Happy Chinese New Year!

Posted on January 23, 2012 by amoment2think

Photo by kennymatic via Flickr Creative Commons

Today is Chinese New Year and it’s the year of the dragon! From what I understand, Dragon years are suppose to be good ones, full of fortune and prosperity. 2012, did you hear that?

I love Chinese New Year. To me, one of the best things about any holiday is its food. I am more then happy to jump on any holiday bandwagon that I can, particularly if a good part of the holiday is eating great food. Without a doubt, Chinese New Year is one of the best holidays for great food.

I grew up eating a lot of different international cuisines, but Chinese food was one of the first I was introduced to. As a kid, Chinese food was a regular treat for our family. There was a family run restaurant in our neighbourhood that had some of the best Chinese food I have ever had. I have no idea how authentic it was, as I know many people who have grew up or spent time in China criticize the North Americanization of what we think of as Chinese food here. What I do know is that there are dished we ate at this great family run restaurant that I have never found any where else. Some of the dishes I have seen again, but no one makes them as well. I remember learning to use chop sticks at an early age. Calgary has a small Chinatown and I remember going there as a kid too. I loved it. I have no idea how young I was when I first tried Dim Sum (Chinese Brunch), but I do remember eating it when I was in junior high and high school. When I moved to Vancouver to go to University I remember being if awe of the Chinatown here. Each year there is a Chinese New Year Parade, which I love going to, despite my cautious approach to anywhere crowded. Essentially, I have a long standing love of Chinese food and Chinese New Year.

So, I thought, in honour of the New Year, I would share with you my very very favourite Chinese Dim Sum dishes. So if you see them and haven’t tried them before, I highly recommend going for it!

#1: Sticky Rice

sticky rice 300x225 Happy Chinese New Year!

Photo by Deb Flickr Creative Commons

What is so lovely about this rice is the flavour. It is wrapped a bamboo leaf and then steamed, creating this almost tea-like flavour to the rice. As the name implies, the rice inside has a glutinous like quality to it. Tucked in the middle of the rice is, well, some stuff. I am never really sure what it is exactly- a combination of meat and vegetables. Normally I prefer to know exactly what is in my food, but when eating Dim Sum I follow different rules. If it tastes good and others are eating it- I am in.

#2: Sesame Balls with Red Bean Paste

sesame balls 199x300 Happy Chinese New Year!

Photo via The Unseasoned Wok via Flickr Creative Commons

I find it absolutely fascinating that beans are turned in to dessert in a number of Asian cuisines. I am just starting to make peace with beans and lentils, as a healthy and yummy addition to some dishes that I regularly make. But as a dessert– I am all over them. I don’t want to know how much sugar they put in that red bean paste to make it so good- but it is good. Really good. This particular dessert is a thick, sweet and yummy red bean paste inside a chewy, glutinous rice dough, deep fried and covered with sesame seeds. It may not sound good to someone who hasn’t had the pleasure of trying them before, but they are. Trust me.

#3 Steam Buns with BBQ pork

steam buns 300x200 Happy Chinese New Year!

Photo by Geoff Peters via Flick Creative Commons

I have seen a couple articles about these buns (called Bao) in recent foodie articles. I anticipate they are rapidly making their way into mainstream eating. They are a slightly sweet, soft, cake type dough, steamed with meat inside. The classic is the BBQ pork bun. They sit perfectly on the divide between sweet and savory and are warm and satisfying. They are also on my list of foods to try and learn how to make this year, along with Vietnamese Pho soup.

If you can, try and get your hands on these treats and join in the celebration today!

Tea Stash

Posted on January 16, 2012 by amoment2think

So Amber (@amberstrocel) wanted to know who had the biggest tea stash. Tea has been a hot topic on twitter recently. Probably because it is cold, rainy and everyone needs a warm cuppa.

I do not have the biggest tea stash. If you had asked me last fall before we moved from Calgary to New Westminster, I might have been in the top 10% of tea stashes. But when we moved I cleared a lot of my tea stash out. The less we could move the better.

I also found there were a lot of teas I just wasn’t drinking. So they sat there and sat there. And old tea is just not good. Besides that, I really try to keep my cupboards full of only stuff we regularly use.

When we moved out here we brought a few teas with us. My husband (@frenchpressme) was involved in choosing the tea menu for the Fratello cafe at the Calgary Farmers market- so we had some really awesome tea samples from that. I also learned pretty quickly where to get the best Tea in New Westminster; The Great Wall Tea Company. (You can also find them on twitter: @greatwalltea) Essentially, we don’t have all that many teas, but the ones we have are REALLY REALLY good.

Here is out at home stash.

