Singapore — Faye, my gracious host, learned this rib recipe from her friend Lim’s mother whom she claims is ‘expert in cooking’. While she learned this recipe from Lim’s mother, Faye would also ask, ‘How much?’ and Lim’s mother would reply ‘Aga-aga‘, or ‘Just estimate’. This I have learned from many home kitchens in China.
‘We [...]
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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — I discovered this little gem of a restaurant through an old entry on the Masak Masak blog site.
After a busy morning working I ride the ‘hop on, hop off’ bus to Central Market. Built [...]
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Baishicun, Changsha, Hunan, China — In Beijing, a fellow Beijing food blogger, Xiao Zhou, invited me to an event where several Chinese food bloggers stacked sliced bread artfully, photographed the sculptures, then uploaded the photos to their respective blogs. Xiao Zhou is from Hunan and told me of Continue Reading →
One month ago, just after returning to Beijing from Changsha, I was inspired to pickle chillies the way two families pickled theirs.
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Beijing, China — House smells lovely! I just made chili oil using chili flakes, chili powder, ginger, Sichuan peppercorns (both fragrant and numbing types), and sizzled it all in a Pyrex dish using a blend of peanut/sunflower/dash of sesame oil. Family meeting tomorrow; making Biáng Biáng noodles (梆梆麵). Everything from [...]
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“While cooking, we don’t measure ingredients. We cook with our heart.“ ~Yáng Hóngyǐng 杨宏影
Chengdu, Sichuan, China — In 2007, a visit to Chengdu with my nephews barely hinted at the flavors and character I had yet to discover three years later. The difference between traveling guided by a Continue Reading →
Beijing, China — It’s spring in Beijing and I’m back just in time to enjoy the lovely weather after traveling through Jiangsu and Shanghai to learn home-style recipes. Two weeks of eating Jiangsu and Shanghai cuisine’s light and healthy flavors and my taste buds are hankering for some Hunan chillies.
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Huí Guō Ròu (回锅肉, twice-cooked pork) is pork belly, first boiled then fried with a fragrant chorus of peppers and bean pastes. Green chili pepper used during my recipe lesson was about four inches, thin, curled, wrinkly skin, and spicy. The red peppers are sweet.
This recipe of twice-cooked pork may differ from other twice-cooked [...]
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Wǔdìng, Yúnnán, China — I rode a bus from Kunming through lush green hillsides terraced with rice paddies and new development reminding me of stucco homes in anyplace, USA. We step off the bus into dry heat and the air is dust-filled from [...]
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Suíjiāng, Yunnan, China — As I walk to the corner where my team and I will set off in a sānlúnchē (三轮车, motorized three-wheeled taxi), I look around me in awe; all of these buildings will be submerged under water after the Xiàngjiābà Dam [...]
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中国，绥江——从宜宾通往绥江的道路是一条六车道的高速公路，它预示着这个地区可能有着良好的经济状况，直到我们的司机在公路的尽头转过弯后，新的路况在 向我们诉说着截然相反的事情。沿着金沙江——长江的上游——前行，我们看到了很多废弃的村庄。建筑物上面的瓷砖都碎裂或者掉落了，道路也是坑坑洼洼的，在 没有玻璃的窗台后偶尔会出现一两个居民的身影。这里发生了什么？难道这里是一块被政府遗忘的土地么？当我问我们的司机——一位在宜宾火车站迎接我们团队的 叔叔——为什么这些村庄被废弃的时候，我注意到一个废弃的工厂正立在江的对岸。
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