is falling off the bone, remove the bones from the stew. you may also want to remove teh fat from the top of the stew as well.
7. Chop up the cabbage into desired sized pieces. Add to stew.
8. Chop the potatoes and other onion half into desired sized pieces as well and toss them in too.
9. Wait till the veggies have cooked and boil some water for 1 box of shell pasta.
10. When pasta is done, drain.
11. Serve stew with the pasta.
12. Eat and enjoy with friends!

Macarons

Mmm, mmm, mmmm.... Macarons are a delectible French pastry.

 Store selling a varied selection of these little beauties!

The perfect macaron is hard on the outside, like an eggshell, but if a teeny tiny bit of pressure is given, it cracks, revealing the light, fluffy, moist insides.

Macarons come in variety of flavors are are popular in France, the UK and Japan. It's best to find somewhere that makes them in-house instead of getting them shipped in. It keeps the flavor fresh and the textures light and crunchy on the outsides.

My favorites are the black currant ones, which come with a layer of currant jelly in the center, ginger and pistachio.

 Interior of the cafe selling macarons :)

There are so many varieties that one is bound to find something that they like. Some come with fillings, like jelly, mousse or ganache in the center, which adds another dimension to the taste and texture of these wonderful little concoctions.

Have them with coffee or tea!

Pho

Pho is great. It's a vietnamese noodle soup that has rice noodles, meat and veggies.

My dad eating pho... tasty, tasty pho....

The soup in Pho is a clear beef-baised broth made from simmering beef bones (ones with lots of marrow are usually used for that delicious marrowness) and flavored with spices like cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, star anise and corriander. Charred onion and ginger also go into the broth and simmer there, releasing all their flavor. The ingredients are then taken out and strained, leaving you with a nice clear broth.

 This is the broth simmering, some people like to use a crock pot for this.

Pho is typically served with fresh veggies on the side, which inclue Thai basil, mint, limes, lots of bean sprouts and spicy peppers. You can add these to taste, as well as hoisin sauce or Sriracha sauce, which is a slightly sweet, spicy sauce. I like to squeeze in lemon and add in all the veggies and a little Sriracha for that extra spice.

 Pho spices! You can buy these in pre-made packets for your home-made pho.

A whole slew of meats can be used in Pho, like thin sliced steak, brisket, tendon and tripe. I preffer the tendon and trip due to the taste and texture they add to the soup. For me, texture is as important as flavor when consuming a dish.

Pho after all the goodness has been added.

What I most love about Pho is how everyone can eat it to their tastes. It's a light kind of meal, though filling, will not make you feel stuffed. It's a great comfort food.

Dim Sum

Dim Sum, also referred to as Yum Cha, may just about be one of th best things in the world.

This is a meal I shared with my family the last time we visited them in California.

What is it, you ask? It a Cantonese style meal comprised of small dishes that you can get right off the cart, or in some places, order it off the menue. I like the carts better. Imagine being in a big restaurant filled with sounds of people and plates. The large, round tables each have a lazy susan on them where the steamer-baskets and small plates are placed so they an be easily shared. People pushing carts filled with all sorts of goodies manuver their way through the crowded tables, calling out what kind of foods their rolling meal carries are tacked high with.

That is essentially Dim Sum. I remeber it fondly growing up, and love it today. The sounds and smells of a good Dim Sum is one of the favorite things in life.

 Looks amazing, am I right?

Dim Sum is usually comprised of buns, dumpling, rice noodle rolls which have all sorts of meats in them. Chicken, pork beef and shrimp are usual fair. Roasted meats, steamed veggies and desserts can also be found.

Fresh egg custards are divine and my all-time favorite dish is Ha Gao, a shrimp dumpling in a thin, tranparent skin made of glutous rice flour. I tried to make these babies from scratch once, and the skins are haaaard o pin down just right. So extra kudos to the ones who make them well.

An irreplaceable element of Dim Sum is, of course, the tea. If you want to eat a Dim Sum meal properly, tea is a must. Typically, tea is chrystanthemum (which is also wonderful for the complexion), oolong or puer.

Beijing Winter of 2008

2008 I went to Beijing and Hong Kong with my Dad to visit relatives and also to see the sights. I also saw food:

On the streets there were tons of yummy treats, Dad and I indulged a little :)

Dad got chicken and I got squid.. both on a stick! There were all sorts of stalls and stuff selling everything from scorpions, starfish and other goodies.

On this one strip, all those lanters hanging in a row are food stalls!

The next day I got one of the sweet things from a stall. It was hawthorn berries with walnuts all encased in sugar. It was wrapped in edible rice paper to keep from sticking to me. 

After going around for a while, Dad and I had hot pot for dinner.

We also got taken to this theme restaurant the next day by some of Dad's students. It was a very interesting experience.

And we even had entertainment!

Dad also took me to the faculty restaurant place at the University there. I had soup with a seahorse and other interesting a tasty items.

 I believe this was a type of soup dumpling

 Sea urchin!

 Dad ordered something sweet for me. I do like pastries...

Aaaaannnd..... I forgot what this was, but it looks good nonetheless.