A Cantonese Kitchen Classic: Char Siu

Char siu–Cantonese style roast pork–is a classic staple of the southern Chinese kitchen.
But it is a staple that is not often made at home.

Most Chinese home kitchens lacked (and as I understand it, still lack) an oven because ovens require a great deal of fuel to heat properly. So, instead of everyone in a […]

Lunar New Year Birthday Party

It was supposed to rain buckets all day.
Instead, the weather was mostly balmy, though sometimes grey and damp.
We didn’t have firecrackers, but we did have a plethora of red balloons that Morganna and her friends popped after the party, in order to scare away the evil spirits.

There was lucky money, and the entire […]

Weekend Cat Blogging: The Birthday Girl and Cat

Today, we have much to do. The house needs some more cleaning (though we did a good bit of that yesterday) and I have doughs to make and fillings and sauces to assemble and create, and presents to wrap.

Tomorrow is Morganna’s birthday, in addition to being the first day of the Lunar New Year celebration. […]

IMBB: Use Your Noodle–Lo Mein

Lo mein is a popular dish in Chinese-American restaurants, and sometimes it is quite good. Meaning “stirred noodles,” it is generally made by stir-frying a topping of some sort–meat, tofu, vegetables, with some sauce made from thickened broth seasoned with wine, soy sauce and sesame oil.
All too often, in restaurants it is a travesty […]

Hillbilly Fried Rice

So we come to it.
The fusion dish to end all fusion dishes.

The culinary equivalent of a bastard love child between the movies “Deliverance” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”
Hillbilly Fried Rice.
Oh, I hear the giggles. The laughter. The disbelief.
That is only because you haven’t tasted it, friends.
Because this here stuff is good.
Uh. Huh. […]