In the picture you see:

Back Left to Right: Great Wall black tea, I think it is called Bukhail or Bukkail (hand written, I can’t tell); Green Wall green tea called Hojicha; Roobios tea from Idle (I love making Red tea lattes in the winter and iced Roobios with juice in the summer); Assorted herbal tea from Mighty Leaf.

Also at the back right you will see the BEST contraption for brewing loose leaf tea. It’s called a BREWT and essentially you put the loose leaf tea and water in and then once it is steeped you put it on top of your mug or pot and it drains from the bottom so there are no leaves in your tea. Awesome. I also have a smaller version from an other company that I keep at work.

Front left to right: Great Wall Tea Black Pumpkin Spice in the mason jar; Great Wall Tea Green tea called Kuhicha; AND Great Wall Tea Arbo Grey. Arbo Grey is a specially blend of cream earl grey and 20% lavender that @jenarbo invented and you can get only at Great Wall Tea. It is amazing. Go buy some.

I also have a tea stash at work. It looks like this:

It includes (left to right): Chai, Breakfast Tea, Honey n’ Cream- All from Assam Tea.

Then my Teaopia tea press, just like the one we have at home. And a small travel container of my very favourite “Arbo Grey” tea (mentioned above).

Now, there are still a few teas I would like to get. I need some Chai for home. I love Chai, a lot, and I know I would brew it up at home if I had some there. I also need to get some of my favourite green tea. It is called Genmaicha and is green tea with roasted rice. I love it! I am also currently without a good English Breakfast tea, which is an other one of my favourites. A couple more really good herbal teas would be nice too. So I may need to take a trip to Great Wall Tea and splurge one of these days to complete my collection.

But there you have it, my tea stash!

*Just like Amber, I am not receiving any compensation from any of the tea companies mentioned in this post. I am just sharing what I like.

Upside Down Apple Gingerbread Cake

Posted on December 5, 2011 by amoment2think

So, last night, I whipped up an Upside down apple gingerbread cake. You know, like it was no big deal. And since it was very highly rated by the husband (@frenchpressme) and was requested by a few twitter followers, I thought I would share.

I couldn’t get a picture of it though- it was gone before I could get out my iphone. So I will show you a picture of cinnamon. Mmmmm Cinnamon.

cinnamon 300x225 Upside Down Apple Gingerbread Cake

photo by S. Diddy via Flickr Creative Commons

This recipe is adapted from the Canadian Living’s Apple Upside Down cake recipe.

Ingredients:

Apple Caramel:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
2 apples, cut in thin wedges

Cake:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp mixed English spice (I use Silk Road spices) or pumpkin pie spice or a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking power
3/4 cup milk

Preheat your oven to 325

Cut up your apples into thin wedges. Then heat up your butter and brown sugar in a skillet until bubbling. Throw your apples in.

Cream sugar and butter for the cake batter. Add molasses. Combine your eggs (beaten), vanilla and milk in one container and your flour, baking powder and spice in an other. Add each alternating back and forth to your creamed butter and sugar and combine.

Poor the whole mixture onto your apples and throw the skillet in the pre-heated oven for about 35 minutes. Test to see if done by sticking a knife it in- does it come out clean?

Enjoy the wonderful smells coming from your oven and try not to eat the whole thing before you can get a picture to brag to your friends. Nom nom nom.

Quince, Terra Madre and Tomorrow

Posted on November 19, 2011 by amoment2think

This is a weird little fruit called Quince. Kinda like an apple or a pear, but you can’t eat it raw. It must be cooked. And cooked. And cooked.

If you ever see a raw Quince, pick it up and smell it. Deeply.

Then you will realize why one would bother to cook the crap out of it until it is edible. It smells so amazingly fragrant. I am very much looking forward to cooking mine. Tomorrow.

I got the two Quince you see above for free (“Please, take a couple- I have lots.”) from a lady at a table at the Terra Madre event in downtown Vancouver today.

Terra Madre, according to Wikapedia is: “Terra Madre is a network of food communities, each committed to producing quality food in a responsible, sustainable way. Terra Madre also refers to a major bi-annual conference held in Torino, Italy intended to foster discussion and introduce innovative concepts in the field of food, gastronomy, globalization, economics. Terra Madre is coordinated by the Slow Food organization.”

The event had some amazing food and amazing producers. Despite the event organization being a total flop. (Event Organizer Hint: Don’t advertise an event starting at 4, when nothing really happens between 4-6. Especially when your vendors are not really ready until 6…. or later…. Also- events in Winter should be held in heated buildings.) But whatever, I got two Quince for free, amazing 2 for 1 $5 Goat cheese and tried about 12 amazing tasters of really great Slow food.

And now I am tired.

But tomorrow I am going to turn my Quince into something Amazing. Happy Terra Madre day!